Lost Horizon

Numbers 21:4-9             Hebrews 12:1-3              John 2:23-3:21

Lost Horizon

In 1937, Frank Capra directed a film by the name of “Lost Horizon”, based on the 1933 novel of the same name by James Hilton. There was a remake in 1973, starring Olivia Hussey. It is the story about a mysterious valley in Tibet called “Shangri-La” where there is no war, greed, hatred, disease, or crime and those who live there do not age quickly. In short it is a perfect or ideal world – the utopian dream. 

In the story, a British Diplomat by the name of Robert Conway along with other characters, one being his brother, discovers this valley after a crash landing in a highjacked plane. To cut a long story short, Conway’s brother persuades him to leave together with a woman he has met during his stay, but as they leave the valley, this woman ages dramatically and eventually dies. His brother is grief stricken and takes his own life. Conway is rescued by some Tibetans, but once he recovers, he escapes in a desperate attempt to return to the paradise he had left behind. The film ends as an exhausted Conway sights the entrance to his utopia. 

For centuries humans have searched for ways to return to some or other form of utopia or paradise where they can live forever without any need for God. It is amazing what people will believe if they are determined not to believe the truth! As C. S. Lewis once said: “Once people stop believing in God, the problem is not that they will believe in nothing; rather, the problem is that they will believe anything.” Stars, crystals, fairies, spiritual energies, to name but a few. Indeed, the relentless obsession with UFO’s and the search for life on other planets is just one more attempt for humanity to justify their rejection of God’s self-revelation in Scripture. And the saddest thing about this is that even though they will go down dead-end alleyways over and over and over again in their search for utopia on their terms, they will simply find another one and convince themselves that this time they are headed in the right direction. The way of truth is simply not an option for them. 

Of course, this relentless pursuit of paradise can be traced back in time to when our forebears were exiled from the Garden of Eden because of their sin. But there is only one way of return. As Augustine once said: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

In our Gospel passage for today, John reveals all we need to know if we are to regain paradise. In chapter 2:23-24 he tells us that many in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of what he did…they saw and understood the sign of the cleansing of the Temple. Apparently, some connected his action with the prophecy in Malachi and so they looked to Jesus as their long-awaited deliver…the Messiah. However, John tells us here that despite their apparent belief, Jesus did not commit himself to them because he knew what was in their hearts. 

You see, believing “signs” is simply not enough. As James wrote in his Epistle: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.” (James 2:19) Outward profession may not always correspond to an inner disposition. Humans can say one thing with their lips and do another with their hands. As the prophet Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9-10) We can easily deceive ourselves…we can easily deceive others…but we can never deceive the Lord. He knows all, John tells us. Jesus knows that the proof of a changed heart, is a changed life.

But there was a man in Jerusalem to whom Jesus did respond…a leader of the Jews who believed enough to come to Jesus, even if only under cover of darkness. Just as an aside, Nicodemus remained a so-called secret believer right up until the crucifixion where he finally overcame his fear and openly participated in the burial of Jesus. Nevertheless, Jesus met him in spite of his cowardice because, as Nicodemus’ opening statement indicates, he was looking for something more than what was generally expected of the Messiah. He knew that there had to be something more…something beyond the political discourse…something beyond the simple reestablishment of the limited geographical and social entity known as Israel. He came seeking something greater than a tangible human kingdom. How do we know this? We know this because of Jesus’s response. “No one,” he said to his nocturnal visitor, “no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

John has just told us that Jesus did not commit himself to those who believed because of his deeds as he knew what was in their hearts…so, the only reason why he responded to the questions of Nicodemus was because somehow Jesus looked past the fearfulness and timidity of this enquirer and saw a seed that would later grow into faith. Nicodemus came looking, not for a personal Shangri-La…he came looking for the entrance to the kingdom of God. He came asking, not demanding…not assuming or presuming. He came in humility and submission. He came with a enquiring mind and a teachable spirit. He came with a hunger and a thirst for truth.

And, seeing his seeking heart, Jesus began to lead him to the way…a radically different way…a way that demanded an immediate and total change from the inside out. In short, nothing less than a new beginning…a new creation…a new birth.

But, of course, the finite wisdom of humanity is baffled by the apparent foolishness of God. “How,” Nicodemus asked, “can a person be born again?” It seemed to him to be a ridiculous idea. As Paul said to the Corinthians, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolish and cannot understand them because they are discerned by the Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:14) 

What Jesus wanted Nicodemus to understand was that he needed more than a total renovation…he needed a gutting, an emptying, a heart-transplant, as it were…a complete replacement job. The dead heart of humanity needed to be exhumed and exchanged for a living heart. 

Those who were given the right to be children of God, John tells us in his opening chapter were born, not by human lineage, nor by human determination, nor by human intellect, but by the supernatural act of God. Unless the life-giving waters of the Holy Spirit flow from the throne of God and of the Lamb into our deadness, we cannot find the entrance to eternal life. That same Spirit who hovered over the face of the deep at creation…that same Spirit who breathed life into Adam…that same Spirit who breathed life into the disciples as Jesus breathed over them after the resurrection…that same Spirit must be active again in the new creation…He must be active again in our rebirth…He must recreate us and make us new creatures.

