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I’ve been thinking about the concept of unfinished work for the last few weeks now. About books or plays that don’t get finished. About movies that never get made.
I remember the story of the comedy movie that has now killed four Hollywood stars and hasn’t even been filmed. I mean, is it really a curse if you hire four actors for a role and three of them were known to have serious health and drug problems leading up to their untimely deaths? Only one of them was really all that shocking. But I still love the story.
But no, the one story that has really been sticking with me lately is the story of David Foster Wallace and his final novel. In some circles, DFW (not the airport) is considered one of the most genius American novelists ever. His tome Infinite Jest has garnered much praise in academic circles. There are even people known as “Wallace Scholars” now, for a man whose literary corpus us, frankly, pretty small. That’s the sort of prestige his work wields.
While Infinite Jest is considered a triumph in post-post-modern American fiction, I’m more intrigued by Wallace’s unfinished novel, The Pale King. See, he died while working on this book. More accurately, Wallace killed himself and left a suicide note next to the last draft of the new novel that he would ever work on. When Wallace died in September 2008, he succumbed to a lifelong struggle with depression.
As is the case with most unfinished works, Wallace’s The Pale King would forever be left in limbo by its author’s death.
There are hundreds, thousands of examples of potentially great works that were left unfinished by the death of their creator.
As we celebrate Easter, though, I want us to consider the strange realization that the death of Jesus did not end His work. The fact is that His work is still unfinished strictly because He is alive!
You see, we call these great works of art “unfinished” because their creators did not have time on Earth to get them to a satisfactory point of completion. So in that regard, sure. They are unfinished.
At the same time, though, these books or films or what have you are as finished as they ever will be. Even if another artist comes behind and tries to add something to them, these works will never really be any more finished than they are right now. They were finished the moment that their creator was.
Jesus, though, Jesus is still working to this day.
But I will take my argument one step further. Perhaps in a direction that people are uncomfortable with, but please be patient and allow me to explain what I really mean. See, Jesus’ death was not the end of his labor. I think we can all agree with that statement.
Even if Jesus Himself did say something seemingly contradicting my claim in that moment:
When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
John 19:30 (NLT)
What do we think Jesus was saying here? What exactly had been finished?
You could say that His sinless life was finished. That was, after all, one of the requirements of His sacrifice. Jesus had to live a perfect, sinless life to be the holy sacrifice that God the Father required of Him. And, with His death, Jesus became that sacrifice.
A man carries a cross up Stone Mountain during an Easter sunrise service several years ago. (Photo by Adam Wynn)
We could say that His obedience to the Father was finished in that moment. God had given Jesus a task to do, and this was the end of it. Jesus had followed through and done everything that the Father had asked of Him. The end. It was finished.
Then there’s the really big question: Did Jesus mean that the work of salvation was done?
I’ve asked this question myself a time or two. Did Jesus dying on the cross do enough to save us? Was that work finished with the Crucifixion, or was there something else needed?
Personally, I believe that the work of salvation was finished when Jesus died. He was the sacrifice, after all, and He willingly gave Himself up on the cross and died. That was the sacrifice, wasn’t it?
But before I finish my argument, I want to take a quick side-stroll through the entirety of Scripture here. I think we have this idea sometimes that the cross of Jesus Christ is some mystical relic that displayed some deep, hidden magic for the forgiveness of sin. There were conditions that Jesus had to meet and certain actions He had to take in order to do everything just right, or else it wouldn’t work.
We can look at all the prophesies in the Old Testament that talk about Jesus. We can talk about how the author of Hebrews summed up the Old Testament laws like this:
In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.
Hebrews 9:22 (NLT)
There you have it. The anonymous author of Hebrews says it clearly that there has to be a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. This is your mystical answer, right?
Then we can look at the Passover where God foreshadowed Jesus’ death in so many ways, with the blood on the doorposts and the death of the firstborn.
We could consider this handy little Levitical law that seems rather strange without any clarifying context that would come a couple thousand years later.
If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree, the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung* is cursed in the sight of God. In this way, you will prevent the defilement of the land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession.
Deuteronomy 21:22-23 (NLT) *Greek version reads: for everyone who is hung on a tree.
Hung on a tree. That seems strangely specific, but okay. I guess this means that there is something significant about people being hung on a tree. And for the pedants out there, it is significant that they aren’t saying “hanged” here. Just saying.
But here’s the thing we have to remember. Who set all these rules up? Who created these systems?
Photo by Daniel Joshua on Unsplash
Did God wake up one day, see humanity’s sin, and say to himself, “Well, I guess I need to consult the magic rule book and see what I need to do to fix this situation?”
God made the rules. God set up this whole system. So the death of Jesus was not a mystical ceremony that fulfilled the ancient rites. It was much greater than that. The death of Jesus was a beautiful love note from God saying, “This is what I have given for you. This is how much I love you.” We cheapen the death of Jesus when we treat it like a grand ritual from some pagan festival, when really it was God completing a painful sacrifice that He demanded of Himself to buy us back from our own sin and degradation. That’s how great the Father’s love is for us.
