Paid in Full

Yet another sterling sermon from the pulpit of St. Justin's this Good Friday. Some highlights from Fr. A. N. Onomous' homily:

In the passion story according to John which we have just heard, the last words that Jesus said on the cross before he bowed his head and gave up the spirit is "It is finished" (John 19:30). Three words in English, but in the original Greek it is just one word, tetelestai. This word is from the Greek teleo, which means to bring to completion, to carry out into full operation, to bring something to its appointed goal.

Scholars obtained greater insight into the meaning of this expression a few years ago after some archaeologists dug up in the Holy Land a tax collector's office that was almost intact, with all the tax records and everything. There were two stacks of tax records and one of them had the word, tetelestai, on the top. In other words, "paid in full." These people don't owe anything anymore.

So, when Jesus said "It is finished," what then is finished?” It is the debt we owe God by our sins—from the sins of the last human being right back to the first sin of Adam and Eve which ruptured Man’s friendship with God, losing the inherent gift of sanctifying grace, bringing death and disharmony into creation, and closing the gates of Heaven. Jesus in his humanity can pay the debt of sin on behalf of mankind, and in his divinity, Jesus can repay the debt for sin on the level of the infinite; for all sin is an offence against an infinite God.

The Jews of Jesus' time saw sin as a debt that we owe God, a debt that must somehow be repaid. Jesus used that kind of language and often spoke of sin as debt, and forgiveness as a cancellation of debt. He told the parable of the unforgiving servant whom his master forgave the debt that he had no way of repaying but who went out and insisted on getting back the small debt that his fellow servant owed him. This was a way of teaching us that when we are forgiven by God we must in turn forgive our neighbour.

He taught us to pray "Forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are indebted to us" (Mt. 6: 12; cf. Mt. 6: 9-13) – the parallel is found in the Gospel of Luke 11: 2-4 -- which simply means "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Jesus clearly used the language of commerce to speak of the spiritual relationship between God and us and between us and our neighbour. So on the cross he says, "It is paid in full."

In John 3 Jesus spoke of the necessity of being "born again", "of water and the spirit" through baptism. As the Nicene Creed states, "We believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins". This is how we intially access the infinite funds of Grace that pays our sin debt. But what of sins committed after baptism? As Father Onomous explains, John's Gospel goes on to recount the Resurrected Jesus' institution of the sacrament of Reconcilation, or Confession:

21Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." 22And with that he breathed on [the apostles] and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven" (John 19:21-23).

Avoid sin, of course - but if we fail, God’s Himself waits in the Sacrament of Penance, where, when we confess our sins with real sorrow and desire to amend and change our ways, Christ through the priest cleanses our souls anew, and continues his redeeming work begun on the Cross, and continuing for us until we enter into eternity.

It is only those who have recieved such forgiveness that can truly call this Friday "Good".