The Eternal Air Freshener

 

Understanding why Jesus has to be lifted up

03/24/2026

John 8:21-30 Jesus said to the Pharisees: “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.” They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.” Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.

I am slowing working my way through one of the classics of Western literature called De Incarnatione (On the Incarnation) by St. Athanasius. He presented an argument I had never heard before about why Jesus died on the cross and therefore had to be “lifted up,” namely, he reasoned, “to purify the air.”

St. Athanasius wrote: “For only he that completes his life on the cross dies in the air. For being thus lifted up, he purified the air from the diabolical plots of all demons (who fly through the air), and blazing the trail he made anew the way up to heaven” (105). In other words, Jesus dies on the cross, in the air, to purify the air.

By the way, do you ever used an air freshener in your car? Have you seen the air fresheners that hang from the rearview mirror and often look like an evergreen tree? I’ve never used them because they always smell kind of funky to me. That is how St. Athanasius pictured the purpose of Jesus’ crucifixion and death “in the air.”

Jesus purified the air because the evil spirits cause a stench of wickedness far worse than any old, musty car smell. And once Jesus’ crucifixion has cleard the air, a highway is opened up to heaven. The evil spirits no longer stand – or perhaps better said, fly – in our way.

In the gospel today, Jesus talks about his future crucifixion “in the air” saying: “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM.” Now, besides being lifted up on the Cross, can you think of another instance when Jesus was lifted up and his disciples came to believe that Jesus was “I AM" which is the name God told Moses from the burning bush he wanted to be called?

We see a second occurrence of Jesus being lifted up and his disciples believing in him in Luke 24, the famous story of the road to Emmaus. If you look carefully at the structure of that episode of the road to Emmaus, you can see the clear contours of the Eucharist. First, Jesus explains the Scriptures to them, which refers to the first half of the Mass with our readings and the homily.

Then in Luke 24:30, we read: “And while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them,” clearly referring to the second half of the Mass, the liturgy of the Eucharist. And even though Luke does not explicitly mention it, Jesus may well have “lifted up” the consecrated Bread and shown it to the disciples before giving it to them in Holy Communion. In other words, Jesus had once again be lifted up and purified the air of evil spirits.

That is, the evil spirit could no longer cloud the disciples’ minds but they could see the Son clear and know he is God. So when Jesus says in John 8 – today’s gospel – “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize I AM,” our Lord means not only his being lifted up on the Cross, but also his being lifted up at every Mass, like one of the first Masses in Luke 24. Jesus, the eternal air freshener, is lifted up and purifies the air of evil and deadly fumes.

My friends, what is the central climactic moment of the Mass, for which we should really go to Mass? Some people say, “I go to Mass to hear the homily and get a good message to help me live better.” Others answer: “I go to Mass to receive Holy Communion, the Bread of life.” Still others might say: “I go to Mass because my wife makes me.”

Those are all good reasons to go to Mass. But do you know the best reason to go to Mass? It is to witness Jesus being “lifted up” into the air, above every altar. Why? So he can purify the air, remove the clouds of doubt in your mind, so that you may believe that he is indeed “I AM.” At every Mass, we hang in the air the eternal Air Freshener.

Praised be Jesus Christ!