Christ of the Elements

“He fills all creatures and leaves no place devoid of his presence”

               -St Hippolytus , Office of Readings, Tues after Epiphany

As we end the Christmas season, the tri-feasts of Christmas-Epiphany-Baptism of the Lord, I notice a representation of the four elements of matter: earth, fire, water, air.

There is the wood of the manger constructed from a tree of the earth; there is the fire the Star of Bethlehem, and that mystical insight of St Peter Chrysologus that “today the magi see clearly. . . the one they have long awaited as he lay hidden among the stars.” There is the rolling water of the Jordan River. And I interject the cold night air of the Holy Family’s clandestine flight into Egypt, the air that braced them, the night that concealed them.

It is fitting to see these elements in the life of Christ, this “Christ of the elements,” through whom and for whom all things were made (Col 1:16-17).

The hypostatic union of Christ, of God and Man, of spirit and elements, is not something we can wrap our heads around. But I look to it for meditative and reflective aspects as I notice the elements represented throughout Scripture.

I can see Jesus as a thoroughly earthy personage. He worked in wood and stone, and he lived for the most part out of doors. By his 30s, his skin was likely weather beaten and swarthy, an olive complexion darkened by sun.  His robes smelled of sun and dust, of salty sweat, of desert pollens, and cooked fish.  He concocted a healing salve of spit from his mouth and dirt from the ground (Jn 9:6-7), and he mentions latrines in his teaching on impurity (Mt 15:17-18). You can’t get much earthier than that.

And yet he takes a solemn turn of phrase by elevating his time on earth to eternal realms: “Earth will pass away. My words will never pass away” (Lk 21:33).

He referenced fire to demonstrate his wild desire for the earth to receive his word and his power: “I have come to cast fire on the earth, and how I long it was already kindled” (Lk 12:49). It did occur, of course, in the tongues of fire at Pentecost (Acts 2:3) that sparked the most massive and efficacious evangelization in the history of the world. We could use a rekindling.

Mary can help us do so when we extend the celebration of Christmas-Epiphany -Baptism to the Marian Feast of the Presentation on February 2.  It is also known as Candlemas, traditionally a time of blessing candles: fire.  

The symbolism of water is powerfully conveyed in the Gospel of John when Jesus attended the Festival of Booths. The climax of the celebration was the Water Libation Ceremony and prayers were offered for abundant rainfall.    

“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me; let him drink who believes in me. Scripture has it: ‘From him living waters shall flow’” (Jn 7:37-38).

Notice he did not speak or announce. He cried out! This tells us there is something deeper (pun intended) in this allegory than most realize.

www.jewsforjesus.org explains:  “The priest had just poured out the water libation as an appeal to the Creator God to provide water for the people, and Yeshua [Jesus], as if to answer the prayer, tells the people to come to him for water. What a radical statement and shocker to the crowd.”

Shocking indeed. He knew how to get people’s attention by using their identification with natural elements. And we know he also walked on water while “the sea was rising and strong wind was blowing” (Jn 6:18-19), that he “rebuked the wind and the sea” (Mt 8:26-27), and that he transformed water into wine (Jn 2:9). He was their master. 

Yes, that mysterious wind that none understand, that is so out of our control. Such is the Holy Spirit (Jn 3:8). As is the element of air itself, Spirit analogies are hard to grasp.   And yet “He breathed on them” (Jn 20:22) to receive the Holy Spirit, making it present and real. And the sacrament of reconciliation was established.

Jesus the Lord. He gave us a touch of the earth in the other sacraments as well – the water of baptism and Cana,  the bread of the Eucharist, anointing oils.  

He was so earthy, so like us. Yet he is so beyond us we dare not imagine what face- time with him would be like. After all, no one can see God and live (Ex 33:20). I guess that is why that privilege, or paralyzing awe, is reserved for when we are no longer burdened by flesh.

As we enter into the liturgical season of Ordinary Time, we might gain deeper insight into the parables of Jesus by being attuned to his references to the elements, as well as elements being used to describe him:

“And having turned. . .I saw one like a Son of Man. . .The hair on his head was as white as snow-white wool, and his eyes blazed like fire. His feet gleamed like polished brass refined in a furnace, and his voice sounded like the roar of rushing waters” (Rev 1:12-16).