Sacraments are symbols - 5 July 2010 |
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Sacraments are sometimes described as “symbols.” That’s a biblical way of thinking, provided of course that we understand biblically what a “symbol” is. We need to avoid the mistake of thinking that sacramental symbols are dispensable things, unconnected with what they symbolise. For God has chosen to “use sacraments as a means to communicate what they symbolize” (Leonard J. Vander Zee, Christ, Baptism and the Lords Supper, p. 33). That’s why Jesus can say of the bread, “This is my body” – not because there’s magic in the Hovis Sliced Wholemeal, but because as we eat of the bread he feeds us on his flesh by faith.
Perhaps we might say that a sacrament is a symbol in something like the way that a wedding ring is a symbol. The ring is related to the reality of the marital devotion it symbolises. You couldn’t thrown away your wedding ring without upsetting your spouse, because the ring and the love are intimately connected. Of course it’s possible, in theory, to give or receive a wedding ring without loving your spouse, but that’s not how we define its significance. The ring symbolises love because your spouse uses the ring to communicate love. Through the gift of a ring your spouse says, “I love you.”
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Meditations for the Lord's Supper, Minister's Blog