By Kelly Carr

Think about the last big goal you set for yourself. You had a date of accomplishment looming somewhere in the future. To get to that point, there were steps along the way you had to first traverse. But at last you arrived at the moment of completion.

How does it feel now that you’ve met your goal? Is there triumph? relief? even a possible letdown, wondering what’s next now that this is finished?

Think about this week in the life of Jesus, from Palm Sunday to Good Friday. His entire earthly dwelling, 33 years, had been leading up to this point. He faced the ultimate goal—salvation of all humankind. No pressure, right?

Though he was God, here he was fully human. There was nothing preventing Jesus from feeling the full amount of agony, shame, and abandonment—all the physical and mental anguish that could be experienced during the torturous capital punishment known as crucifixion.

Truly this was his goal. Yet what a strange culmination to his mission. Look how he acted during the days leading up to this certain, painful death. He paraded into town. He kept teaching. He reached out to his disciples with the humble act of cleansing their feet. He prayed earnestly for all of us.

Jesus lived out his final week just as he had been doing in the previous years. He fully kept on with his ministry until his dying breath. He lived out his mission until the final minutes. And then he reset the clock and gave a curtain call.

This was what his three decades of life had been all about. This is why a tiny, innocent baby was born in Bethlehem and lived out a childhood, an adolescence, and matured into an adult. This one weekend—a Friday death, a Sunday resurrection—made the difference between death and life to every human soul.

Jesus’ goal was met. It is finished. He created the salvation offered to even us. Now what will we do with it?