IT IS FINISHED! The most powerful words in human history! What it takes three words to express in English the apostle John records in the single Greek word-tetellestai. Finished! Complete! This is no whimpering word of surrender-no throwing in of the proverbial towel, though one may well imagine that Jesus' enemies and indeed the enemy of our souls believed it so! No! This is a victory shout; for in surrendering His will to the Father, in surrendering His back to the smiter and His body to the executioner JESUS IS VICTORIOUS!
Tetellestai-IT IS A VICTORY SHOUT for Jesus and for us!
In Greek it is an artist's word-the word a sculptor would use when having put down his chisel he stepped back to admire his work! Finished!
It is a merchant's word often scribbled atop invoices and shouted in the marketplace to proclaim a debt paid in full! TETELLESTAI Our debt paid in full, God's masterpiece of redemption accomplished!
The tense of this verb is interesting though. It conveys the sense that while it is an accomplished work it is somehow ongoing, leading scholar Richard Niehaus to conclude that perhaps the best translation for John 19:30 is, "It is finished but it's not over!" Indeed our work has just begun as Jesus gives us the task of sharing the "goodness" of this Friday with a world lost in sin. Redemption's story demands that we live our lives in such a way that when we are ready to give up our spirits we can say with Paul, "I have finished the race" and with Jesus, "Father, I have accomplished the work that you gave me to do."
It is finished but it's not over because to borrow a phrase from a sermon oft quoted by Christian sociologist Tony Campolo, "It's Friday but Sunday's coming!"
TETELLESTAI! IT IS FINISHED!
No comments:
Post a Comment