STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
John 3:13-17
Holy Cross Day
Analysis by Steven Albertin
13“No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
The Christological Symbol (Brazen Serpent Sculpture), created by Italian artist, Giovanni Fantoni, stands atop Mount Nebo. It is symbolic of the bronze serpent created by Moses in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9) and the cross upon which Jesus was crucified (John 3:14).
From Wikimedia Commons
“We trust this glorious announcement of the cross, and receive what it actually promises: the assurance that heaven has arrived, that our never-ending search has ended, that the exhaustion is over and that we no longer need be afraid.”
DIAGNOSIS: The Stairway to Hell
Step 1: Initial Diagnosis (External Problem) – In Search of A Stairway to Heaven
One of Classic Rock’s most popular songs ever was Led Zeppelin’s 1970’s hit “Stairway To Heaven.” It has continued to strike a chord in many listeners even today. Why? Not only is the music captivating but its mysterious and ambiguous lyrics reflect the timeless human search for something that can endure and assure us that our lives matter, not only now but eternally.
Such a searching was behind Nicodemus’ questioning of Jesus, the context of this memorable passage from John. It also lurks in the background of Robert Plant’s (lead singer of Led Zeppelin and author of the song) memorable opening lyric: “There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold. And she’s buying a stairway to heaven.” She represents the search for “heaven” that plagues all of us.
The opening verse of this passage from John declares that no one has ever “ascended to heaven” and found an answer to this endless search of “heaven” except for “he that came down from heaven,” which is the Son of Man, Jesus.
Nicodemus still remained confused. Jesus fascinated him but still somehow did not match his expectations. The confusion remains even for us. Life still appears to be anything but “heaven”, and the one who made this claim ended up on a Cross – the most humiliating and shameful death that Rome could inflict on anyone, so abhorrent that no Roman citizen could ever be crucified.
Yet, on this Holy Cross Day we celebrate this brutal tool of death and believe it is paradoxically the symbol of life, hope … and “heaven”. Still, that this Cross is the very means by which heaven came down to earth seems crazy.
Step 2: Advanced Diagnosis (Internal Problem) – The Exhausting Search That Never Ends
The mysterious ambiguity of Zepplin’s “Stairway To Heaven” never provides an answer to the search for “heaven.” But the necessity to search never stops making demands upon us. It is something we all feel and experience. From our inner fears and insecurities to the voices around us that never stop hurling their accusations at us and blaming us constantly for our failures and shortcomings. We are never good enough, smart enough, wealthy enough, etc. to feel like we have finally arrived.
Therefore, we become exhausted and angry by trying to find an end to the search. Sometimes, it even lures us to our own outrageous but futile attempts to build our own heaven on earth, often at the expense of others. Just look at the wreckage of human history!
Who needs God anyway!
Step 3: Final Diagnosis (Eternal Problem) – Up The Down Staircase
The problem is that we are trying to go “up the down staircase.” We are “incurably theolatrous (false god worshippers).” Unable to find our “stairway to heaven,” betrayed and disappointed at every turn, we refuse to admit that we are trying to go “up the down staircase,” i.e. climb to heaven and be our own gods.
The brutal fact is that we are “damned if we do and damned if we don’t.” We cannot but long for heaven, yet, at the same time, every attempt is met with futility and exposes our own presumptuous attempts to ascend to heaven.
The biggest obstacle is that there is finally someone blocking the staircase, reminding us that we cannot go “up the down staircase.” God will not tolerate our refusal to let God descend to us. Ironically, our perpetual and unfulfilled attempts to ascend are their own sort of hell.
PROGNOSIS: Stairway to Heaven
Step 4: Initial Prognosis (Eternal Solution) “The Ironic Stairway”
In the face of Nicodemus’ questioning, Jesus directs his attention and ours to that ancient story: the bronze serpent in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9). In this story God rescues Israel which had suffered under a plague of poisonous snakes because of its persistent murmuring and complaining against God. They wanted a stairway to heaven on their own terms. Instead, they got a stairway to hell. Then surprisingly, God reverses himself and chooses to rescue them by having Moses lifts up a bronze serpent on a pole, a symbol of the very same death and suffering that had assaulted them. Looking upon this symbol of death would, ironically, bring them life.
Jesus compares this story to his descent to earth. He brings that stairway to heaven to this world, ironically through the very same instrument of death that terrorized the Roman world and would one day destroy him: the cross. Like that bronze serpent he would be lifted up on a pole/the cross and bring to this world that for which it has been eternally searching: the assurance that your life matters, that you have been forgiven, and, as Jesus reminds Nicodemus, by this cross you can be “born again.”
Jesus’ coming resurrection only confirms the miraculous and amazing good news: this cross, this instrument of death, is, contrary to all appearances, the instrument of life, the stairway to heaven.
How glorious can this be!
Step 5: Advanced Prognosis (Internal Solution) – Holding On To Heaven
That new life begins as we are swept off our feet by this incredible promise. We trust this glorious announcement of the cross, and receive what it actually promises: the assurance that heaven has arrived, that our never-ending search has ended, that the exhaustion is over and that we no longer need be afraid. Most of all, it announces that God is “for us” and not “against us.”
What good news this is! Too good not to believe!
Step 6: Final Prognosis (External Solution) – Saving The World
We are no longer interested in trying to go “up the down staircase.” Because the cross already has announced the presence of heaven among us, we are free to bring the good news of that cross to the world.
That the stairway to heaven is among us is not license for us to flee the world, e.g. “I am but a stranger here, heaven is my home.” Rather, we get to “cross the world” with the cross of Christ. Through our cruciform lives we get to bring the love of God and the good news of heaven to a world that seems to be condemned to endless suffering and death. Clinging to the cross of Jesus, standing on this “stairway to heaven”, through our words and actions the good news of the Blessed Cross fills the soundwaves of this world with this most amazing good news:
“For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
