It Is Finished - the Knockout Blow

When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. – John 19.30

On October 30, 1974, George Foreman defended his world heavyweight boxing title against former champ Muhammad Ali. The bout took place in Zaire, Africa. Sports writers dubbed it "The Rumble in the Jungle."

            All the odds favored Foreman: at twenty-four he was in his prime and had a right hand that could punch through the hull of a battleship. He had stopped Joe Frazier in two rounds to win the belt and then defended it by dispatching Ken Norton - the only man besides Frazier ever to beat Ali - in the same fashion. Ali, on the other hand, at thirty-two had been idle for over three years because he resisted the Viet Nam draft. He then fought Frazier for the title and lost decisively.

            The older challenger had one real weapon: He was incredibly quick on his feet and could stay out of Foreman's reach while outscoring him. In the first round, however, Foreman showed that he was ready for this tactic by moving to cut off the ring, forcing Ali to take two steps for the champ's one. If this kept up, the older man would tire and fall prey to Foreman's fearsome punching power.

            But Ali had prepared a secret weapon. In round two, he began to lean on the ropes and cover up. He let the bigger man pound away at his arms and shoulders without scoring any points or doing any real damage. Meanwhile, Ali took every opportunity to shoot quick blows to the face between Foreman's guard, causing the champ's eyes to swell. Then, he began taunting his opponent. "They told me you could punch, George!" he hissed. "They told me you could punch like Joe Louis!" Enraged and inexperienced, Foreman lost his temper and began slugging away, quickly tiring himself without harming his opponent. He began to fade in the jungle heat.

            In the seventh round, Foreman made one last effort. He bulled Ali into the ropes and unleashed a right hand to the ribs that by all the laws of physics should have come out the other side. Instead, Ali rode the force of the punch, sagged back on the ring ropes and bounced onto Foreman's chest, whispering in his ear, "Is that all you got, George?" As Foreman himself later testified, he thought to himself at that moment, "Yeah, that's about it."

            It was: In the eighth round Ali suddenly cut loose with a lightning-fast five punch combination ending in a left hook that brought Foreman's head straight up. Ali tagged this target with a right cross and Foreman crashed to the canvass. He did not fall back with the momentum of the blow, but forward, meaning the lights had all gone out. With a champion's heart he clambered to his feet at the count of nine and the referee waved Ali back in, but after two seconds jumped between the men to declare a TKO.

            THAT is the force of the phrase, “It is finished” in John 19.30. Jesus has taken everything that Satan and Death can dish out. Judas' betrayal, Peter's denial, the Sadducees' mock trials, and the Roman's realpolitik are not his enemy; they are boxing gloves on the fists of the real enemy. In this moment, as Death deals its final blow, Jesus sags back on the bar of his cross, surges upward one final time and cries out using the Greek perfect tense of the verb meaning "to complete." It describes an action done in the past and powerful into the present. He declares that for all time he has taken everything that sin and the penalty of sin has to dish out, faced every charge that the Accuser can bring against humanity, and emptied them of all power. A legitimate paraphrase would be, "Is that all you got, Devil?" To which Satan must eternally reply, "Yep, that's about it." Three days later the knock-out blow of the Resurrection leaves Christ with his hand raised before an eternally defeated foe, but all the real fight goes out of our ancient Enemy in this triumphant moment on Good Friday.