The cross. It’s a symbol we see a lot this time of year. On it, Jesus uttered a phrase that changed our lives and eternities forever. Through heavy breaths and blood-stained lips He said, “It… is… finished.”
And with His last breath, the sacrifice was complete.
Jesus’ followers’ hearts shattered as they stared at their Savior hanging on two wooden, rugged beams—His face unrecognizable and His body lifeless.
Each time I gaze at a picture of that cross, the two beams remind me of two integral pieces of our Savior’s story—one complete and one continual.
The vertical beam, pointing upward, reminds me of connection—Jesus connecting us with God for eternity. The horizontal beam, pointing outward, speaks of a commissioning to us all. It reminds us how we’re to live on the earth.
Together, these beams tell me that though “It is finished,” His love is not. The great sacrifice is complete, but His love is to live on through us.
Jesus made this clear when He appeared to Mary Magdalene after His resurrection. Mary visited Jesus’ tomb to prepare His body for burial. When she got there, she found the stone rolled away and His body missing. She began frantically searching for Him. As she searched, she ran into Jesus, whom she thought was a gardener.
John 20:15-17 records their conversation: “He asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’… She said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’… Jesus said, ‘Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’’”
Through this conversation, Jesus gives three ways we can honor the cross in its entirety. The first is to understand His attitude toward us. Even in her unbelief, Jesus spoke tenderly to Mary, calling her by name. In the same way, Jesus wants us to understand His great, personal love for us.
The second way is to act on Jesus’ sacrifice. Jesus told Mary not to cling to Him but to go instead to the disciples. He didn’t want her to only focus on the vertical beam, but on the horizontal one as well. She had connected with Jesus’ love; now, she was being commissioned.
The third way is to continually abide in Jesus, letting His love lead us to love others. Jesus wanted Mary to make it clear to the disciples: His love wasn’t done, and ours isn’t to be, either.
This Easter season and beyond, I pray we all embrace the cross in its entirety—thanking our Savior for His great sacrifice, and extending to others the same sacrificial love. Though it is finished, His love is not!
