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!

God is our refuge 

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 23:6). Seldom can we speak of goodness and mercy/love that will abide with us through life. Why is that? Regardless of culture, Christians can’t proclaim to other people that they are sure that goodness and love will be with them every day of their lives. It is because of the immensity of the challenges and struggles in life, and in the complexity of contemporary life, we are not sure of anything. Because of the lack of a happy and blissful future, Christians are prone to resign to whatever fortune or luck will befall on them (Bahala na ang kapalaran ko).

Culturally speaking Filipinos are very religious and even to the point having unquestioning attitude with whatever is religious. This kind of religious life is a great challenge to all of us especially when we talk about God in Christ in our Shepherd. In Psalm in 23 as in John 10:1-10, God in Christ is the Shepherd who watches over the sheep in the fold. More specifically Jesus tells people that he is the gate for the sheep. A very unique imagery for one who is also considered the good shepherd.

Jenee Woodard tells about the biblical shepherd: Shepherds had a hard life, since they faced all of the hardships of the hostile landscape through which they herded their sheep. Being with the flock, they faced all of the dangers and difficulties that the flock faced, and they were just as vulnerable -- to heat in the day, to cold at night, and to human and animal predators at all times. They slept with their flocks on nights when there were few enough predators for them to sleep at all; they were seen as poor prospects as husbands and fathers, since they had to leave their families alone and vulnerable at night as well.

That's the kind of life Jesus lives for and with us. Jesus journeys with the most vulnerable, and takes on all of their vulnerability. He knows what it's like to be out in the cold. He knows what he's saying when he calls people to leave their homes and villages, and even their families, since he had done the same himself. He knows what it's like to have people think that you're crazy or irresponsible because of what you leave behind and let go of, because people said the same things about him.

And he knows something else, too: this crazy life he lived, and calls us to live, is abundant life (John 14:10). It's THE abundant life, to be precise.How could that be? Jesus of all people knows the risks and the hardships, the cost of the life he's leading. But Jesus is the shepherd, and he knows that as hard as it can be to follow the shepherd, it's much better than being prey for the others, thieves and bandits.

Raymund Schwager has this to say about abundant life: This passage be a companion to the John 10:1-10 conclusion of receiving life more abundantly? Life lived in mimetic rivalry is one in which the basic experience is that of scarcity. In that well-used Girardian example of the children fighting over one toy in the midst of a room full of toys, the children experience that toy they are fighting over as scarce. In the midst of what is actually an abundance, their basic experience is that of scarcity.

New community in Christ begins to melt away the mimetic rivalry such that we can truly begin to experience the abundance that has been there all the time. Christ the Lamb of God who lays down his life for us, only to receive it graciously back from God, is the gate to entering a new life in community, one that operates out of such grace. It is a life of sharing with others the abundance of the Creator which has been here all the time ... except that our being trapped in mimetic rivalry made us blind to it.

The Good Shepherd 

Of bandits, thieves and hired men

In contrast to the role and function of the Good Shepherd, there are persons and functions mentioned in the Gospel of John 10:1-10, they are the bandits, thieves and the hired man. Listen to what Jesus said:

"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep" (John 10:1-2).

Who are the thieves and bandits who come in a different way?

The word "bandit" or robber has the connotation of being a revolutionary, or insurrectionist in the context of the Jewish religion. A revolutionary is one who turns the direction of the sacrificial system. He doesn't transform it; he simply redirects it. The system reovlves, but doesn't transform. A genuine revolutionary can be characterized as those who are willing to die to radically transform the system. There's a truth to this in our contemporary life because there are people who wish to be categorized as "revolutionaries" but are not resolved to radically transform whether sacrificial system of religions or the socio-political systems. Jesus stressed here the difference in intention between the Good shepherd and the bandits and robbers in relation to the flock.

Moreover, thieves are categorized together with the bandits or robbers. The flock knows their shepherd and can easily identify the thieves, therefore they refuse to follow the latter. In fact they run away from the thieves because they don't know his voice. True to every relationship in the world. A familiar voice gives assurance and can be a head turner. For those who knows a particular voice would wait patiently to hear what that voice would say to them. The moment the words are spoken by the familiar and respected voice, the flock listens. The voice of the stranger or thief is easily discriminated and the flock run away upon hearing the voice. Interesting but true. Similarly the hired man would be recognized easily by the flock.

By contrast, Jesus says, (John 10:14-15) "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep." Here Jesus identified himself with the flock--who are victims of various forms of oppression. So shepherding is being in solidarity with the victims of the empire and work with them towards the reversal of system.

Shepherds in Distress

In both Roman Catholic and Protestant churches the office of the priest and pastor is the best expression of the shepherding role. In recent world history as in the case of the death of Pope John Paul II, many issues came out into the open. The whole Christian church is on fire! This is because many of our shepherds are in distress--they face tremendous stress in their vocation. The shepherds are trying to swim in the church's moral and ethical landscape which, prohibits them to do certain moral acts because these are contrary to the Gospel which they preach. The many experiences of violations of moral norms and Christian ethical standards have come to the point where the members have already come out and indict their shepherds of their immoral acts. In the U.S. itself there are a good number of cases of shepherds priests, pastors, and bishops in distress. It is high time that the laity members should pray for their shepherds.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I will not be in want (Psalm 23:1).

frank in black