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Genesis 2:1 – Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude.
In Hebrew, that verse looks like this: וְהָאָ֖רֶץ הַשָּׁמַ֥יִם וַיְכֻלּ֛וּ
The Hebrew word for finished is וַיְכֻלּ֛וּ way-ḵul-lū which comes from the root word כָּלָה (kalah) { kaw-law’}. The expression finished here means “consummated” or ” to perform the last act which completes a process, to accomplish, fulfill.” Everything that needs to be done has been done. It is a fully-completed, made-to-order, exactly-right process concluded properly and correctly in every possible way. Whatever can or needs to come next can succeed because the perfect preparation for it has been completed. Remember? The verse immediately before this one says 31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31) All the other days of creation ended with “And God saw that it was good.” At the end of the sixth day, indeed it was very good, so good in fact, that God could rest for a day after all the work he had cone creating the Heavens and the Earth and all that is in them. It was the perfect ending of all he had done. Now, with that in mind, let us look at today’s word from the Cross:
John 19:30 – 30 When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
“It is finished.” In Greek, this is Τετέλεσται, (Tetélestai) {teh-TEH-les-tie}. Some translations read, “It is consummated,” which is another appropriate translation of the word Τετέλεσται. This expression comes from a Greek word τελέω teléō {tel-eh’-o}, which also means consummation, or to complete a process all the way through the final step which means everything that needed to be done has been done. It is a fully-completed, made-to-order, exactly-right process concluded properly and correctly in every possible way. Whatever can or needs to come next can succeed because the perfect preparation for it has been completed. Wait. That sounds familiar! So, could it be that way-ḵul-lū in Hebrew and teh-TEH-les-tie in Greek have the same denotative and connotative meanings? Certainly! Jesus was there when the words of Genesis 2:1 were spoken (think of John 1:3a – All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.)
Jesus had not gone to his death completely unaware of what was happening, what would happen, or what the results would be. As is prayed in the Eucharistic Prayer, “He entered willingly into his Death. ”He fully understood what was in that cup he asked his Father about in Gethsemane. He completely emptied that cup so that it was fully-completed, made-to-order, one exactly-right process concluded properly and correctly in every possible way. He completed that process in the same way that Adam had undone the perfection of creation.
- Adam’s fall and death came through the use of his free will to disobey.
- Jesus’ death and resurrection came through the use of his free will to obey. You might think of these two events as mirror opposites.
- Adam fell and died through disobedience.
- Christ died and rose through obedience.
- Eve, mother of all the living, received life through the flesh of the sleeping Adam.
- Mary, Mother of the Living God gave flesh to Jesus in her womb because of her conscious decision [fiat] to be the handmaid of the Lord.
- The sin which brings death through Adam becomes the death of sin through Christ.
- Sin is finished, forgiven, and forgotten – conquered by the Lamb of God that was slain for our salvation. But it is not unmade yet. There is still much to wait upon in God’s Absolutely Perfect Plan! We need to look back to our Old Friend, Abraham,
Rather than the ceremonial Kittel often worn by one presiding at a Seder Meal, Jesus was stripped of his clothing and exposed in ways that were atrociously demeaning to Jews. Yet, he endured all of this willingly. Abraham, we recall, accepted God’s request to perform a ritual sacrifice of his only son through Sarah – Isaac – on the mountaintop because Abraham reasoned that God’s promise was trustworthy and somehow – no matter what Abraham did to Isaac, God’s promise that a host of nations would come from Abraham would be a fully-completed, made-to-order, exactly-right process concluded properly and correctly in every possible way. Whatever can or needs to come next could succeed because the perfect preparation for it had been completed.
Wait! That sounds familiar! That is the APP! Many generations later, Moses and Aaron would lead the children of Isaac’s son, Jacob, out of Egypt – another fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation. Salvation came to us in our present-day World through the Only Begotten Son of God who is “a Priest forever.” And who was the Priest to whom Abram (before he was renamed Abraham) gave a tenth of all his possessions in thanksgiving to God for a victory over his enemies? Check this passage from Genesis:
Genesis 14:18-20 – 18 And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. 19 He blessed him and said,
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
maker of heaven and earth;
20 and blessed be God Most High
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”
And Abram gave him one-tenth of everything.
That crosses back to Psalm 110:4 – The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” The Apostle Paul writes of this encounter in Hebrews. Hebrews 5:5-10 – Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”;
6 as he says also in another place,
“You are a priest forever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8 Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; 9 and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, 10 having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Paul finishes up in the seventh chapter (take the time to read it, please) of Hebrews with an astute analysis of God’s fulfillment of his plan of Salvation (that Glorious APP) tying it all to Abram’s encounter with Melchizedek. Truly, that plan was consummated when Jesus pronounced, “It is finished.” But, for us, Beloved, it all began there!
Jesus’ willing sacrifice made in obedience was the one and only fully-completed, made-to-order, exactly-right process concluded properly and correctly in every possible way. Whatever can or needs to come next can succeed because the perfect preparation for it has been completed. Next week we will examine the one remaining statement made by Jesus on the Cross. Until then, I pray you will have a wonderfully transforming Holy Week beginning with Palm Sunday and ending with Easter Vigil. Please, let us all allow Jesus to love us – we do have a choice you know – so let us give him permission to change our hearts (↔ Music Link) and souls according to HIS Absolutely Perfect Plan.
“Change my heart? How? What? Why?” Ezekiel 36:26-28 – 26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. 28 Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. What does that mean? Belovéd, we are broken people, hard-hearted, stubborn, willful (with our Free Will), and repeatedly sliding back into our wickedness and selfish pride – and that is Satan’s Abysmally Persistent Threat – his SAPT. All he needs from us is a little sandy grain of rebellion, and he can turn that into a heavy, stony, insulting rejection of God’s Perfect Love in, through, and with Christ Jesus. Again we ask, “Why?” Because you shall be my people, and I will be your God. What does that get us?
“Τετέλεσται, (Tetélestai) {teh-TEH-les-tie}
. That means that the wage of sin – the DEATH PENALTY – has been taken off the table. Our permanent record has been changed– “if indeed the Spirit of Christ is in you,” and our Debt is marked “PAID IN FULL” because of a fully-completed, made-to-order, exactly-right process concluded properly and correctly in every possible way. Whatever can or needs to come next could succeed because the perfect preparation for it had been completed. No more stone inside us, only a heart of, and for, Love. The only other stone we will ever possess is mentioned in Revelation 2:17 (GNT) [1] – 17 “If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches!
“To those who win the victory I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give each of them a white stone on which is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it. “What does that mean?” I don’t know. It’s a mystery. But I can hardly wait to find out! “Because why?” I have learned that knowing such things helps me to remember MEMENTO MORI. It is logical to me that if we are not ready to die today, it is unlikely we will be ready by tomorrow; therefore, every day for me is a chance to go see God face-to-face, and so I spend it praying, and singing hymns. Regrettably, I manage to fit in enough time to sin as well, and so that makes me look forward to tomorrow with constantly-renewing conversion AND the intent and the Power to do right things better and better things right. All of that is mine because of what happened back there in Genesis 2:1. God IS SO-O-O-O GOOD!
Holy Week is as terrific a time as any to send God a knee-mail to request a new heart. This is why I Have Decided to Follow Jesus. (↔ Music Link) We remember how he loved us to his death (↔ Music Link). Time to trade in our sandy, stony, heavy, broken hearts and live in the Life of Love. Let our entire lives become Consecrated in The Promise and Consummated, too.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
[1] Passages marked (GNT): Good News Translation (GNT) are from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
