JOHN 19:28-30

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

TO PONDER

Today is Reformation Sunday, a day that I barely, thought about before my Lutheran ‘conversion’. Now, I am mostly joking when I say ‘my Lutheran conversion’ but in some ways my journey into becoming Lutheran (confirmation) was in itself a ‘Reformation’ of my Christian life, a new, deeper, and yes, powerful exploration into God’s grace.

In Verse 30 we are told that Jesus declared three words as he hung on the cross ‘It is finished’ and then he died…

I hope you paused there as you thought about those ‘last’ words of Jesus, the dying declaration of God. God who moved into our neighbourhood, God who died a criminal’s death, God who took the judgement we deserved upon himself so we wouldn’t have to, God who did it all to bring reformation to the corruption of creation.

Those three ‘last’ words declaring it was finished was the beginning of the ongoing reformation of the world, of creation, of us.

As Lutherans we bare the name of the Reformation when the sound of grace was heard on October 31, 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door he was echoing those three words of Jesus with every hammer blow ‘it is finished’ ringing throughout creation reminding us that ‘it is finished’ was just the beginning.

PRAYER:  Lord Jesus, I thank you for words of reformation, those three final words of ‘it is finished’ reforming my life on a daily basis, a life empowered by grace.  Amen.

Today's devotion Witten by Danny Brock, LifeWay Westside.