3 May 2024 John 14:6-14
There is a well-known story of a 1950 dinner party held by author Mary McCarthy at which Flannery O’Connor, who would later become one of the greatest Catholic writers of the 20th century, was a guest. The topic of the Eucharist arose, and Mary McCarthy, a lapsed Catholic, blithely remarked that she thought the Eucharist a “pretty good” symbol, but no more than a symbol. Flannery O’Connor, who was very young and a little intimidated by her distinguished host, replied nonetheless, “Well, if it’s a symbol, to hell with it.”
That little truth bomb probably led to a rapid shift to talking about the weather. But the truth in the truth bomb remains: if Jesus isn’t reallypresent in the Eucharist, then hell is all there is.
Jesus understood symbolic speech, and often used it. It is why he often spoke in parables, and then explained them. When He spoke of the presence of God, however, He was bluntly concrete. It is why he scolded Philip, who said at the Last Supper, “Master, show us the Father and that will be enough for us” (John 14:8). Exasperated, Jesus replied, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (14:9). In His words and in His works, Jesus taught the disciples that God was really present to them. The alternative to God being really present in Jesus was not God being symbolically present. The alternative was God being really absent. Jesus would go on to say that God was not present just in Him, but also in them: “On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (14:20). The alternative to God being really present in us is not God being symbolically present, but really absent.
The same is true of the Eucharist. If Jesus can’t be really present in us, then he can’t be really present in the Eucharist either.
If all that is true, then symbolic presence means we have no real access to God. We are not really saved, there is no heaven, and there is only hell. And if there is only hell, then it truly makes no difference if we are good or bad, wise or stupid, generous or greedy, violent or gentle. Those values, any values, simply do not exist, and the people who say they do are the true idiots. They are the ones who are really pretending, living their lives like they are on the movie set of Star Wars.
Jesus was being bluntly concrete when He was talking about the presence of God. Either everything that makes God who He is, and everything that makes Jesus who He is, is present to us and in us, or it is not. If all that is not really present, then if there is any heaven, it is too high up and too far away. We can’t get there from here. For us there is only hell.
If it is a symbol, then to hell with it. Because hell is all there is.
One of the oldest promises in the Bible is the promise of Emmanuel, God With Us. Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise. He is what makes the Good News good. The symbolic presence of God is the abandonment of that promise. God is really present in Jesus, really present in the Eucharist, and really present in us. The blunt concreteness of this truth is what gives power to our witness, and makes our joy complete (cf. 15:11).
Comments