Mission Accomplished-1

John 19:28-30

Message No. 0761 | Twitter @GodandUs | www.wisdom-speaks.ca

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Hello everyone and Happy Resurrection Sunday! This week we will examine Jesus’ last statement, “It is finished,” signifying that He had finished the assignment for which He came to this world. We will look at the journey leading to this statement and the choice facing every living human being. Happy reading and God bless you!

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In project management, we are taught that every project is like a living thing, having a life of its own, with a start date and an end date. Therefore, any activity that is continuous, with no sign of ending, is an operation and not a project. Further, we are taught that every project has three main constraints: the scope of work, the time it should take, and the cost of completing the project. How these constraints are managed for the successful delivery of a project is what separates a good project manager from others.

As early as the age of 12, Jesus Christ left no one in doubt about His mission. When Mary and Joseph unintentionally left Him behind in Jerusalem after completing the Passover festival, they were frantic, knowing the weight of their errors. And when they eventually found Him, they expected Him to be apologetic for having stayed behind and caused them the heartache of thinking that they had lost Him. (I thought that, at age twelve, it was Jesus who deserved an apology from the parents for having been left behind, but that’s subject for another day). In response, Jesus asked them why they were looking for Him; did they not know that He had to be in His Father’s House?

From that moment on, Jesus began preparing for His mission, until it was time for Him to roll out. He made statements like, I must work the works of Him who sent me while it’s day, because the night is coming when no one can work. At other times, He would say, My Father worked earlier, and now I work. He carefully selected apostles to do the work with Him. He challenged established authorities, overturned the tables of money changers, won souls and performed miracles. He was unstoppable, and wielding such amazing powers, the self-enthroned religious police hated Him and wanted Him dead, but He was relentless.

The apostles and other disciples had gotten used to Him and felt safe in His company. They must have been thinking to themselves, aren’t we so lucky to be in the company of our future king, the very person who would deliver us from Roman oppression and take over the leadership of our country? Some may have been eyeing positions of vice president, ministers and even governors of provinces. They had seen His powers and were convinced that there would be no viable opposition. They defended Him so much and protected Him from unnecessary interactions with unwanted elements. He had His own army, sort of.

Then, all of a sudden, Jesus told His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and this became too much to hear, till Peter told Him, this will never happen to you! Peter could have been thinking, by virtue of my closeness to Jesus, I surely could be vice president, and now He is talking of being assassinated? And finally, Jesus told them, the hour had come, and everything spiraled downward (I would say upward) from then on.

Unfortunately for His disciples, they did not pay enough spiritual attention to all the messages Jesus was passing to them about the nature of His assignment. They did not get it, that this was a project, and that an end date was in sight. They did not understand that there was only one scope statement in this project, which was to save and deliver man from the hands of the devil, and to reconcile them back to God, their Maker. So, when He was arrested, they were surprised, and when He was condemned, it was like a joke, then when they saw Him crucified, they were shocked beyond words.

But our Savior made one last statement before He died on the cross: It is finished. Look at how it played out in John 19:28-30:

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!" Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

For those who would accept the free offer of salvation, it was finished, the job was done. Deliverance from the sorrows of this world and from eternal damnation was completed. The project was successfully delivered. The rest was in our hands, to yield, to surrender, and continue where He left. We are all part of the harvest of souls into the Kingdom of our dear Lord. As with every project, Jesus came with three main constraints: a defined scope, to save man, a budgeted time to deliver the scope, and a project cost, His own life. Having undergone this unthinkable pain for you and for me, would you please appropriate this by surrendering your life to Him today? He has finished His own part. The ball is in our courts.

What to Do?

The job is done. The offer is free. The choice is yours. The time is short. What will your decision be?