29 September 2019
Text: Matt 18:1-11 (Dan 10:10-14, 12:1-3; Rev 12:7-12)
In the name of +
Jesus. Amen.
Today
is the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels. It is also known as Michaelmas. Unfortunately, it’s not one of the most popular
feasts of the Church, but in our day, it needs to be.
First
of all, we don’t consider the angels enough. These spirits minister to us and to our
churches without ceasing, and are yet almost always unseen. Maybe we’re a little embarrassed to admit to
our unbelieving friends that we believe in angels.
There are other unfortunate things about our relationship to the angels. One is that we sometimes hear people describe our dead relatives as becoming angels, like the schmaltzy Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” When a child dies, we sometimes describe the little one whom has been called home “an angel” – unintentionally degrading him as something less than a human being created in God’s image.
Then there are the depictions of angels as little naked babies or pale womanish beings who look weak. Clearly, such artists have never cracked open a bible. A more accurate depiction of the angels and their works is the famous statue of St. Michael the Archangel as a muscular warrior holding a spear to the throat of the ugly dragon (representing Satan) at his feet.
There are other unfortunate things about our relationship to the angels. One is that we sometimes hear people describe our dead relatives as becoming angels, like the schmaltzy Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” When a child dies, we sometimes describe the little one whom has been called home “an angel” – unintentionally degrading him as something less than a human being created in God’s image.
Then there are the depictions of angels as little naked babies or pale womanish beings who look weak. Clearly, such artists have never cracked open a bible. A more accurate depiction of the angels and their works is the famous statue of St. Michael the Archangel as a muscular warrior holding a spear to the throat of the ugly dragon (representing Satan) at his feet.
We
have things so easy in our country that we forget that we are at war. We forget that there are demons that are
seeking to devour us by separating us from Jesus. Our World War II era ancestors were tough. Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers
stormed the beaches while they were teenagers. Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers
temporarily gave up their scarves and gloves and took up power tools in
factories working long hours to contribute to the war effort. Today, our young people need safe spaces
because someone might disagree with them in a college classroom.
Spiritually,
we have become similarly weak. But worse
yet, dear friends, we don’t even know it. When we let other things take priority over
the Word of God and the Sacrament of the Altar, we are becoming spiritually
weak, ripe for the temptation of the devil and his evil angels. When we stop praying, stop reading and
studying the scriptures, and when we allow the world to shape us and mold us
through hours and hours of devouring entertainment, we are taking the bait. As the famous book title says, we are
entertaining ourselves to death.
Michaelmas
reminds us that we are at war. And this
war is largely unseen except through the eyes of faith. And the stakes of this war are eternal – for us
and for our children.
And
children are special targets of the evil one. In our Gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ reminds
us that the “greatest in the kingdom of heaven” are little children. For they humble themselves and are willing to
be dependent. We are instructed to “turn
and become like children.” And children
are especially beloved by our Father in heaven. Jesus says: “See to it that you do not despise
one of these little ones. For I tell you
that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man came to save the lost.”
We
live in a culture that hates children and hates families. People with large families are especially hated.
They are seen as selfish destroyers of
the planet. Abortion clinics are praised
by politicians and celebrities for cutting back the surplus population (which
is supposedly good for the environment and mother earth). It is also good for feminism, for motherhood
is seen as a curse upon womanhood. Men
are trained to see children as a nuisance, as infringements on the ability to
buy motorcycles and beer and to pour money into the man-cave.
And
children are being trafficked and enslaved around the world. There are many, many global elites – loved and
admired even by Christian people – who are part of this worldwide movement to
abuse children. It is diabolical and the
height of evil. Jesus Himself says the
most vile of our human race are such as these: “Whoever causes one of these
little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a
great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the
sea.” Even churches are willing to
protect such predators. It is a sobering
and frightening thought.
I
was recently debating someone who argued that Jesus was the villain for making the
millstone comment, since He was apparently advocating “murder” of such people.
Dear
friends, we are very far along in this war. The contempt for children – as well as for God’s
children – is in the open. Even in our
public libraries, places where children were once protected, and books were
available to educate and edify these little ones – now these places are being
used by perverts to sexualize and groom our little ones, even as some of these
people are convicted sexual predators. And
this behavior is not just tolerated, dear friends, it is celebrated and
encouraged by our debased and degraded culture.
If
you and your family are not rushing to the altar each and every week to be
strengthened, you are setting yourself up to be victims of the devil, the
world, and our sinful nature. Like our
great-grandfathers and –grandmothers, we need to face this war head on and not
pretend that it isn’t there.
And
forwarding sentimental Jesus-stories on Facebook is only making you weaker and
giving you a false sense of security. You
need Christ – not a cartoon parody. You
need the warrior Christ, the one whose blood was splattered by the nails and
spear at the cross, for this is where Satan was defeated. The cross is what empowers St. Michael to slay
the dragon, and empowers you, dear brothers and sisters, to resist the relentless
assaults of the evil one.
You
need to adopt the mindset of the warrior. You worship a God who took flesh so as to make
war on the devil. Jesus is not a
Precious Moments figurine, but rather the epic and heroic figure of the
Crucified King who lays down His life defeating the enemy of His people. And we who follow Jesus, do just that, dear
friends: we follow Him. We take up our
cross. As our Epistle speaks of
Christians: “And they have conquered [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the
Word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
Which
of you parents would not die for your children? That is not difficult. What is difficult is living for your
children: making them go to Church, leading them in prayer, seeing to it that
they are equipped for battle, teaching them, setting the example. Warriors are made through discipline,
training, and learning to serve their brothers and sisters in battle instead of
thinking only of themselves and their comfort.
We
live in times of trial, not unlike the early Christians who had to choose
between the world and their faith – and sometimes had to prove those decisions
by laying down their lives. St. John
speaks to us, dear friends, to us today when he says: “But woe to you, O earth
and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows
that his time is short.”
Similarly,
Daniel speaks to us concerning what the angel spoke to him: “And there shall be
a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that
time.”
Dear
friends, we need to pray that the Lord will defend us by His grace and through
the ministry of the angels. It is not an
accident that our Small Catechism includes the two little morning and evening prayers
that Lutheran families have prayed together and parents have taught their
children to pray in the morning and evening. Both of these prayers include the line: “Let
Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me,” and
these prayers are to be prayed twice daily.
Let
us look to Jesus and the cross, and let us pray for our Father in heaven to
defend His little ones by means of St. Michael and the holy angels. Let us come to grips with who these angels are,
and why they are fighting. Let us adopt
their warrior mindset, just as our heroic ancestors rose to the occasion in
times of war and in times of peace.
Let
us steel ourselves for battle by Word and Sacrament, and by prayer. Let us continually pray, “Let Your holy angel
be with us, that the evil foe may have no power over us.” Amen.
In the name of the Father
and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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