Jesus

High school graduation day is fast-approaching.  I graduated from high school twenty-three years ago.  But I still remember my graduation ceremony.  There were six of us who went from kindergarten through twelfth grade together.  On graduation night our parents lined up the six of us and took our photo.  I remember marching into our school gym with the other twenty-five seniors.  I remember listening to Melissa Smith give the Valedictorian speech and silently “booing” her because her GPA had beaten mine by one-tenth of a grade point.  I remember walking across the stage and shaking the hand of Mr. Lane, our superintendent.  And, I remember all twenty-six of us throwing our graduation caps into the air.  Do you remember your graduate day?  Let’s do a little poll: how many of you graduated from high school between 1 and 10 years ago—raise your hand?  Between 11 and 20 years?  Between 21 and 30 years?   Between 31 and 40 years?   Between 41 and 50 years?  Now, raise your hand if you’ll be graduating from high school in a few short months.  No matter how good or bad your high school experience was or is, graduation is an exciting day.  And there is an ancient Greek word which, if we spoke Greek in Memphis, we might use on graduation day.  The word is “tetelestai.”  The word means “It is finished” or simply “finished.”  Say the word out loud: tetelestai.  It’s the word you might shout when you take your graduation cap off and toss it into the air: Tetelestai!  It is finished!

Read More »Good Friday’s Passion: Following a Figure Who Finished (Jn. 19:28-30)