This is the moment. After a night of betrayal and trials, Christ is tried and sentenced to death. The very people that shouted ‘Hosanna’ just a few days ago, are now the ones crying ‘Crucify Him’! Jesus is the only one not surprised. He stands silent in front of Pilate and his accusers. He carries the cross of Barabbas, who was chosen by the crowd to be released. He stands in the place of a criminal…a sinner.
Today is a paradox. Good Friday is a dark time. It is agonizing and full of song. It’s a contradiction. The death of Christ is the life of creation and for us.
There is a term in physics called ‘resonance’. “the reinforcement and prolongation of sound by reflection from a surface or by the synchronous vibration of a neighboring object.” We are all protons, neutrons, atoms, etc… We are all vibrating. When Jesus said “Even the rocks will cry out” there is something to that because even rocks are moving. There is a resonance between nature and creation, even in the cosmos there is sound from galaxies to stars.
Jesus sings Psalm 22 on the cross. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?” The song would fill the valley from the hill. Those passing by mocking him and challenging him. His mother and the other women stand in silence. Jesus still sings. I don’t know what his voice sounded like. I wish I did. I do know that he was having to push up on his pierced feet and pull with his pierced wrists just to get a breath before he would fall down and continue in song. I am sure that the song was full of audible pain and agony. “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me.” He sings for those whom he recalls in memory and those he recalls in future memory. The vibrations and resonance of his song pierce the ears of all of those around. I am sure there were some there witnessing this man sing this Psalm who had to pause and rethink their opinion of him. How well he suffers and the kindness of him that leads people to repent of their thoughts of him. He continues to sing… “They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!” Bruised and broken, bleeding, and completely indistinguishable…the only thing that people could possibly know him by is the voice by which he is speaking and singing. Is this the Messiah? Counted among thieves?
Abraham took Issac up to Mount Moriah, which God says he will tell him about, to sacrifice him in Genesis 22. He believe that God would provide…or else the most incredulous thing is that God would be a liar. At the last minute, God steps in… “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this (and revere me) and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you…and through your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me.” Fast forward to the crucifixion and we see, perhaps, what God told him about the mountain or showed him. Maybe part of the story we don’t know is that Abraham knelt before the cross and said “My God, I know that you revere us, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from us.” This is the covenant promise fulfilled. The dots of the story connect.
Then Christ yells “It is finished”. The perfect tense tetelestai is in a way which describes a PAST completed act with PRESENT effect with FUTURE connections, emphasizing that the past completed event of Christ's death on the Cross has ongoing, even permanent effects. Jesus’ sacrifice may have occurred in time and space, but its results will last for eternity! In other words, when Jesus declared “IT IS FINISHED”, He was saying that His mission to redeem all of creation had reached its intended goal and that the benefits for the redeemed would last throughout eternity and take place from beginning to end. It reaches from creation to new creation. It resonated from the word that spoke into the darkness and said “Let there be light” all the way to the new creation in “Yes, I am coming soon.”
That is the resonance of the cross. The vibrations of the cosmos are wrapped up in the crucifixion and it is finished. The very thing we have all been waiting for is wrapped up in this singularity of human history. Where the God of Gods dies ON OUR BEHALF honoring the covenant. Redeeming us. Rescuing us. Revolutionizing the cosmos. Paying the price for us. Ransoming us. Saving us. Freeing us. Becoming victorious for us. Dying for us. Loving us to the uttermost. All at once, the fulfillment of relationship and love for everything and everyone. And just as the bride of Adam was birth out of his side, the bride of Christ was birth out of his side. His body was broken, his blood poured out, and water flowed from pure love. The rocks and earthquake and cry out. The veil is torn in two from top to bottom. Where we were once told to keep out, he has now told us, with finality, to come in. What wondrous love is this? Oh, my soul! It resonates with humanity because it is the sound of creation and redemption. Can you hear it? Will you sing along?
‘Crucifixion’ by Peter Velikov, Colored etching/aquatint.

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