Now, this is an affront and an offense to sinful, unregenerate humanity. They demand to find the entrance to their own Shagri-La. They demand to shape and reshape their own destiny according to their own appetites. In short, they want to be God…they want to be their own god. But they cannot…no matter how hard they may try. There can only be one Almighty Creator God and, as such, everything else is subject to Him and to His will. 

But human pride demands that we play some part even in this. Being born of God seems so contrary to everything we strive for…it indicates weakness, inability, impossibility. But that is what makes Christianity so different from all other faiths. Throughout the Scriptures, from the Fall onwards, we read story after story of failure…or the impotency of even the best of us. God knows we can nothing without him. We are dead in our trespasses and sins. Dead.

That which is born of flesh is flesh, Jesus told Nicodemus…that which is descended from Adam is dead. But that which is born of the Spirit is spirit…that which is reborn in Jesus is alive. This new birth is not subject to the whims and fancies of human beings. It is not something that we can strive for or seek and find by virtue of sheer wilful determination. It is subject solely to the will of God. It is as uncontrollable, as unfathomable, as unmanipulable as the direction of the wind. 

As the author to the troubled and doubting Hebrew Christians says so well…we are surrounded by a cloud of faithful witnesses…men and women who did not look to themselves for deliverance or salvation…and so, let us also not rely on our own strength or ingenuity, but rather, let us look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Our faith begins and ends with him who is the beginning and the end…the Alpha and the Omega. We can only run this race to the finish because of the one who initiated our faith and who promised to bring to completion what he started. 

Of course, our Old Testament witnesses were unclear as to how God would reopen the gate to paradise. They strained to know what God had in store…even angels, Peter tells us, longed to figure it out (I Peter 1:10-12)…but that information only came through the Son. Their struggle is given a voice in the questions of Nicodemus. “How can this be?” The Old Testament is like an unilluminated stained-glass window…Jesus was the light that revealed the reality behind the images. 

The witness of the Old Testament was misunderstood by all who encountered Jesus, even his own disciples did not understand until after the resurrection. Jesus repeatedly stated that the entrance to the kingdom would be through him…more specifically, through his defeat of sin through his sinless death on the cross. He is the entrance…he is the door…the gate…he is the only way because he alone defeated our captor, our jailer, our enemy.

The image of the bronze serpent on a pole represented more than just the poisonous snakes biting the Israelites in the wilderness. It represented the curse itself…the serpent…and thus it became an image of what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus took our curse upon himself…he became a curse for us…he absorbed the sting of sin and death and thereby trampled on the head of the serpent. 

But notice once again the image of human impotency. Just as the Israelites could do nothing to save themselves once bitten except a seemingly ludicrous action of looking at a bronze serpent on a pole, so we, too, can do nothing to save ourselves except look to Jesus for mercy and grace. This complete dependency on a merciful and gracious act of God is the only door to the kingdom…it is the only entrance to paradise. Jesus is the one and only way to eternal life. 

As such, this is not a gateway for the proud and the arrogant…it is not a gateway for the self-righteous. It is a gateway for repentant sinners like you and me. The gateway is the demonstration of God’s love for his broken world. It is the giving of his Son.

Our only response is to look to him…to look to the author and finisher of our faith…to trust in what he has done. 

According to the testimony of the Scriptures, all humanity is condemned because we have been born of those who cut themselves off from their Creator through disobedience. Like a deadly virus, sin is passed down to us from Adam to the present day. But for those who believe and trust in the finished, substitutionary work of Jesus, this condemnation has been removed. It is the refusal to accept this act of selfless love that makes the condemnation remain in place. If you do not receive the gift of the Son, you cannot receive the gift of life he offers. As such, the refusal to believe is an act of self-judgment. Eternal life and condemnation are opposite sides to the same coin…if you accept the gift of God in the sending of his Son, you are rescued from condemnation and you receive life. If you choose not to accept the gift, you remain where you are…in Adam…in sin…in condemnation…in death.

Of course, there is no such place as Shangri-La…but in a sense it represents the futile attempts of desperate humanity to find peace, happiness, and rest without God and apart from God. The gift of life through faith in God’s Son is free for the taking, but many refuse to accept Him and remain determined to find another alternative way. Light has come into the world, but people love darkness instead of light because their deeds are dark.

There is only one who gave his life for yours. There is only one who died so that you may live. There is only one who opened the gateway to paradise for all who would follow him. There is only one way. There is only one door. Because there is only one gift given.

As you partake of the symbols of this gift in the Eucharist, allow the wind of the Holy Spirit to remind you of the immeasurable love of God for you. And ask him to so shine out that love in you wherever you may go so that others, like Nicodemus, may come and ask you to show them the way.

Let us pray.

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2023