Our friend Claudia, an Anglican, pressed this little card with the words “It Is Finished” into my husband’s hand this morning at the coffee shop.
Today, Good Friday, is one of the most significant days in the Christian calendar.
“It is finished” were the last words Jesus uttered.
They were the same words used in his community at the time by the Jewish priests on the Day of Atonement, a day when the priest would sacrifice a lamb to atone to God for the sins of the people.
Christians believe when Jesus said those words, he was shifting the dynamic. His death by crucifixion was a sacrifice that meant no other living being, human or animal, would ever need to be sacrificed again.
His was the last blood sacrifice ever needed and all the rest of us could rely on his sacrifice.
To a believing Anglican, all he or she has to do is believe in that moment, to be with God for eternity.
To find out what grief has taught Claudia, go to:
I grew up in a Christian culture, so every Good Friday I think about what it really means. For more on this, go to: