It is Accomplished
I suppose I must look a little different than you anticipated I would. Tonight you see me, not as the young madonna arrayed in a pale blue mantle, but as a woman shrouded in the black of mourning.
He said it would be this way, you know. For thirty three years I have kept in my memory what that old, wise, devout man named Simeon had said the day Joseph and I brought Jesus to be presented at the Temple. “And your soul a sword too will pierce” , he predicted. So many times I thought I understood what Simeon’s words meant, as I felt the prick of that sword as I bore some of the crosses that God has asked me to carry. But today, the sword has pierced me through. The sword has pierced me through just as surely as the centurian’s lance pierced the side of my son as his lifeless body hung limply from the cross.
What can I say this night as I reflect on the events of this past day. Can anything I say to you adequately convey the grief that I feel? There are just some things that there are no words for. As I stood beneath his cross, I recalled the words from the Book of Lamentations. Perhaps they express my feelings better than anything else could. “Come, all who pass by the way, look and see whether there is any suffering like my suffering.”
As I replay the day’s events in my mind, I try to make sense out of it all. I try to understand how this all happened . . . why this all happened? Why did such violence and hatred have to be inflicted on my son, a man whose words and actions spoke nothing but love and peace and forgiveness. I wish my husband Joseph was alive to help me deal with these things. He had such an extraordinary knack of being able to see God’s will in things. How I wish I could call upon his strength and wisdom now.
Of all the things that have happened today, which has led to such pain in my heart and such confusion in my mind, one thing keeps resurfacing. It was something that Jesus said just before he died. Raising his eyes toward heaven, my son said “It is acomplished.” What could he possibly have meant by that? Perhaps if I could only understand what he meant by those words, I could possibly make sense of the horrible events of the day.
So many images are beginning to come back to me in a rush now; so many things my son said and did during his lifetime. So many memories that I have kept treasured in my heart. Why do they suddenly come back to me now?
I think back to the beginning now. As I recall the words of the angel Gabriel, suddenly I understand them as perhaps I never did before. I do not speak of when the angel came to me, but when he came to Joseph in a dream to tell him that the child I was carrying was conceived through the Holy Spirit and that I had not been unfaithful to him. The angel told him to name the child “Jesus,” because he would save his people from their sins. The name itself means “savior.” And now I see. Today my son has fulfilled his destiny, the mission that began so long ago. Today, it has been accomplished.
My own words to my cousin Elizabeth now come back to me. “He has dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” Everything we and our forefathers have waited for, everything we have been promised has been accomplished in my son. Truly today, the prophesy of Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah find their meaning, for through my son, God has visited and ransomed his people. It has all been accomplished.
I remember too my sons words to me when he was twelve years of age and Joseph and I found him with the elders of the Temple, after searching for him for days. Upon questioning him about the worry that he caused us, Jesus said, “Don’t you know I must be about my father’s business?” How strange those words seemed then. But today, I know that this is what today has been about. His father’s business. And now - it has been accomplished.
And then, that time we attended the wedding in Cana. I informed him that the bride’s family had run out of wine. He replied to me, “Woman, my hour has not yet come.” What strange words I thought then. But now I realize that today, on the cross, his hour has finally come. He once said, “Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” That whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life. He said that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood remains in him and he in them. Today, he has become our sacrificial lamb. As his body was slaughtered and his blood shed upon the cross, his flesh has become true food and his blood true drink. Yes son, today your hour has come. It is accomplished.
I recall when John the Baptist sent his disciples to asked him if he was the Messiah. Jesus said, “Go tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” Yes, all this, too, has been accomplished.
In the Garden of Gethsamane last night, I am told that while facing with sheer human terror what he obviously knew was his obvious destiny, he prayed, “Father, not as I will, but your will be done.” He has spread his Father’s word; he has done his Father’s will. And now his Father’s will has been accomplished.
I remember that once he said, “No great love has anyone but this, than to lay down one’s life for those he loves. That is what today has been all about, hasn’t it? He has proved the magnitude of his love. It has been accomplished.
My friends, before I depart from you tonight, I must ask you, has it really all been accomplished? Has it truly been accomplished in you? He accomplished it FOR you; have you let it be accomplished IN you? Do the things Jesus said and did really make a difference in your life? My son once said, “If you make my words your home, you will indeed be my disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Have you allowed his words to find a homewithin you? O my friends, open yourself up to him. Allow him to move you, to shape you, to love you, to transform you. Let his life have meaning to you; let his death have a purpose for you. And if it has been accomplished in you, won’t you take up your cross and follow him? There is still hunger, there is still hatred, there is still injustice in the world. Let him again accomplish it. Let it be accomplished through you!
