The 7 Last Words and the Nicene Creed: ‘It Is Finished’

National Catholic Register, 19 April 2025

Jesus’ final words from the Cross — ‘It is finished’ — do not signal an end, but a consummation. Through the Creed and the Cross, we are invited into the mystery that continues through the Church, the sacraments, and the promise of resurrection.

“When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished’; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. … After this Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him leave. So he came and took away his body. Nicodemus also, who had at first come to him by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds in weight. They took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb where no one had ever been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, as the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.” — (John 19:30, 38-42)

The seventh and final word from the Cross, concluding our meditations this Lent on the Nicene Creed, sounds fitting: It is finished. At the same time, it is a bit unsatisfactory, maybe even a bit confusing. What is “it” that is finished?

The execution of Jesus is finished; He speaks just before He dies. But the passion is not finished; the death of Jesus is only the 12th station of the Via Crucis. There are two more: Jesus is taken down from the Cross and placed in the arms of the Blessed Mother. He is then wrapped in linen and laid in the tomb. Those stations also belong to the Passion.

It is finished cannot refer to the Paschal mystery as a whole, because the death and burial are not the end of the story. To the contrary, there is a great deal of activity to come.

It is finished comes from the 19th chapter of John’s Gospel. In his account, the piercing of Jesus’ side follows, which is enormously significant. In Matthew’s Gospel, the moment of the death is accompanied by signs and wonders.

“And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe, and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” (Matthew 27:51-54)

The sequence is not absolutely clear, but at the moment of His death, on that Friday afternoon, tombs were opened and bodies were raised. It is finished but there is still a lot going on.

The Scripture speaks of a “day of preparation.” That specifically refers to a great Jewish feast at hand, but it is suggestive that soon after we hear “it is finished,” we speak of preparation. Work remains to be done.

Jesus lies in the tomb. We know now that something mysterious and marvelous was at work. The Shroud of Turin, venerated as the burial garment of Jesus, is being miraculously imprinted. Even today, with the most advanced scientific techniques, we cannot explain that image. Work was being done in the tomb.

On Holy Saturday morning, the Liturgy of the Hours (Breviary) includes an anonymous ancient homily: “Awake, O sleeper.” Christ is going to all those the dead awaiting redemption. “Awake, O sleeper, rise and let us leave this place.” It was not all finished on Friday afternoon.

Biblically, St. Paul teaches that if Christ did not rise, then our faith is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:14). So it cannot be that “it” is finished without Christ risen from the dead.

Sacramentally, we make present on the altar that same sacrifice of Calvary. It is not a new sacrifice. It is not a repetition of an old sacrifice. The same sacrifice that Jesus offered to His Father on the Cross is made present to us in this time and this place. With Catholics in every time zone, Holy Mass is being offered somewhere at all times. We might permit ourselves to say that nothing ever was less “finished” than the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, for it is always continuing sacramentally, it is perpetually present in the world, offered to the Father.

There is an inadequacy of language. There are dozens of English translations of the Scriptures and most have “it is finished.” But a minority offer a variation — “It is accomplished” — which means something different. Accomplishment can be something enduring. We might say of a certain figure that he is a man of great accomplishment. We don’t mean that he is finished accomplishing, much less that he is dead.

“Accomplished” is likely better than “finished” for the seventh word. In the Latin Vulgate, the official Latin version of the Bible — which itself is a translation of the original languages — this verse is rendered, “consummatum est.” More literal English translations thus have, “it is consummated.”

To consummate something means to complete it, to bring it to fulfillment. It doesn’t mean that it is finished. It means, in fact, that it endures. It continues in its fulfillment.

Consummation is fitting for a covenant; a covenant is made and then there is an act of consummation to solemnize that covenant. The covenant, once consummated, defines a new relationship and a new reality. We use that term in relation to the marital covenant, but it has a broader application. There were covenants in the history of salvation and they were ritualized, solemnized, consummated.

Consummatum est better describes what is happening on the Cross. A new covenant has been consummated. Something has been completed, fulfilled. The physical sufferings of the Lord Jesus have ended with His death. The passion is soon to be completed with His burial. But it is not the end.

After His resurrection, Jesus preserves some memories, some tokens, some scars of the Passion. He shows to St. Thomas the wounds in His hands and feet, the opening in His side. These He carries with Him because they have some enduring value. They are signs of a covenant, just as the older covenants had their own signs. This new covenant has not been left to history or locked away in the past. It has been fulfilled, completed, consummated — and it endures.

As we come to the seventh word, we come to the end of the Nicene Creed. It too describes a lot of activity in its final lines:

I believe in one, holy, Catholic and apostolic church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins, I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

The Creed describes the age of the Church. The Church — one, holy, catholic and apostolic — extends herself across two millennia and in every corner of the map, every longitude and latitude on the globe. The work of the Church is not finished even though the consummation of the Cross was long ago accomplished. The work of the Church is to baptize to forgive sins. And then Christians disciples look forward.

The Creed does not only profess what Jesus did in past, although we recall that with faith and gratitude. The Creed looks forward, literally: I look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

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