Michael and All Angels

Sermon: Michael and All Angels, 9/29/2024

Texts: Revelation 12:7-12, Luke 10:17-20

Grace, Peace, and Mercy from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The word angel basically means “messenger”. These mysterious spiritual beings that inhabit the landscape of the Bible, are the ministering spirits, those which sole existence is to carry out the task or message of God to the world. They are deliverers of God’s Will. Not to get too entrenched in discussing angelology, I want to center us on the basic meaning of being an angel, which is to be a messenger, to be on mission for God. In the same way we witness angels in the Scriptures ministering the message and tasks of God, we might think about how that dynamic plays out in our daily lives, how often we talk about people or events in the same way, as perhaps being the recipient of an angel’s touch from God’s behalf. We ultimately give thanks to God, that we are visited by such anonymous presences that point to the grace of the sender, God Himself. We often talk about inhabiting our “better angels”, meaning that we desire to act in the world as if we were channels by which the highest good is available to others through us, that God might touch upon our neighbors’ lives with His goodness. On Thursday night, I got the chance to watch the screening of an upcoming film titled “Leap of Faith” by Nicholas Ma, which I invite all of us to watch once it comes out, so I won’t spoil it too much! The film behaves as a kind of messenger of the potential of building relationships across divisions, the possibilities that the Spirit opens up for us to reconcile to each other in Christ. The film shows the
journey between a group of pastors from different theological, ethnic, racial, and political backgrounds, that meet together in a retreat to dialogue across the divide. Each one of these pastors, of course believes and subscribes to their tenets, but they are then confronted when their distinct theologies and socio-political beliefs starts to affect the lives of these other siblings in the faith which they have built a relationship with. During their time together, it is not clear if the differences are solved, but one things jumps out from their experience. The presence of God’s Spirit, the angelic visitation if you will, of siblings in the faith opening up with the love that God loves. They become messengers to each other of a spirit of relationship and communion that miraculously transcends some of the differences, with some in the group even coming to a new understanding on the issues at hand. Per our reading from Revelation, where the angels of God battle out against Satan’s forces, we can see the barriers set up by the enemy come crumbling down in the presence of a love that is rooted in God’s affirmation of each and every one of the people in that film. So how do we become messengers to each other of God’s overwhelming grace? What is our message on behalf of God that shines a light on the kingdom’s growth instead of obscuring it?

In Luke’s Gospel we heard read of the return of the 70 people that Jesus sent to proclaim the Gospel, his messengers so to speak, that marvel at the great liberation they have witnessed from their proclamation of the Good News. And Jesus witnesses to them: “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. Indeed, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Jesus assures to them the why of the liberation they were able to proclaim, for the power of the Gospel is the defeat of the forces of death and destruction and deceit; Satan has fallen. But Jesus clarifies something important for these messengers of Gospel-liberation. The messenger that is sent needs to know that it is not by their own power that the forces of darkness submit to them, and moreover, that they should not rejoice at the power to submit the evil ones. Jesus tells them the real meaning of being His messenger: to recognize from where your salvation comes from, and to rest assured in His victory over evil, that He has overcome the world, and we are able to proclaim because we are beneficiaries of God’s grace to save. The messenger is not the judge. The messenger is not the doer. The messenger is simply not God. But the messenger is the joyful deliverer of the news that God has done something great. The messenger is the one that is blessed to announce that liberation is a foot, that God is making a new world possible. That we are no longer chained to the powers of death and hatred, but that we are set free to love deeply and have great mercy upon our beloved and afflicted humanity. In the revelations reading, the angels enter into conflict with the devil, but they battle in the power of the One who gave Himself for us and brought life into the dead world. So we are the liberated, and we point to
where liberation is gushing out like powerful streams of water in the rock of mount Horeb.

So what is our message, beloved? What is the mission by which we are sent out by God to deliver? It is the core of our readings today: Goodness and Grace has triumphed over Evil and Death. In this assembly, we have the wonderful task to tell people: there is hope in Him that is victorious on the cross. You think your particular cross is the end, you think that your failure or your shortcoming is the end, but God says NO to our defeat. He has taken up your cause, and He has uplifted you from the mire. You do not need to decay in the death-dealings of the enemy of Life, you can take up a freedom freely given, to love and serve and be merciful and compassionate. Your name is written in Heaven by the blood of the Lamb who has conquered the grave by His resurrection from the dead. God has said yes to each and every one of us. He holds us in the palm of His hands. You are given your life back, because You have been shown that true life is lived out in the power of God’s wild grace and will to love us into being. It is so much so, that even though we die, we need not despair, God has you. He is with you forever in the name of Jesus Christ. Death is defeated in the name of Jesus. You do not need to fall into the trappings of hatred. Hatred is defeated in the name of Jesus.

So be like the angels, beloved. Inhabit the task at hand, the task of proclaiming the Gospel to all of Creation: that God so loved the world that He has given us Himself in Jesus, and showed us the way to true life. Be messengers of peace, justice, compassion, love. Be that messenger, by which other people will be transformed by the Good News, by which they can love again, hope again, struggle again, have mercy again. Inhabit your better angels, as won by the gift of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Praise be to Him, that has gained the victory. Amen and Amen.