It is finished. (John 19:30)

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What is the “It”? Can you help me understand this passage? What is Jesus referring to?

God Bless…
 
The perfect sacrifice for the redemption of all mankind forever was completed on the cross by the spotless Lamb.
 
“And then, so that the scripture might be fulfilled…”

The entire old testament was a prophesy of the coming sacrafice of Christ. Before the sacrafice could be completed, he must fulfill every prophesy that was said of him before he could die. Thus he said, “I thirst”, and having completed everything that must come, said, “It is Finished.”

But it goes beyond that. The sacrafice of the cross is ongoing and eternal, which we are present even to this day at mass. So if the crucifixion never ends, how does he say, “It is Finished.”?

I’m not saying I don’t understand the difference between the temporal and the eternal. I’m just saying there’s a deeper meaning to this simple phrase which we’re still missing.

Josh
 
I posted this on another thread - Jewish sacrifice; My take on it:

All through history, God teaches us, little by little. Sacrifices have been a part of worship from the beginning. If you look at the OT, you’ll see how God teaches His people to sacrifice to Him those things/animals they had been sacrificing to pagan gods. He’s preparing us for the ultimate sacrifice and what it will mean.

On Holy Thursday, Jesus, being a good Jew, was celebrating Passover with the Seder supper. As we all know, the Passover was the covenant God made with His people when in Egypt just before their release from there.

In a Jewish sacrifice, certain things have to happen for the covenant to be VALID. The lamb chosen has to be a young lamb (of a certain age), it must be perfect - no broken bones. In a covenant sacrifice, the blood must be sprinkled on the believing and MOST IMPORTANT, the portion not given in sacrifice to God MUST BE CONSUMMED by the believing (The Eucharist). Sound familiar?

In the Seder meal, there are 4 cups of (wine) blessing. I don’t remember them all but I do remember the last 2 - the most important, IMHO. Now remember, in order for the Passover meal to be valid, it has to be COMPLETED. And you know how the Jews were when it came to upholding the law and completing rituals! Jesus was in the process of the Seder meal when suddenly, he got up and went into the garden to pray. Strange, as a good Jew, that He should get up in the middle of the Seder and not complete it! Was there a reason He did this at this point in the meal? He was at the 3rd cup of blessing: Communion.
He prayed in the garden, “Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me.” It’s interesting that the 4th cup of blessing is the cup of Acceptance! We know the rest - Jesus is about to change the Old Covenant sacrifice into the New Covenant sacrifice.

When Jesus is on the cross, in John’s gospel, Jesus says He thirsts. Remember, he did not complete the Seder meal in the upper room - a Roman soldier gives Jesus a sponge soaked in sour wine and hissop. It is here that Jesus takes the 4th “cup” of blessing: Acceptance! Then, He says, “It is finished.” What’s finished? The Seder meal! The Seder is now complete - it’s valid!
He changed the old covenant into the new convenant! HE IS NOW THE NEW COVENANT!

If you can get a complete description of the Seder meal with commentary on when and where in the Seder Jesus changed things, you’ll be surprised at how much sense it makes. Jesus is actually changing the Seder meal experience into the Eucharist! It gave me a whole new take on the Eucharist - suddenly it all made sense to me! There is so much typology with the breaking of the unleavened bread and “hiding” one half of it for later - it’s taken back out at the Communion portion of the meal.

This is the final lesson that God was teaching us! He gave us His only Son in sacrifice for ours sins. We offer this sacrifice again at every Mass for forgiveness of ours sins. What an abolutley indescribable gift God has given us!
 
It all goes into trying to build theology around one little phrase from Scripture. Catholicism is built around the entire deposit of faith, which includes Scripture and Apostolic Tradition. It is nearly impossible for us in the 21st century to read a sentence that was written in a language used 2000 years ago, and in forms of expression that we in the West are not familiar with, and understand what Jesus is really saying without understanding the context that it was made. Jesus was most probably referring to His Passion, His suffering being finished. The thing He came to us to do was done. He came to lay down His life for you, me,and every person who ever was, is, and will be. That doesn’t mean the effects of His redemptive work are complete. They are ongoing until the last person who will come to be saved through grace has come to judgement. Then, and ONLY then, will Christ’s redemptive sacrifice be truely finished. But Jesus’s suffering is finished, and He now resides in glory at the right hand of the Father.
 
i’m fairly sure the fourth cup is the cup of praise or “hallelujah” (praise to the LORD). not acceptance.
 
