This week I had an opportunity to work with a man from Salvador. He came over in the 80's under Reagan and got his citizenship. He worked hard for it. He is very proud and happy to be an American, a citizen of a new country after leaving a war torn area depressed by civil unrest and war. As we were talking, he mentioned to me that he was a Christian and always wanted to learn Biblical Greek. I told him I could give him a book that would help him start to learn it and he asked me if I could teach him a word or a phrase to practice this week. I told him since it was Easter, his word for the week was "tetelestai". It is from John 19:28-30. Jesus' last words as he hung on the cross. You might remember the words: "it is finished".
John tells us in his gospel:
John 19:28-30 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said ( to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Firstly, it is important to know that when John tells us that Jesus knew that all was now finished (and we will talk about what he knew in a moment), that Jesus did not just know in the "human" sense. Jesus knew. in verse 28 where it says that Jesus "knowing", it is important to note that the Greek ēdē tetelestai, or "knowing the accomplished" is in grammar what we call a perfect passive indicative. What it means in plain English is that Jesus knew the full significance of what was happening. Now, the only way Jesus could know was if he was more than a man. In order for Jesus to fully know, he must be both God and man. Historically, this is what Christianity has held to. That Jesus was not just a man, and he was not only God, he wasn't a demi-god, or some weird hybrid of meta-human. He was both fully God and fully man. We will come back to this in a moment, because its significance is great. Jesus would have to be both God and man in order to fulfill what was happening on the cross. Now, if you aren't catching the full significance of this here, bear with me. It will all come together in a moment.
Secondly, the passage tells us that when he was thirsty he asked for a drink was was given sour wine on a hyssop branch. Why is this important? Wine was a symbol of communion, of when things were joined together. During a wedding, after the husband and wife were joined, it was celebrated with wine. Contracts were sometimes ratified or made good over sharing a cup of wine. What about hyssop? What is its significance? Well, hyssop was a prickly thorny type plant used in purification services (exodus 12:22, psalm 51:7). in fact, it was a vicarious form of purification. Here is the importance of what's going on here. A hint, if you will, into the fullness of what is happening on the cross. See, one man cannot pay for his own sin. A good man cannot pay for another good man's sin, because he cannot even atone for his own. It takes a man who is both fully man and fully God to be able to atone for sin because of the great debt it puts us into with God the Father. See, here is the genius of God's plan of love for His people. That he loved us (you) so much that he sent Jesus to fulfill all the requirements, to pay all the debt, for us, so we would not have to. Now, there is a whole slew of theological rabbit trails we could go down here... We could talk about the sacrificial nature of Christ, the scapegoat, the Lamb slain, etc... but for now, this will have to suffice. Just remember this. A God-man was required to pay the debt of eternal separation from the Father. This is why Jesus, feeling that abandonment cried out "my God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?". I believe this was doubly felt and seen with the wine served on a hyssop branch. It was sour wine, I believe, signifying separation or broken communion. If good wine is served when communing, then spoiled wine shows a spoiled communion. Jesus, as our representative on the cross, also experiences that spoiled and broken communion. The fact that it is served with hyssop may point to the radical need for man's purification and cleansing from that sin. Jesus hints at the great love he has in doing this for us. He tells us in John 15 that love has no greater gift than this: That a man lay his life down for his friends. Now isn't that cool? Jesus loved us so much he laid his life down for us! The sacrifice was in essence a radical act of love for His people.
Now let's see if I can tie this all in with the third point. That Jesus, in committing the ultimate act of love by laying his life down, accomplished the ultimate act of redemption for those that believe and trust. See, Jesus, being God, knowing that the time of completion is approaching, knowing the great separation from God he is experiencing on the cross which is partially symbolized in the sour wine and hyssop, now, moments before his death makes, perhaps the most important declaration in the history of the world. He says tetelestai, it is finished. He's telling us that with his death, we can have the same love that he demonstrated towards us. He's telling us that the separation we so richly deserve from God because of our own sin is now no longer held to our account. He is telling us this and so much more. That we can have hope, because he took our sin and laid it to his own account (only one who is fully man and God can pull this off). We can have hope because everything that Jesus was born for, the fulfilling of the ceremonial, civil and religious law, was accomplished by him and reached its fulfillment in him.
And we can have faith too. Faith, because we have his resurrection that we celebrate on this day. A resurrection that tells us death no longer has a sting to it. It is not permanent, it is not final. Oh man, here's the thing about the death and resurrection... When Jesus accomplished his work, it left one thing... the application of that work. There is a looking forward as the application of the work Jesus performed works itself to its final completion. The love shown to us as symbolized on this day, gives us hope that it was for us, and faith as we look forward to the consummation of that work where death (which died in the death of Christ) will be no more. It points us to a time where John tells us:
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
(Rev 21:3-5)
Happy Easter--Tetelestai...
