Gracious and loving God, you have brought all things together in your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord; help us to grow in him and he in us ✠ in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
The great American novelist Flannery O’Conner was a woman of devout faith. In a conversation once, someone suggested to her that it is best to interpret the Holy Eucharist as a symbol, to which she is reported to have replied, “If it’s only a symbol, to hell with it.” That sort of thinking is indicative of how we have been taught to understand, or really, misunderstand symbols. We think of symbols as something like a substitute – instead of writing out “prescription” we write “Rx.” Or instead of writing “Women” on the bathroom door, we put a stick figure wearing a skirt. Or instead of spelling out the company name, we use a logo to symbolize the company. With this understanding of a symbol, we get where O’Conner is coming from – symbols, if they are simply a substitute or stand-in, are worthless. “Just give us the real thing instead of some empty symbol,” we say.
This
though is not how symbols were understood by our ancestors in faith. A symbol,
in the minds of the Biblical authors, is so much more than a sign or a pointer.
Rather a symbol is what allows us to participate in the very thing it
symbolizes. In other words, the symbol itself is a part of the story. There is
no separation between the symbol and its meaning. Symbols bring two worlds together.
So a symbol doesn’t merely refer to something that is absent, but a symbol
makes the thing itself present.
Now,
I realize this is a bit abstract, so here’s an example. We say that the Christ
is symbolized by his Church, meaning that the Church is a representation of the
Body of Christ. But more than just being a reminder or a reference to Christ,
in the symbol of the Church, Christ is made present. Anywhere the Church is
present, so is Christ, and vice versa. So, the Church is much more than a
sign for the Body of Christ, as it actually participates in the fullness of
Christ. Symbols are not something to be discarded or dismissed, rather they are
the tangible tokens of our faith. Symbols make real the thing that they
represent. And that word “represent” is what a symbol does – it re-presents,
presents afresh, the idea behind it.
Another
example of how to understand symbols as our ancestors did is to think of
religious iconography – such as the icon of St. Luke, St. Mary, or Jesus that
are found in our Baptistry. An impoverished view of symbolism would regard
these as mere pictures, but as symbols, they actually make these saints present
to us so that we can engage in prayer with them. Even if you’ve never prayed
with an icon before, if you’ve ever looked at a photo of a loved one who has
died and spoken to the photo, you get that sometimes a symbol can connect us to
something so much greater than ink on a piece of paper should be able to.
So
why do I bring this up on Christmas Eve? Christmas Eve is the meeting place of
heaven and earth, when the Word became flesh, when Jesus is revealed as a
symbol of God. Jesus symbolizes the grace of God, he makes manifest the peace
of God, he brings with him the love of God, he makes present the God of all
things. Jesus does not call our attention to God’s mercy, he brings God’s mercy
to us. Jesus is not a mere signal towards the truth of God, he is the Truth. He
does not point us to the road towards eternal life, he himself is eternal life,
and so when we abide in Christ, we abide in eternity. Jesus symbolizes God,
both in showing us the love of the Father in his divinity and in giving us the
means to participate in this love through his humanity.
This
is what is so beautiful, so magical, so mysterious about Christmas – that God,
who created all things, chose to become symbolized in human flesh to make
present the grace of God. God’s very being was made known in human history so
that could be no confusion as to whether or not we are loved, forgiven, and
blessed. The miracle, wonder, and beauty of Christmas is that the only thing
powerful enough to make the universe became small and vulnerable enough to
enter into it and be held in our arms. On Christmas, God is symbolized as a
baby – what a lovely and surprising gift to be given.
And
this symbolic language is exactly how St. Luke would have us think about the
Christmas story. We heard in verse 19 that, “When they saw this, they made
known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were
amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and
pondered them in her heart.” As is often the case, something is lost in
translation. The Greek text does not say that Mary “pondered” these things, it
says that she “sym-balloed” them. You’ve heard of Jesus telling parables –
that’s a Greek compound word with para, meaning “beside”, and ballo,
meaning “throw.” A parable is when two ideas are thrown next to each other –
the Kingdom of God is like a pearl of great price or like a father who had two
sons. Well, a symballo is sym meaning “with” and that same verb,
so a symbol is when two things are brought into one.
This
is what Christmas is all about – the bringing together of all things. And, in
the mind of the Bible, this is what symbolism is all about – when two realms
are brought together. The darkness of the world meets the brightness of God and
the glory of God radiates outward from this night. Our sins meet the mercy of
God and forgiveness abounds. Our deaths meet the power of God and Resurrection
becomes possible. Our neediness meets God’s abundant grace and so we trust that
all shall be well. The splendor of heaven meets the mundane world and makes
life a sacred gift. The peace of God meets the chaos of an unwed mother, the
grief of a loss, the frustration of an ongoing pandemic, the uncertainty of
life and transforms our sorrows into joys. In Christ, God brings all things
together and we receive this symbol of love and grace when Jesus is born in
Bethlehem.
The
greatest symbol in our faith is the Holy Eucharist – that magnificent gift that
God has given to the Church to join things together. With apologies to Flannery
O’Conner, the Eucharist is indeed a symbol, and thank God for it. As a symbol,
the Eucharist is not a mere reference to Christ, but rather it is having Christ
made present to us and the means by which we participate in him. The Eucharist
brings together heaven and earth, friends and strangers, our uncertainties and
God’s grace, our sins and God’s mercy, our fears and God’s peace. In receiving
the Body of Christ as a symbol, we participate in the very Body of Christ. And
with Christ’s Body in ours, we become that Body to the world. This is the wonder
of God – by giving us the Body of Christ we become the Body of Christ. In other
words, by receiving the symbol of God’s redemption and love we become a symbol
of that redemption and love to the world. This is all possible because of the
symbolism of Christmas – when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us in order
that our flesh might participate in the life and love of God on earth as it is
in heaven.
Symbols
do truly matter and make all the difference so long as we understand a symbol
not to be a mere reference to something else but know the power of a symbol to
bring us into a deeper and truer reality. This great gift of Christmas is that
we have been given Jesus, the Son of God, to be a symbol for our lives –
someone that shows us the true essence and love of the Father, someone that
brings us into the very life of God, someone who gives meaning to the lives that
we thought were our own. Let Christ be the symbol around which you orient your
life – let his love be your identity, his mercy be your consolation, his joy be
your hope.
You
might do this with an icon of Jesus that you keep at your home or office. You
might do this with a rosary in your pocket as a symbol of his abiding presence
with you. You might use the Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on
me,” as a spoken symbol that goes with you throughout your day. However it is
that you choose to have that symbol of Christ with you is a good way because a
symbol is so much more than a sign, it is the way into the presence of God itself.
What we are about to receive is the very Body and Blood of Christ, that great
symbol of our faith in which we behold what we are, the beloved people redeemed
by God’s mercy, and through the reception of this symbol, we become what we
receive, the very Body of Christ given for the life of the world. Especially on
this most holy and symbolic of nights when Christ was born, may we receive this
gift as the great symbol of love that it is.
