Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors
used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
The Kingdom of Heaven
The longest section of Matthew’s Gospel is his “proclamation” (Matthew 4:17–16:20),
in which he issues a number of declarations about the kingdom of
heaven. Matthew likens God’s kingdom to a small mustard seed, which
has in it the potential to grow into a “tree so that the birds of
the air come and make nests in its branches,” something startlingly
different in size and appearance from its humble beginnings. Matthew’s
proclamations about the kingdom of God symbolize the tantalizing
fruits yielded by a life lived in obedience to the commandments
of Christ. His use of the phrase “kingdom of heaven” also discloses
Matthew’s Jewish roots, as in Jewish custom one could not utter
God’s name.
The Good Samaritan
In one of the New Testament’s most well known parables,
Luke tells us that Jesus used this story as the answer to a man’s
question, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus describes a man lying on the
road, dying. Neither a passing priest nor a Levite helps him, because
touching a dead body was considered utterly impure. The Samaritan,
however, rescues the man, thereby breaking two social conventions—associating with
what could be a corpse, and crossing the border between the rival communities
of Jews and Samaritans. The Samaritan can be understood to symbolize
both Christ’s message that the poor and outcast are blessed, and
that Christ’s message is for Gentiles as well as Jews.
Water, Bread, Light
In John’s Gospel, Jesus is symbolized by the life-giving
matter of everyday existence: water, bread, light, and words. Water
and bread, in particular, are used repeatedly. While speaking with
a Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus tells her, “water that I will
give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal
life.” She says in reply, “[S]ir, give me this water so that I may
never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” John
uses this symbol of water to illustrate that Jesus’s gift is abundant
and life-giving.
The Olive Tree
In Romans 11:17–24,
the olive tree symbolizes the salvation of the Gentiles and of Israel.
The tree, including the root and branches, is Israel. The branches
broken off are the Jews who do not believe in Jesus Christ, while
the branches grafted on are Gentiles who believe in Christ. Having
been made part of the tree only because of faith—rather than birth,
obedience to the law, or works—the Gentile believers have no reason
for pride, since the God who has grafted them on has the power to
cut them off.
The Body
In 1 Corinthians 12:12, Paul
writes about the variety of spiritual gifts that exist using the
image of the human body to convey that each of these different gifts
is needed, just as every part of the body is needed. The church
is Christ’s body. Paul writes, “For just as the body is one and
has many members, all the members of the body, though many, are
one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all
baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were
all made to drink of one Spirit.” Paul uses this symbol as a way
to deal with the difficult issue of balancing unity and diversity
in his early churches, saying that though we are all uniquely gifted
individuals, we are also all parts of the one united body of Christ.
