Jesus in Symbols
Hey, it's progress... Modern times. But with it we've lost track of some of the ancient symbolic meanings and maybe some of life's richness and texture, too. So, let's eat our cake and have it — let's get it back!
The Ichthus
So you're asking, what's with the fish? During persecution of Christians under the Roman empire (54 A.D. – 307 A.D.) by people like Paul, the Ichthus was a secret symbol of Christianity. Wherever Christianity has been illegal (even 20th century Russia and China) Christians have had to meet in secret to avoid persecution. Christians have needed a way to know if they were in the company of friend or foe, so a Christian might casually draw a single arc of the fish to see if the other person recognized and drew the rest of it.
Okay, but why choose a fish? Well, ICHTHUS is the word for fish, and the initials Iota, Chi, Theta, Upsilon, and Sigma spell out Iesous Christos, Theou Uios, Soter (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior). But it's also a very meaningful symbol. The fish is a symmetrical form which can be created when the center of each of 2 equal circles lies on the circumference of the other. It’s also known as a Vesica piscis or mandorla and it has mystical and mathematical significance. Pythagoreans noticed the width to height ratio is the square root of three, 265:153, the best approximation possible with small whole numbers. The number 153 is a pretty special number, two, because that’s the number of fish that Jesus is told to have caused to be caught (John 21:11). Symbolically it deeply calls us to reflect about Jesus’ acting as a bridge for us, between heaven and earth, now and forever.
Jesus as a Wheel
...but wait, there's more! You can find Christian iconography pretty much all over the place, if you know what you're looking for. Have you ever tried looking at a street sign in a language that you know and NOT reading the words? Well, the world is a lot more rich because you do know the words, right? Imagine what the world would be like for you if you knew all the subtle symbolic communication that is taking place all around you? Advertisers make use of this communication on a subliminal level all the time. Misleaders use it to get people to follow them where they shouldn't1, so shouldn't your sangha know what's up with that? There are some fascinating books about it, that your sangha might be interested in having a discussion about. Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, or rather Iesous Christos, Theou Uios, Soter, can also be found in the spokes of a wheel, thusly:
Jesus in Other Symbols
Jesus has been represented as a grape vine from a reference in John (15:5) which leads us back to the early Biblical times when people referred to vineyards as scriptures and grape vines as teachers, so Jesus being a true grape vine makes sense in this context as well as the context of the bread and wine of the covenant. He has also been represented as Alpha/Omega, or beginning and end. He has also been represented as a lamb because of his sacrifice, and as a shepherd, because of his koan about the shepherd who would leave 99 sheep to go searching for the one who is lost. Later after Christianity became an official state religion, Jesus was shown in more emperor-like form, or a sun god: Christ Helios. In Latin America, conquerors were careful to only show the suffering Jesus, in images like the pieta, rather than any sort of victorious one. It's interesting to think about how much of our own flawed eyesight might make it hard for us to really visualize or reflect on Jesus...
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1There was a great Lutheran named Bonhoeffer who noticed
that Hitler was a misleader and went on the radio within 24 hours to
say so... he ended up imprisoned and finally was executed, but not
before writing some brilliant letters and papers. Hitler chose a color
that was already subliminally associated with the devil in people's
minds, and made people wear it, helping turn them into scapegoats.
You can see how he was using color to purposefully create an unconscious
negative association in people's minds. Knowledge is power, and it's
been badly misused.
