Jesus was finished. Everything he came to accomplish was complete. The word of redemption of finished. There was nothing left to do. He had given it all, all that he could give, even his very life. It was finished. It is finished. There was nothing left to do, but bow his head and give up his spirit.

Sometimes we are tempted to think that there is something more to do, something we must do to complete the work of salvation. Sometimes we are temped to believe the heresy that says that we have to earn salvation, that we have to be worthy of it, that God expects something from us in order to be saved. Jesus’ last words before his death in John’s gospel remind us that salvation is finished, redemption is done. We could never do enough to deserve it. We could never be good enough, holy enough, to be worthy of salvation. It is simply a gift, purchased by God on the cross for us.

Some people say that that lets us off the hook too easily. Maybe so. Yet if we believe that the work of salvation is done, is finished, then we can live a life in constant thanksgiving for what God has done for us on the cross. We can stand in awe before the cross of Jesus. We can live as those who are already saved by the grace – the amazing grace – of God revealed to us in the One who has already finished it for us.