Sunday Worship Service November 17, 2024

Prelude
Call to Worship Isaiah 46:10
Hymn JBC # 105 There is sunshine in my soul today
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC # 236 What can wash away my sin?
Testimony
Offering
Scripture John 19:28～30
Prayer
Sermon “It is finished”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 379 We've a story to tell the nations
Doxology JBC # 676
Benediction
Postlude

All of us will eventually reach our final moment, the time of death. How should we face the inevitable death that will eventually come?
　I believe that facing our own death leads us to seriously consider “how to live now” and “how to make the most of this life that has been given to us and how to live our lives”.
I once had a time of learning with an elderly couple of our church about the end of life.
That is because they themselves had wished that not just what they wanted to do about funerals, graves, and remains (ashes) after death, but they wanted to learn what the Bible says about those things and how they should think and prepare about their own funerals and remains based on their faith.

I think our sessions took place a couple of times when I visited the couple, and we read the Bible together and we thought together about preparing for death, funerals, and remains.
It was a very good time for me to rethink how to prepare for death in light of our faith.
　To think about death is to think about life. And when we think about our lives, I think that we often wonder ``What was I born for?'' and ``What is the purpose of life?''
Don’t we wish somewhere in our mind that we want to “accomplish something” in our lives. Even if we don't think it as “accomplish”, at the end of our lives, don’t we wish to be able to say “at least my life had some meaning.”
Today we would like to think about what we really should do with our lives, based on Jesus' appearance on the cross and his last words at that time.

Let me read the verse 28.
Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”

On the cross, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” And by Jesus’ saying “I am thirsty” it is written “so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”
These “Scripture” are the words of Psalm 22:14-15 (15~16 in Japanese Bible).

Psalm 22:14~15
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.
　　 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd (*a shard of pottery).
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.

John, the author of the Gospel of John, interpreted that the Lord went through the suffering of “thirst” was that the Lord God Himself was facing, through Jesus, the suffering and agony as described in the Bible.
According to the Gospel of Mark, Jesus cried out in a loud voice on the cross, “Eloi, Eloi, lema, sabachthani” (meaning My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?).
Those were also the opening words of Psalm 22. Therefore, Jesus himself was thinking of the words of this Psalm on the cross as he was dying.
Jesus found the meaning of his mission and suffering given to him in the words of the Bible. the words in the Psalm, and he drew strength from the words of the Bible.
We, too, can find the meaning and significance of our lives in the words of the Bible. In this way, we can receive the power to live from the words of the Bible.

　There would be times of suffering in our lives as described in the Psalm. But at the same time, as in Psalm 23, "I will fear no evil when I go through the valley of the shadow of death. You are with me." Like this we also receive the Word of God, which is truly our hope and strength.
So, we want to always be familiar with the words of the Bible, which sustain us, give us strength, and guide us in times of trouble.
And what is the meaning that Jesus said “I am thirsty”? It is God's “thirst” to save us all human. It means that “the Lord has given us everything”.
The Lord God has given us human beings everything we need for our salvation, so much so that the Lord has nothing else to give, nothing to spare. He gave us all through Jesus.

　　Jesus said in John 7:37, “Whoever is thirsty, come to me and drink. Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.
That is if we believe in Jesus, we will receive living water that never decays, flowing from within us like rivers.
But for this to happen, the Lord Himself had to experience the suffering of total “thirst” on the cross.
Jesus Himself, who said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink” was thoroughly thirsty on the cross.
The Lord Himself, more than anyone else, experienced the suffering of the thirsty. He did this so that we might be healed and filled (fulfilled).

　Seeing that figure of Jesus, what are we encouraged to do? We cannot give everything in the way Jesus did.
But we can try to live a little like the Lord Jesus Christ who said, “I an thirsty” and continued to give all that he had until the end.
We, too, can try to live a life of “giving” like Jesus. Let us look up to the Lord who said, “I am thirsty” and gave His life for us.
We, too, should be aware of the needs of others, and if there is anything we can do to help, we should “give” as much as we can.

I will read the verse 29 to 30.
29 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. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

In the last part, it says, “he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” . The Greek words for “gave up his spirit” is “entrusted his spirit” or “surrendered his spirit”.
Lord Jesus entrusted his spirit with God the Father in heaven. This is a figure of “complete obedience to God the Father” and “complete trust in God the Father”.
　The people there offered Jesus on the cross “wine vinegar soaked in a sponge”. This wine would have quenched Jesus' thirst, even if only for a moment.
It is also said that the wine may have had an “anesthetic (kill the pain)” effect, relieving physical pain.

Jesus accepted the wine that was offered to him. Jesus Christ, who is God, does not need the help from people.
After giving all that He had for others and after saying, “I am thirsty,” He accepted the wine that was offered to Him who was suffering, as if God were receiving mercy from people.
And so, Jesus said, all that needed to be accomplished was “accomplished” there.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus said, when he sent his disciples, “Whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is my disciple, he will surely receive his reward.”
On the cross, Jesus himself truly became “one of the little ones” and accepted the wine offered by the people.
We humans have pride. Often, it is our pride that sustains us.
We like to think that we are “living on our own,” and we don't want to be dependent on others as much as possible. (I think I have a strong tendency of that).
we can get rid of or overcome this pride, many of the relationship problems among us will be solved and we will be able to respect others as better than ourselves, as the Bible says.
And I believe we will be able to gratefully receive the help offered to us by others.
Jesus Christ, the Lord God, accepted the wine offered to Him from people in the midst of His extreme suffering. Therefore, let us also extend to one another even the smallest help.

When we suffer, when we need help, let us gratefully receive the help offered by others.
　The figure of Jesus teaches us that we can and should live by the help of others. In this way we are made alive together.
　We may sometimes look back at the past and at our present selves and wonder, “What was and is my life all about?”
But if we look up to Jesus Christ on the cross, we do not feel as if something is missing, nor do we feel rushed (dissatisfied), thinking, “Don't I need to do more?”
Because the Bible tells us that the Lord “has done everything, accomplished everything” for us on the cross.
All we have to do is look up to the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, and know and thank Him for the grace He has given us.
And we are to share this grace with others, confess our faith in our own lives and words, and put our faith into practice in the way we live.
And we are to support others and be supported by others at the same time. We are not to live in a one-way relationship where we are the only giver, but in a relationship where everyone supports each other.
　Let us give and receive (be supported), and let us follow the example of Jesus Christ on the cross, and let us live together in the days of the new week, thankful and hopeful that all that is necessary for us has already been “accomplished” by the Lord.