Ever so often, an author comes along and redefines a word or a thought I have had all my life. His/her writing doesn’t quite contradict what I’ve understood in the past, but sheds new light on it in a profound way – bringing new meaning and insight to what I’ve been taught. F. W. Boreham was just such a writer and today remains one of my very favorites. On this beautiful Easter morning, I wanted to share with you one his very best short stories, titled Tetelestai!
It was a farmer’s word. When, into his herd, there was born an animal so beautiful and shapely that it seemed absolutely destitute of faults and defects, the farmer gazed upon the creature with proud, delighted eyes. “Tetelestai!” he said, “Tetelestai!”
It was an artist’s word. When the painter or the sculptor had put the last finishing touches to the vivid landscape or the marble bust, he would stand back a few feet to admire his masterpiece, and seeing in it nothing that call for correction or improvement, would murmur fondly, “Tetelestai!” “Tetelestai!”
It was a priestly word. When some devout worshipper, overflowing with gratitude for mercies shown him, brought to the temple a lamb without spot or blemish, the pride of the whole flock, the priest, more accustomed to seeing the blind and defective animals led to the altar, would look admiringly upon the pretty creature. “Tetelestai!” he would say, “Tetelestai!”
And when, in the fullness of time, the Lamb of God offered Himself on the altar of the ages, He rejoiced with a joy so triumphant that it bore down all His anguish before it. The sacrifice was stainless, perfect, finished! “He cried with a loud voice Tetelestai! and gave up the ghost.”
This divine self-satisfaction appears only twice, once in each Testament. When He completed the work of Creation, He looked upon it and said that it was very good, when He completed the Work of Redemption He cried with a loud voice “Tetelestai!” It means exactly the same thing.
F.W. Boreham, A Handful of Stars (London: The Epworth Press, 1922), 102-013.
I have always loved the power of that word: tetelestai, but this insight adds a whole new dimension! Thanks for sharing! PJW