Τετέλεσται :: John 19:30
Τετέλεσται! It is finished!
Christ’s humble beginning in a manger ended in humiliating shame on a cross.
Τετέλεσται! God with us died.
The ministry that began in the river of new life ended atop the mountain of death.
Τετέλεσται. It is finished!
Guilt, sin, and shame died with God on a cross.
Τετέλεσται.
When the devil heard Jesus utter this word ... Τετέλεσται ... from the cross, he knew it was finished for him, too. Although he had bruised the heel of the Messiah promised to us in Genesis (3:15), bringing the Word of Life to death, even death on a cross, Christ crushed Satan’s head with this one word: Τετέλεσται! The devil now has no power over you any longer. It is finished.
What is also finished is sin’s power. We struggle with sin; we are steeped in it, born in it, and dying in it. Despite our best intentions, we are sinners who sin. We can’t make ourselves holy. We sin against God. We sin against each other. We sin so much we don't even understand our sin or how enormous it really is. So we face death ... for the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). We don’t fear, love, and trust in our God with us above all things. We don’t hallow his name. We don’t remember his sacraments.
It hasn’t always been this way. Man once possessed the image of God, but that was lost in the Fall. Without the image of God, without the holiness of God, we are finished.
But now, because God with us died on a cross, we are no longer slaves to sin. That is finished. Jesus did what we can’t do: True Man lived life in perfect holiness for us. He shed his blood for us. He gave himself to us. He sacrificed himself for us. Τετέλεσται. The goat of God became our sin and carried it out of the gates of the city to be destroyed in the wilderness. Τετέλεσται. He paid our debt that we could not bear. Τετέλεσται.
He has had mercy on us. And now we have his peace. And more than that, we have life. Death has been destroyed. It is finished.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be thankful today, not mournful. The altar is bare and darkness has fallen, but we observe Good Friday not to mourn; instead, remember the Word has declared Τετέλεσται. Let us rejoice and be glad in this word: Τετέλεσται.
The Holy Spirit turns our hearts now toward his rest and resurrection, toward Easter, the eighth day of Holy Week, the first day of the new creation. Behold, He makes all things new. It is finished! Thanks be to God! In Jesus’ name. Τετέλεσται.