Done! That feeling of relief or of exasperation you get when the thing happens that you’ve been plugging away at steadily, or in the case of my right knee, unexpectedly gives out again. After nearly forty years of managing an odd catch somewhere in the anatomy of my right knee, I had learned not to kneel for too long, never to sit with my legs folded under me, and to always get up slowly. Knee surgery was never a consideration until the catch came to stay. I fully expected things to return to normal as they had so many times before. This was just a temporary inconvenience. I wonder how many times Mary thought the same thing in Jesus’s lifetime?
Israel was under Roman rule wherever she resided. Her people had known very little of freedom in their history as a people. Since the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God was working out His masterful plan, as He does today, in and through the lives of imperfect people. Where they surrendered to His rule, they were protected and they prospered. When they rebelled, they were taken captive, defeated, or nearly destroyed. God always left a remnant. His purposes cannot be thwarted.
Mary had not lived long enough to experience anything outside of Roman oppression, but she knew her history, her God-story, or she could never have uttered the words of ascent and surrender to God’s angelic messenger, Gabriel, when he announced the advent of Messiah.
“And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
And the angel departed from her.”
Luke 1:38 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/luk.1.38.ESV
“How will this be, since I am a virgin?” It was her only question of Gabriel. How many more must have flooded her mind in the hours and days that followed his departure. Yet Mary is known for her obedience. She treasured things in her heart. She dedicated her firstborn to God at eight days old as the Law of God required. She heard prophecies spoken and she saw prophecies fulfilled, but she was human- just a girl. Certainly she second-guessed herself hundreds of times before she and Joseph frantically searched Jerusalem for Jesus. How often she must have reached the limits of her humanity while watching for Jesus to do something, anything to prove He was the Son of God.
“And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.”
And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”
And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.””
Mark 3:32-35 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/mrk.3.32-35.ESV
When Jesus turned water to wine- Finally! Something!
“When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.””
John 2:3-5 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/jhn.2.3-5.ESV
Mary saw His miracles and her heart must have swelled even as she felt vindicated for the ill-treatment she had endured since His conception. She watched Him tussle with his brothers as a boy, but this in no way prepared her for the rousting He would do in the temple and synagogues. But the cross? How could she ever have imagined this for her precious boy?
“but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”
Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!”
And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.”
John 19:25-27 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/jhn.19.25-27.ESV
“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
John 19:30 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/jhn.19.30.ESV
Done! God’s plan and purpose for Israel was fulfilled in Jesus.
““Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.
And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’”
Jeremiah 23:5-6 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/jer.23.5-6.ESV
“You who are not Jews by birth, here is what I want you to remember.
You are called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “circumcised.” But they have only been circumcised in their bodies by human hands.
Before you believed in Christ, you were separated from him. You were not considered to be citizens of Israel. You were not included in what the covenants promised. You were without hope and without God in the world.
At one time you were far away from God. But now you belong to Christ Jesus. He spilled his blood for you. This has brought you near to God.
Christ himself is our peace. He has made Jews and Gentiles into one group of people. He has destroyed the hatred that was like a wall between us.
Through his body on the cross, Christ set aside the law with all its commands and rules. He planned to create one new people out of Jews and Gentiles. He wanted to make peace between them. He planned to bring both Jews and Gentiles back to God as one body.
He planned to do this through the cross. On that cross, Christ put to death their hatred toward one another.
He came and preached peace to you who were far away. He also preached peace to those who were near.
Through Christ we both come to the Father by the power of one Holy Spirit. So you are no longer outsiders and strangers. You are citizens together with God’s people.
You are also members of God’s family. You are a building that is built on the apostles and prophets. They are the foundation. Christ Jesus himself is the most important stone in the building. The whole building is held together by him. It rises to become a holy temple because it belongs to the Lord.
And because you belong to him, you too are being built together. You are being made into a house where God lives through his Spirit.”
Ephesians 2:11-22 NIRV
https://bible.com/bible/110/eph.2.11-22.NIRV
“Very early that Sunday morning, the women made their way to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared.
Among them were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Jesus’ mother Mary.
Arriving at the tomb they discovered that the huge stone covering the entrance had been rolled aside, so they went in to look. But the tomb was empty. The body of Jesus was gone!
They stood there, stunned and perplexed. Suddenly, two men appeared above them in dazzling white robes shining like lightning.
Terrified, the women fell to the ground on their faces.
The men in white said to them, “Why would you look for the Living One in a tomb? He is not here, for he has risen! Have you forgotten what he said to you while he was still in Galilee: ‘The destiny of the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinful men, to be nailed to a cross, and on the third day to rise again’?”
All at once they remembered his words. Leaving the tomb, they went to break the news to the Eleven and to all the others of what they had seen and heard.
When the disciples heard the testimony of the women, it made no sense, and they were unable to believe what they heard. But Peter jumped up and ran the entire distance to the tomb to see for himself.
Stooping down, he looked inside and discovered it was empty! There was only the linen sheet lying there.
Staggered by this, he walked away, wondering what it meant.”
Luke 24:1-12 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/luk.24.1-12.TPT
We don’t have to wonder what it meant. When Jesus said, “it is finished,” He meant that God’s plan was complete. Done! Everything that needed to be done for man to be restored to right relationship with God had been done. The perfect Lamb was slain for the sins of the world and He would live again, restored to His former glory for all time and because He lives forever, we can have life in Him. Jesus came to stay.
“The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word.
The Word was God, in readiness for God from day one.
Everything was created through him; nothing—not one thing!— came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out.
The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering Life he brings into Light.
He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people, but they didn’t want him. But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten, not blood-begotten, not flesh-begotten, not sex-begotten.
The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.”
John 1:1-5, 9-14 MSG
https://bible.com/bible/97/jhn.1.1-14.MSG
““Look! I am coming soon!
I bring my rewards with me. I will reward each person for what they have done.
I am the Alpha and the Omega.
I am the First and the Last.
I am the Beginning and the End.”
Revelation 22:12-13 NIRV
https://bible.com/bible/110/rev.22.12-13.NIRV
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
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