Text: Matt 18:1-11
(Dan 10:10-14; 12:1-3; Rev 12:7-12)
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
Today the church honors not only St. Michael the Archangel, but all angels whom God has created, who minister to us, who watch over us and all of God’s children, and who serve God alongside of us – though we cannot see them.
Angels are spirits. They don’t have flesh and blood, though God permits them to appear in visible form as He wills. Angels don’t reproduce. People don’t become angels when they die. The word “angel” literally means “messenger,” and it is related to the word “Gospel,” which means “Good News,” or a “Good Message.” Sometimes the angels deliver messages from God in heaven to us here in space and time. We know the name of the archangel Gabriel, as he delivered the message to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she was to be the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as appearing to Zechariah and making the announcement that his wife Elizabeth would become the mother of John the Baptist.
We know from the Scriptures that angels ministered to Jesus in His own temptation and suffering. Had Jesus ordered them to, they would have stopped His crucifixion and wiped out all of the enemies of Jesus. They provide supernatural aid when we are in trouble – though we almost never see them or know that they did anything to help us. They defend us from the devil and his fallen angels. They receive us into eternity after we die. And we know they are assigned to children to guard them, as our Lord says: “See 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.”
So it is important that we understand and acknowledge the reality of angels and their work in the kingdom of God – ministering both to God and to all of us. It’s also important that we don’t believe the myths and pop-culture distortions about angels. It is unfortunate that they are sometimes depicted in art as little babies or delicate women. For their reality is quite different. They are fierce. They are an army. They are warriors.
St. Michael the Archangel, is mentioned in the Book of Daniel, the end-times “great prince who has charge of your people,” and that he will deliver the people of God in a “time of trouble” on the Last Day: when “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting death.”
The Book of Revelation gives us some more detail about this work of Michael, telling about a time in the ancient past when the “great dragon,” the “ancient serpent,” the devil, Satan, “the deceiver of the whole world” was expelled from heaven along with his own army of rebellious angels. Michael was leading this great war with the angels under his command, “fighting back against the dragon.”
This war was not finally won until the crucifixion of Jesus. Michael and his angels conquered Satan and his demons “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony,” that is, the testimony of the preaching of God’s Word by martyrs who shed their blood preaching and confessing the Good News. And now, we live in the end times of this war, as St. John proclaimed: “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.”
But, dear friends, we Christians, even though we are attacked by the devil, should not cower in fear. For we are indeed covered by the blood of the Lamb. And Jesus Himself commands armies of angels to defend us – even protecting us as little children. Angels are a big part of our own spiritual warfare, when we are fighting against temptation, against unbelief, against the devil and his angels who hate us and wish us harm.
And this is why our Lord warns us about being arrogant. When the disciples asked Jesus, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” our Lord’s answer was not what they expected. They were hoping that Jesus would tell them who his favorite disciple was. They were seeking glory in the way of the world. They were being vain and foolish – and so do we, dear friends. This call to repent is for us too. Jesus tells them that in the kingdom, being great means becoming like children. “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
And so we have a duty to take care of children, to protect them alongside the angels assigned to them. And the opposite is true: God will severely punish those who harm children: “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.”
While the world exploits children, uses them as pawns in their perverted lifestyles, and taking advantage of their vulnerability, the church is called to protect and defend them, fighting for them with their angels. We baptize little children. We bring them to Jesus. We pray with them and for them. We teach them to pray. We read God’s Word to them. And when they are prepared, we bring them to the table of the Lord. Their angels fight alongside of us to defend them against the evil one.
It should surprise no one that in these last days, much of our cultural warfare involves children. The world wants the right to end their lives in the womb; the church and the angels fight for their right to life. The world wants to force them into schools that will subject them to harm and teach them lies; the church wants children to be safe and well-educated in schools under the authority of parents and the angels. The world wants children to be confused about what it means to be male and female, and even to perform gruesome procedures on them; the church joins the angels in protecting these little ones from sick and evil people who would harm them in body, mind, and spirit.
The church is up against a powerful enemy, dear friends. The enemy occupies the high ground. Satan and his demons control the television, the movie screen, our nation’s schools, our institutions of government, the internet, corporations, the publishing companies, the ad agencies, and even many of the churches. Our sinful flesh likes it, because we get to participate in evil while lying to ourselves that it is good.
But we know better. Think about the children we are called upon to protect: those in our families, those in our congregation, those under our care, those in our neighborhoods, those in our country, and those in the world. Look at the horrible things children are permitted to see and hear, the way that they are forced to live because of the irresponsibility and disordered values of adults. It is well-past the time that each and every Christian man and woman makes a solemn promise that he or she will never consent to the world’s war on children. We will not comply. We will join forces with Michael and the angels, and we will defend children. We will fight back. We will rely on the supernatural help from heaven, from the blood of Christ, from the waters of Holy Baptism, and from the ministry of the angels sent to guard these little ones.
We will not sit idly by while the dragon seeks to devour them. We will not simply allow them to be lost. “For the Son of Man came to save the lost.” We Christians baptize our children, protect our children, instruct our children, and we commend them to the charge of the holy angels. This should be our prayer morning and night. And we should also pray that God would send his holy angel to protect us as well, dear friends. For part of turning and becoming children is the humility to accept that we need divine help.
Dr. Luther gave us two short prayers to pray, one in the morning when we wake up, and one in the evening when we go to sleep. Both of these prayers have the same ending – and the ending of these prayers is something that we should repeat often during the day, as we fight against the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh, as we make war against those who would attack the children of God: “Let your holy angel be with me that the evil foe have no power over me.”
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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