Tetelestai

Don’t you love when you go through the drive-thru and the person in front of you paid for your meal?

Or when you go out to dinner with someone and they say “Get whatever you want, my treat!”

I love that feeling. Knowing someone cares about you is amazing. Even a stranger that just wants to be kind is incredible.

What if I told you someone did that for you, but on a much grander scale? What if I told you that there is redemption and healing in the debt that this someone paid.

Well, first, lets get a lesson in hermeneutics. Thats just a big fancy word for interpreting texts, especially from the Bible.

So here we go.

In John 19, we see the sentencing of Jesus to be crucified.

It’s a tough scene, people are shouting for him to be killed, Pilate, the guy in charge, is giving into what the people want even though he doesn’t agree, so by verse 17, Jesus is carrying

His own cross to the place he would be crucified called Golgotha.

Fast forward to verse 30 and he is in rough shape. He has been beaten, tortured, given vinegar instead of water when he was thirsty, and then He said “It is finished” and died.

Now, this is where the hermeneutics comes in. The words “it is finished” are translated from the original greek word tetelestai. Directly translated into complete or finished.

The biggest thing that makes this word so special is the tense in which Jesus used it: perfect tense.

Something so rare that it doesn’t have an English equivalent.

In the Greek language, they have this thing Aorist tense which is punctiliar which refers to something that happens at a specific time: a moment. Mix that with present tense that is linear, and you get perfect tense.

So not only did Jesus say that it is finished in that moment, but he means that it will continue to be finished. You can’t erase it or undo it.

Wow!

Did you make it? That was a lot, but hold onto your hats for this one.

The cool thing about this word is not only it’s tense but that this wasn’t the only time it was used in the Bible.

It shows up again in the New Testament on receipts or bills to indicated that a debt is paid in full.

Whoa.

Hold on.

Jesus didn’t just say it is finished when he died. He said the debt is paid and will continue to be paid.

Sin from the past and sin of the future is covered, paid.

You’re free from your burden of sin.

He handed us the receipt that said “Paid in full. Covered by The Blood.”

2 Corinthians says that God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. That’s a little bit of a tongue twister but simply means: Jesus didn’t owe that debt, but paid it anyway.

He didn’t sin but he paid the sin debt with His life.

So when Jesus said “it is finished” he declared victory for not just right now, but for eternity, over whatever it is that you’re struggling with.

That doesn’t give you liberty to do as you please according to the flesh, but it does give you redemption when you seek true repentance. It does mean grace abounds when you fail.

It means that whatever mess you’ve made, God can make it good.