It Is Finished, John 19:30 Wall Art

The empty cross at sundown

A single cross of weathered timber stands on top of a heap of boulders, its two beams lashed together with a twist of rope where they meet. There is no figure, no crowd, no title board: the cross is empty. Around the rocks grow a few tufts of dry scrub.

Behind the hill, the sun sits just above a line of blue-gray mountains, and the sky is washed in peach, apricot and soft gray cloud. It could be the evening of the crucifixion or the first light of another day; the painting leaves that open. The words “It is finished” are written large at the top, with John 19:30 in smaller script underneath.

What did Jesus mean by “It is finished”?

John records the moment precisely: “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” Just before, John notes that Jesus spoke “that the scripture might be fulfilled” (John 19:28). So these are not the words of a man whose life has run out, but of someone who has completed a task.

In Greek the phrase is a single word, tetelestai, meaning brought to its end, accomplished, carried through. The same verb appears earlier in the chapter, when Jesus knew that all things were now accomplished. Some preachers point out that related forms of it have been found on ancient receipts, in the sense of a debt settled, which is how Christians came to hear in it the idea of a price paid in full.

That idea gave its name to a well-known hymn. “Jesus Paid It All” was written by Elvina Hall in Baltimore in 1865, reportedly jotted down in the flyleaf of a hymnal during a church service, and it is still sung widely in American churches, especially during Holy Week.

In the home at Easter and beyond

Families put this print up for Lent and Good Friday, then leave it on the wall long after Easter, because the sunset colors are warm rather than somber. With no figure on the cross, it also suits homes and churches that prefer a plain cross. It works as a gift after an adult baptism or a return to faith, and fits a hallway, stairwell or living room.