by Pastor Douglas Brauner

The Work of Redemption Is Finished

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

It’s hard to believe that we’re already coming to the end of our Lenten journey for 2021. I don’t know if this journey has been agonizingly slow for you or rushed by quicker than the Mississippi in flood season. Soon we will remember Jesus’ suffering and death. Soon we will remember his glorious resurrection. Soon we will once again hear the promise that we too will rise from the dead when Jesus returns.

But we’re not there yet.

So, this past Wednesday, March 24, we continued our Lenten journey with worship at Holy Cross, the church that I have served as pastor for two decades. We meditated on these words of Jesus from the cross:

“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
John 19:30 English Standard Version

“It is finished.” Jesus brings his work to an end on the cross. There is only the final surprise of the resurrection waiting for him, waiting for us.

What grabbed my attention more than the words, “it is finished,” is the phrase, “he bowed his head.” Earlier in Jesus’ ministry, when he was approached by a scribe who wanted to follow him, Jesus told that scribe, “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20) When Jesus completed his work of our redemption, he now had a place to rest his head. Why? Because it was finished. Atonement was finished. We are saved.

I wonder what peace filled Jesus after he uttered the words, “it is finished”? I can’t answer that question, but as I consider my life’s journey, I find peace in the One who said, “it is finished” and then laid down his head. No matter what lies ahead, my redemption, your redemption, has been won in the One who laid down his head on his cross in peace.

And now, we can lay our heads down in peace because of him.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado