“I have glorified you on earth. I
have finished the work which you gave me to do.” --Jesus (John
17:3)
As I read Jesus' prayer before His
crucifixion on Good Friday morning, this statement astounded me.
How could Jesus say that when the gospel had not spread much beyond
Judea and Samaria... when multitudes still suffered from disease,
blindness and oppression... when many still embraced lies about the
nature of the Messiah and His kingdom... when even his own disciples
still did not fully understand!...when there was still so much work
to be done?
In the face of all this
'unfinished work', Jesus evinced a peace and certainty in doing His
Father's will. While Judas went to perdition, Jesus could still say
“those whom you gave me I have kept, and none of them is lost.”
Throughout his whole life, Jesus remained steadfast in God's will and
timing (John 7:6; 8:28-29, 42...). And at the end, he could say “It
is finished!”
Jesus' certainty and steadfastness
stands in stark contrast to my own restless spirit and confused sense
of responsibility. Too often I feel the urge to 'fix the whole
world' and I hop to and fro like a confused bird from one thing to
the next. I'm afraid that my life carries more uncomfortable
similarities to Frank Sinatra's “I did it my way” than to Jesus'
“I have done the work that the Father gave me to do.”
Christ's humble confession bespeaks a
peace, certainty and joy that arises out of a perspective of God's
bigger plan and a sense of his role in God's story. He did not have
to 'do everything' during His time on earth. His role in the story
at this point did not include testifying before Caesar, just as
Paul's lines did not include atoning for his own sins. Yet at the
end, Paul could also say: “I have fought the good fight, I have
finished the race” (2 Timothy 4:7).
These truths just turn my whole story
upside down! It's like when you are reading a book... you think you
understand the gist of the plot... you know where the author is
going,... your prejudices and biases begin to set... then an event
happens and the story isn't what you initially thought at all!
...It's not all about me! I don't HAVE
to do what I feel like doing because I am a new creature in Christ
with a new potential. I don't have to do everything and save the
world either. I just have to be faithful in the role that God calls
me too. God's story is so amazing, so much better than the ones I
try to write... it is an awesome privilege to be part of His drama of
redemption and reconciliation.
The ironic part is that even while I
may think that I am doing it my way, yet God has still inscribed
every moment of my life story. He penned it even before I was
formed in secret, skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the
earth. Throughout the whole world, God is speaking into existence an
amazing story of reconciliation, of hope, of judgment, of
resurrection. It is a story where there is no peace for the wicked,
but perfect peace for those whose minds are stayed on God and
surrendered to His purpose (Isaiah 48:22; 26:3).
On Good Friday I was wowed again by
God's awesome, unprecedented story. A story that we are living RIGHT
NOW. A story that is possible only because Jesus did not live
forever on this earth healing everyone and killing Romans and
fighting over doctrine, only because Jesus followed the Father's will
and did the work that was set before Him.
Jesus' work is the basis of my story.
For, I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live
but Christ who lives in me. And the life that I live in the body I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave Himself for me
(Galatians 2:20). By His grace, I look forward to His return when He
will look at me and say: “Well done, good and faithful steward.
Enter into the joy of your Lord.”
