Pastor Max Lucado recently revealed he got the word “tetelestai,” Greek for “it’s finished,” tattooed on his right forearm on the age of 70 to commemorate the “golden anniversary of God’s great grace” in his life.
“I’m celebrating the golden anniversary of God’s great grace in my life. 50 years ago this spring, grace found me. My testimony is interwoven with my favorite word within the Bible. On the cross Christ proclaimed, ‘It is finished!’ (Jn. 19:30) In Greek — ‘Tetelestai!’ Among the meanings of this word is, ‘paid in full,’” the Oak Hills Church pastor captioned photos on social media displaying his tattoo.
“This was the message that modified my life. I used to be a 20-year old scoundrel, a bum, a train off the tracks. My priority was six-packs; not the sort that come from crunches, but from Coors. Friends, I used to be a large number. Not only was I drunk, I used to be a racist, a misogynist, a brawler, and a schemer. Worst of all, I used to be a hypocrite. I wondered, truthfully wondered, could Christ forgive a jerk like me?”
The Help is Here creator said that on a spring evening in 1975, he heard a preacher describe a grace that is larger than sin.
“On the cross Christ paid my debt. It is paid — paid in full,” he wrote. “I said ‘yes.’ That was 50 years ago. In the intervening half century, I actually have failed Jesus over and over, but he has never failed me. To commemorate this anniversary, I got a tattoo. Tetelestai — It is finished.”
The pastor, who can be serving as an interim pastor at Gateway Church, acknowledged that “not everyone likes the concept of a 70-year-old pastor getting a tattoo,” adding: “That’s okay. I didn’t do it for people, I did it to say thanks to Jesus who paid a debt I couldn’t pay. Do you already know this grace?”
“I could care less if this truth is tattooed in your skin, but I care deeply that or not it’s tattooed in your heart.”
Lucado, who was diagnosed with an ascending aortic aneurysm, something he described as a weakened, bulbous area in a blood vessel, in 2021, has often discussed his troubled past and God’s faithfulness despite his missteps.
In his 2023 book, God Never Gives Up on You, Lucado revealed there was a time when he’d depend on alcohol to administer stress and deal with a “world gone crazy.” The Texas-based pastor said he would travel to the opposite side of town and buy beer secretly because the pressures of his ministry grew.
“The staff needed me. The pulpit required me. The publisher was counting on me. The entire world was trying to me,” he wrote. “So, I did what got here naturally. I started to drink.”
In the midst of his struggles, he heard God speak to his heart sooner or later while in a car parking zone: “Really, Max? If you will have all the pieces together, if you will have a lock on this issue, then why are you hiding in a car parking zone, sipping a beer that you just’ve concealed in a brown paper bag?”
“I confessed my hypocrisy to our elders, and so they did what good pastors do. They covered me with prayer and designed a plan to assist me deal with demands. I admitted my struggle to the congregation and in doing so activated a dozen or so conversations with members who battled the identical temptation. … God met me there that day. He gave me a recent name as well. Not Israel [as Jacob was given]. That one was already taken. But ‘forgiven.’ And I’m glad to wear it.”
In a 2022 interview with The Christian Post, Lucado said there’s often the misperception that Christians won’t have trials, whether relational, mental or physical. But that is “just not the case on this world,” Lucado said, and that is why the Holy Spirit is so desperately needed.
“Jesus didn’t say, ‘In this world, some people have tribulation.’ ‘In this world, you’ll have tribulation,'” Lucado said. “But then, He said, ‘Be of fine cheer, because I’ve overcome the world.’ So whatever you are facing, Christ has already overcome it, and He will make it easier to as you progress forward.”
“Do not buy into that lie that claims, ‘If you were a greater Christian, you would not have these struggles,'” he stressed. “The fact of the matter is, sometimes, the proven fact that you’re a Christian creates these struggles since the devil sees you as a candidate for his attack.”
In recent years, several high-profile church leaders have publicly displayed recent tattoos: in 2023, televangelist Joyce Meyer announced that she got two tattoos for the primary time at 79, to “honor God,” alongside her husband, Dave. Village Church Pastor Matt Chandler and his wife, Lauren, also got tattoos while in Jerusalem in 2022.
As tattoos turn into more mainstream, quite a few pastors and theologians have weighed in on the problem.
Some, like Pentecostal Pastor Ryan French, maintain that Leviticus 19:28 clearly forbids tattoos, viewing them as contrary to biblical teachings on holiness and separation from worldly practices.
However, others, like theologian John Piper, have contended that the act itself is not inherently sinful but urged believers to think about their motives and whether their decisions glorify God.
“Marking the skin will not be intrinsically evil,” Piper said in a 2013 blog post. “I won’t ever cut off anyone from fellowship in Christ because they’ve a tattoo or 100 tattoos. I won’t ever cut them off in Christ. But I doubt that the selections that many Christians are making today to get tattoos are thought through as fastidiously and biblically as is sensible.”
 Pastor Max Lucado recently revealed he got the word “tetelestai,” Greek for “it's finished,” tattooed on his right...){kind=link}