Day 29: Our Hope: A big, (painful), beautiful finale.

Let's rewind to Day 2 to the list of responses Facebook friends gave me in response to my question: What does ENOUGH mean to you? 

At the time I was surprised to find that most people associated this word with finality- a response to being fed up and overdone.  A declaration of "no more". It made me sad that people saw this word so negatively- a word that found me, stirred up hope and promise, and keeps getting bigger and better the more I study it. 

But I found something. An instance in Scripture where Enough is used in this context. It's a declaration of finality, a big loud bang of a finish. It's a good thing, too. It's a wham of a finish to the story of you and I. It's spectacular, but it's not the kind of finale we are used to- the 4th of July firework finale, or the fairy tale ending of a good Disney movie. The story does build expectantly toward the end, but it doesn't climax dramatically. But it really is a big deal, and it's easy to miss if you don't look carefully. 

As Jesus hung shamefully from that cross, hundreds watching him suffer, He knew He'd reached the end of his earthly life. Above His head was an inscription of mockery. The people who'd followed and listened to Him the last few years stood by watching in terror, some were even jeering. A group of men were gambling for Jesus' clothes. His friends, His inner circle  and confidantes, nowhere to be seen. Not even His Father, the One who sent Him, could look upon Him for the sins of mankind were too gruesome to behold for the Holy One. 

Why didn't he get himself down from there? Why didn't He bring revenge to his punishers? Why did he allow himself to be the victim of such brutal torture? 

Committed to obedience and restoration, I bet he closed his eyes and thought of all the faces that would be welcomed into his inheritance, His kingdom as a result of His death. And to him, all of this pain, humiliation and loneliness was absolutely worth it. 

So He bowed His head. Took one more deep breath, and spoke the beautiful finale of our story:

It is Finished. 

Sufficient. 
Complete. 
Full. 
{ more than } Enough. 
Finality. 

He did not mean that his life was over. 
He did not say it dejectedly with shoulders sagging, as if He lost. 
His exhalation was a victory chant, the rhythm of the redeemed. 
When He said, 

It is Finished

He also meant:
SIN is finished.
EVIL is finished. 
SLAVERY is finished. 
WALLS OF HOSTILITY are finished. 
CIRCUMCISION is finished. 
SACRIFICES are finished. 
FEAR OF DEATH is finished. 
TRYING TO APPEASE GOD is finished. 
KEEPING ALL THE RULES is finished. 

All of the things that were obstacles to eternal life or formulas to please Him were abolished. Everything that was, no longer is. When He did what He did that day, He opened to the door to the { more than } enough life. Gone are the days of keeping all the laws, living in fear of displeasing God, uncertainty about eternity. Gone are the days of striving. I am in Christ, the One who died once for all and spoke the words of freedom and finality: 

It is Finished. 

And hallelujah, that is more than enough.