Assurance or Anxiety

Assurance or Anxiety? Is the question we're asking when we are confronted with divine images of heaven opening or of divine vengeance. There are so many aspects of our Christian faith that provide assurances about a better future or freedom, justice or peace and most of all eternal life. Many Christians know what it means to be assured by the love of God in Christ but inevitably we are driven to anxiety because of the unexpected which may fall on us and we are scared of the consequences of our actions. In this kind of uncertainty we ask ourselves does our faith provide assurance or anxiety?


Our biblical texts both from the Book of Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of John are two contrasting texts that declare what God’s love means both for the disciples and for those who cause bad things to happen to good people. In the Book of Acts we can read that Stephen one of the apostles was filled with the Spirit and spoke with the Jewish elders and that he spoke well of the Scripture and they were caught off-guard, thus they persuaded some men to plot against him and they successfully carried their intention. Stephen witnessed to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He proclaimed to them that Jesus Christ is the Son of God whom they crucified but victoriously rose from the dead. On that moment, when Stephen was stoned to death, he saw the heavens opened and saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God. While he was on the point of death, he said, “Lord, Jesus receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he said this, he fell asleep.


James Alison,( Raising Abel, pp. 79-80.) observes that there are additional stories in the Bible with the image of the heavens opening (bumubukas ang langit): Jesus' baptism in John (1:51), this passage about the stoning of Stephen, and the new heaven and earth in Rev. 21. He said:

Look at the progression in our three stories of the open heaven: first we saw the witness chosen to see heaven open, one of Jesus' companions chosen to be able to bear witness to everything lived and worked by him; then we saw the 'ordinary Christian', that is, someone who was not an apostolic witness, who learns to create his own diverse story in the light of the risen victim; and finally we understand that the whole project which Jesus initiated is the coming down of a new, collective, story, woven out of the many stories of those who have allowed themselves to be illuminated by the God who gives himself to be mediated by the slaughtered lamb. That is, the stories of those who, in the superlative language of the seer, have washed white their garments in the blood of the lamb. (p. 81)

Meron mga tawo na dahil sa kanilang pananampalataya ay nagbuhis ng buhay upang mapakita ang wagas na kalooban ng Diyos para sa mga naghihirap at nanganga-ilangan. Ito ang pagpapahayag ng kalooban ng Diyos sa buhay ni Jesu-Kristo na siyang nag-alay ng kanyang buhay para sa karamihan na nanganga-ilangan nga kaligtasan at masaganang buhay.

In the Gospel of John 14: 1-12, Jesus assured his disciples that in God's house or abode there are many rooms and those who believe in him will find rest. This is an assurance that whenever the mythical ingredients are removed from the text shows that God has places for various kinds of people. This is ecumenicity and unity. I am glad to hear what John has to say in his Gospel because it is written to give assurance to Christians that the future is now, and nothing in anticipation can be greater than the promise of the present. I love to hear and listen to this realized escathology--what is to come is now here with us!