He said it would be this way, you know. For thirty three years I have kept in my memory what that old, wise, devout man named Simeon had said the day Joseph and I brought Jesus to be presented at the Temple. “And your soul a sword too will pierce” , he predicted. So many times I thought I understood what Simeon’s words meant, as I felt the prick of that sword as I bore some of the crosses that God has asked me to carry. But today, the sword has pierced me through. The sword has pierced me through just as surely as the centurian’s lance pierced the side of my son as his lifeless body hung limply from the cross.
What can I say this night as I reflect on the events of this past day. Can anything I say to you adequately convey the grief that I feel? There are just some things that there are no words for. As I stood beneath his cross, I recalled the words from the Book of Lamentations. Perhaps they express my feelings better than anything else could. “Come, all who pass by the way, look and see whether there is any suffering like my suffering.”
As I replay the day’s events in my mind, I try to make sense out of it all. I try to understand how this all happened . . . why this all happened? Why did such violence and hatred have to be inflicted on my son, a man whose words and actions spoke nothing but love and peace and forgiveness. I wish my husband Joseph was alive to help me deal with these things. He had such an extraordinary knack of being able to see God’s will in things. How I wish I could call upon his strength and wisdom now.
Of all the things that have happened today, which has led to such pain in my heart and such confusion in my mind, one thing keeps resurfacing. It was something that Jesus said just before he died. Raising his eyes toward heaven, my son said “It is acomplished.” What could he possibly have meant by that? Perhaps if I could only understand what he meant by those words, I could possibly make sense of the horrible events of the day.
So many images are beginning to come back to me in a rush now; so many things my son said and did during his lifetime. So many memories that I have kept treasured in my heart. Why do they suddenly come back to me now?
I think back to the beginning now. As I recall the words of the angel Gabriel, suddenly I understand them as perhaps I never did before. I do not speak of when the angel came to me, but when he came to Joseph in a dream to tell him that the child I was carrying was conceived through the Holy Spirit and that I had not been unfaithful to him. The angel told him to name the child “Jesus,” because he would save his people from their sins. The name itself means “savior.” And now I see. Today my son has fulfilled his destiny, the mission that began so long ago. Today, it has been accomplished.
My own words to my cousin Elizabeth now come back to me. “He has dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” Everything we and our forefathers have waited for, everything we have been promised has been accomplished in my son. Truly today, the prophesy of Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah find their meaning, for through my son, God has visited and ransomed his people. It has all been accomplished.
I remember too my sons words to me when he was twelve years of age and Joseph and I found him with the elders of the Temple, after searching for him for days. Upon questioning him about the worry that he caused us, Jesus said, “Don’t you know I must be about my father’s business?” How strange those words seemed then. But today, I know that this is what today has been about. His father’s business. And now - it has been accomplished.
And then, that time we attended the wedding in Cana. I informed him that the bride’s family had run out of wine. He replied to me, “Woman, my hour has not yet come.” What strange words I thought then. But now I realize that today, on the cross, his hour has finally come. He once said, “Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” That whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life. He said that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood remains in him and he in them. Today, he has become our sacrificial lamb. As his body was slaughtered and his blood shed upon the cross, his flesh has become true food and his blood true drink. Yes son, today your hour has come. It is accomplished.
I recall when John the Baptist sent his disciples to asked him if he was the Messiah. Jesus said, “Go tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” Yes, all this, too, has been accomplished.
In the Garden of Gethsamane last night, I am told that while facing with sheer human terror what he obviously knew was his obvious destiny, he prayed, “Father, not as I will, but your will be done.” He has spread his Father’s word; he has done his Father’s will. And now his Father’s will has been accomplished.
I remember that once he said, “No great love has anyone but this, than to lay down one’s life for those he loves. That is what today has been all about, hasn’t it? He has proved the magnitude of his love. It has been accomplished.
My friends, before I depart from you tonight, I must ask you, has it really all been accomplished? Has it truly been accomplished in you? He accomplished it FOR you; have you let it be accomplished IN you? Do the things Jesus said and did really make a difference in your life? My son once said, “If you make my words your home, you will indeed be my disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Have you allowed his words to find a homewithin you? O my friends, open yourself up to him. Allow him to move you, to shape you, to love you, to transform you. Let his life have meaning to you; let his death have a purpose for you. And if it has been accomplished in you, won’t you take up your cross and follow him? There is still hunger, there is still hatred, there is still injustice in the world. Let him again accomplish it. Let it be accomplished through you!