“It” really wasn’t finished, until the Resurrection, a day and a half later. But, as Apologia said, you can get into a lot of trouble trying to build your theology on a phrase taken out of context.
 
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matthew1624:
What is the “It”? Can you help me understand this passage? What is Jesus referring to?

God Bless…
“The Elephant Man” (1981)
 
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DianJo:


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If you can get a complete description of the Seder meal with commentary on when and where in the Seder Jesus changed things, you’ll be surprised at how much sense it makes. Jesus is actually changing the Seder meal experience into the Eucharist! It gave me a whole new take on the Eucharist - suddenly it all made sense to me! There is so much typology with the breaking of the unleavened bread and “hiding” one half of it for later - it’s taken back out at the Communion portion of the meal.

. . .
I think that many Jewish synagogues [or Temples if they are Reform] have a book store attached. That’s where I got my copy of the Silverman Haggadah. I think there are other versions , but don’t know the differences. The Silverman is a *Reform *version which emphasizes Holocaust, racial identity and unity. I would like to get an Orthodox version but have never got to that item on my to do list.

I think copies are also available in many book stores around the time of Passover [Spring].
 
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matthew1624:
What is the “It”? Can you help me understand this passage? What is Jesus referring to?

God Bless…
***The Passover’s Fourth Cup

After the beginning of Jesus’ Last Passover Supper (Seder) Judas Iscariot left to do what he had to do. The twelve left in the room were at the point where the second of four traditional cups was about to be drunk. (The first is at the beginning of the seder meal.) Jesus took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.”

***More of the lamb meal was consumed. During that He took a loaf of unleavened bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to His disciples saying, “This IS my body given for you; do this to recall me.” (“Recall” is a better translation of the Greek “anamnesis” than “remember”.)

***After the supper He took the third cup saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This IS my blood of the NEW and everlasting covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” A hymn was sung, which is a combination of several psalms called The Great Hillel, and they went out to the Mount of Olives.

What happened? The passover ceremony and ritual was not complete. There was no fourth cup. There was no announcement that it was finished. Could it be that Jesus was so upset with what He knew was about to happen that He forgot? Doubtful. Not only Jesus, but also the 11 others had participated in the Passover Seder every year of their lives. No, this was done on purpose. The last supper of Jesus was not over.

On the Mount of Olives, in the Garden of Gesthemane, the disciples slept while Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.” He prayed that three times. Then Jesus was arrested, illegally put on trial by the Sandedrin, then by Pontius Pilate, sentenced and crucified.

While on the cross He wept. Jesus, who was in excruciating agony, was so merciful that He prayed for the forgiveness of His executioners. He was offered some wine with a pain killer, myrrh, in it. He refused it. “Later, knowing that all was now complete, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled and the kingdom established, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’” A man dipped a sponge into sour wine, he placed it on a hyssop branch and lifted it up to Jesus lips. He drank. (We recall that it was the hyssop branch which was used to paint lambs blood around the Hebrew’s door for the passover of the angel of death.)

It was then that Jesus said, “It is finished.” He then bowed His head and gave up the spirit to His Father. The fourth cup now represented the lambs blood of the first Passover, a saving signal to the angel of death. The lamb of God was now sacrificed. The last Passover supper of Jesus Christ was now complete with the fourth cup. It was finished.***

Scotts Hahn’s video “The Lamb’s Supper” dealves into the topic and he does a great job of explaining it. I highly recommend it.
 
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MichaelTDoyle:
The perfect sacrifice for the redemption of all mankind forever was completed on the cross by the spotless Lamb.
MTD - that’s it exactly.
 
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