It Is Finished

This weekend we commemorate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. We attend church services and listen to messages we’re already so familiar with. Then we go home for the traditional family meal where we celebrate some more with those we love. And while these are all good and beautiful things to have in our lives, have we taken the time to consider the depth of what happened so very long ago and what that actually means for our lives TODAY?

This weekend is not all roses and blossoms for many around us. Some are homeless, fatherless, widowed, divorced, have fallen out of relationship with parents, or children or friends; others have lost jobs, and are struggling financially; some are ill, many face death’s door, and others have been betrayed by those closest to them, those who were supposed to protect them, stand by them, and love them, no matter what.

Gone are the days of jokes and jovial banter; gone is the loud laughter and happy memories; gone from so many lives are the people we thought would always have our back! So, what do we do? How does the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus impact our lives and speak into these voids which are so very real?

It’s ok to feel betrayed. After all, Jesus was betrayed by someone closest to him, someone he considered a friend, someone he thought of as family. When we think of Jesus’ betrayal, we think of Judas who deliberately and deceitfully sold him out for 30 pieces of silver. And yes, this is the ultimate betrayal by someone who was in Jesus’ inner circle, his treasurer, his trusted brother!

But there are degrees of loss in a relationship, and it was not only Judas who might have disappointed Jesus.

What about the disciples who were unable to stay awake with him, the ones he begged to remain and pray with him, those who did not follow him when he was taken to Pilate, those who did not attend his crucifixion, and of course, there’s Peter who, out of fear for his own life, denied even knowing him?

These friends did not betray Jesus, neither did they plan to deny being with Jesus, living with him, and enjoying their close relationship with him. Still they disappointed him and was not there for him when he needed them the most.

This kind of loss doesn’t just leave us heart-broken, it makes us cynical, weary, exhausted and untrusting.

Betrayal and disappointment can make a soft heart hard so that there’s no room for forgiveness, thankfulness or seeing any good in the one who hurt us.

Sometimes the betrayer loses his life as Judas did, but sometimes the person who has seriously disappointed and hurt us can be reinstated into fellowship as Peter and the other disciples were restored by Jesus because they truly loved him and wanted to return to the relationship they once had with him. That’s the choice the one who has been let down must make. Will we be more like Jesus this weekend? Will we at least try to restore those we once laughed with, fellowshipped with, ate with, served with, shared life with?

Jesus knows deep within his very being what it’s like to be betrayed, disappointed, let-down, denied love and care by friends, hurt, crushed, killed. He knows the weight of it like no one else does. He wasn’t victimized, lured, duped by a stranger, someone down the street, a mere acquaintance. NO! And yet, in the darkest moment of his life, he offered forgiveness and restoration to those who let him down so very badly.

We are called to be like our Lord, to follow his example for life and living; to obey his commands to love each other because this is how the world will know we follow him; to forgive as he has forgiven us; to restore as he’s restored us.

May the words of the hymn (adapted and set to music in 1967 by a South African songwriter Sebastian Temple, a Franciscan Layman) below spur us on towards a new perspective:

Make me a channel of your peace

Where there is hatred, let me bring your love

Where there is injury, your pardon Lord

And where there’s doubt, true faith in You

Make me a channel of your peace

Where there is despair in life, let me bring hope

Where there is darkness, only light

And where there’s sadness, ever joy

Make me a channel of your peace

It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned

It is in giving to all men, that we receive

And in dying, that we are born to eternal life

Oh, Master grant that I may never seek

So much to be consoled, as to console

To be understood, as to understand

To be loved, as to love with all my soul

So, on this Resurrection Sunday, let us purpose in our hearts, and endeavour to be more like Jesus: to die to ourselves and our selfish ways, to reach out to those who are lonely, to help the less fortunate, to forgive as he has forgiven us, to serve as he served, to love as he loved, and to live a joyously sacrificial life!

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