But beyond all that, we then need to consider the fact that God’s work did not end with the death of Jesus on the cross. If that’s true, then why not? Why then, when Jesus says, “It is finished,” was it not totally finished?
So let’s imagine that the work of Jesus was done on the cross. That the death of Jesus was all that was sufficient to give us forgiveness and salvation from the punishment of our sins. Then let’s consider that Jesus just stayed dead and went to the Father in spirit. God could have done it that way, right?
Now if we said that God established this whole system of signs and signals so that we would recognize His love for us when it was displayed on the cross, then it stands to reason that God also had a point in raising Jesus up again.
Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed — for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home.
John 20:1-10 (NLT)
Take a look at the despair in Mary Magdalene’s words. She is distraught over Jesus’ body missing here. All of the followers of Jesus were in emotional turmoil after watching him die on the cross just a couple days before, and now they have to contend with his missing body.
But then let’s look at how quickly things change for Mary just a few moments later.
Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
“Mary!” Jesus said.
She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).
“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
John 20:11-18 (NLT)
In an instant, everything changes for Mary! She sees that Jesus is alive. He had been dead, but now He is alive! And what do you think she was feeling here in this moment?
What good is a hope and truth if we don’t know it exists? (Photo by Austin Chan on Unsplash)
Mary was filled with joy, yes, but surely she was also overcome with hope. If Jesus is alive again, what else is possible in the Lord? And doesn’t that mean that everything He has said about eternal life for them is also true?
The reason I say that Jesus’ work wasn’t finished on the cross is because salvation alone, somehow, wasn’t enough. Just like how God had set up these signs of how Jesus would die, God also wanted to give us a very obvious sign that He was still in control, that Jesus was His son, and that death is not the end.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ serves as our reminder that we have hope in Him. It’s funny when you think about it. The death of Jesus took away our death, and the resurrection of Jesus shows us that.
But here’s what we need to really understand about the unfinished work of Easter. The work of Jesus wasn’t finished when He died, and it wasn’t finished when God brought Him back from the dead, either. And to this day, the work of Jesus is still going on.
That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
John 20:19-23 (NLT)
The work of Jesus Christ isn’t finished because now it’s our work! We are the ones who are called to go out and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ now.
The Disciples had a job to do. Now, they were responsible for going out and telling everyone what they had seen. Just like the death of Jesus was a public sign of God’s love for us, just like His resurrection was a public sign that God brought hope, the unfinished work of Easter is that we now have to be a public sign that God changes lives. That Jesus Christ changes lives.
One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
John 20:24-29 (NLT)
I have often said that nobody can come face to face with the real person of Jesus Christ and have a neutral response. You will either love Him or hate Him.
Thomas knew Jesus, Thomas loved Jesus, but Thomas also did not believe that Jesus had come back to life like He said He would.
What do you need to see from Jesus today? (Photo by Pisit Heng on Unsplash)
And Jesus didn’t abandon Thomas for this unbelief. Jesus could have said, “Well, you missed your chance, buddy boy. Sorry.” But that’s not who Jesus is and that’s not what Jesus does. Just like Jesus gave Peter a second chance after Peter denied that he even knew Jesus (John 18:15-27), Jesus gave Thomas another chance to see Jesus. And not only that, but Jesus showed Thomas exactly what Thomas needed to see in order to believe. And then Thomas believed. Jesus changed Thomas’ life. Again.
Listen to me. You may be reading all of this and thinking that you have no business talking about the Bible or celebrating Easter. You may be thinking that you have missed your chance to follow Jesus or to seek forgiveness.
I am telling you right now that Jesus paid way too high of a price for your life to cut your chances short. Jesus gave His life for you. That’s love. And that love gives you a chance today and every day for the rest of your life to say, “I’m sorry, God. I know I’ve sinned against you. Please forgive me, in the name of Jesus Christ.”
The death of Jesus made it so we could be forgiven, the resurrection of Jesus showed us that there is hope for life, but the unfinished work of Jesus Christ is you.
If you are longing to know the forgiveness that Jesus offers, you can. It’s simple. We simply have to acknowledge our need for a savior, that we are broken people who can’t do this life alone. And then we have to believe what Jesus said about Himself: That He is the son of God and that He died on the cross for us and rose again on the third day. After that, we have to understand that God is greater than us and that He deserves to be in control of our life.
“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”
The work that Jesus Christ finished on the cross, and the work that He finished at the Resurrection, were just the beginning. The unfinished work is you and the life that God wants to build in you for His glory.
And here is the Good News: You’ve got the rest of your life to let God complete a great work in you. And you never what great work God will do through you. I don’t know about you, but I am so thankful that I am not a finished work. And I am thankful for the love of Jesus that finds me where I am and says, “Let me make you better.” I am thankful to be an unfinished work this Easter.