“JESUS THE GOOD MESSAGE”
Saint Matthew 18: 1-11
Saint Michael and All Angels [Transferred]: 2 October Anno Domini 2022
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
Saint John tells you that “all things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made” [Jn. 1. 3]. So Jesus, Jesus before His conception, while He was The Son of God, The Second Person of The Trinity, made Saint Michael; made all the angels. As we sing in Psalm 148: “praise Him, all ye angels of his; praise Him, all His host…for He spake the word, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created” [Ps. 148. 2, 5b].
Your first encounter with Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, was through your first parents—the arch-criminals and seditionists Adam and Eve. “So He (The Son of God) drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” [Gen. 3. 24]. Not a good start for you.
“Angels,” plural, appears 92 times in Scripture while the singular, “Angel” appears some 283 times. That’s a lot. They are important. They matter because The Lord created them and loves them and has them at His command—for you; for your benefit. If The Son of God made his spirit servants the 4th day of creation, as is supposed by the Church Fathers and the Theological professors), then they were there when Adam was made. They were there with The Lord when He visited Abraham at the Oak of Mamre to have the good news told to our Father in the faith and Sarah of the coming Messias. The Angels were there to rescue Lot and His family from the destruction that was rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah—that redemption from brimstone was good news indeed for the survivors.
Ah, Good News, The Gospel, or in Greek: ev angel. Ev meaning good and angel meaning news (or message). So, an evangel, or evangelist is a good newser, or someone who brings good news. That’s what the angels are, that’s what St. Michael is. And what is this good news, this Gospel? It is that Jesus loves you and has done everything you should have done but didn’t, and won’t. It’s that Jesus loves you so much that He was punished in your place—that He suffered and died the criminal punishment that was meant for you. He’s your replacement, your substitute, your “stand-in” savior. The reason this good news is not received by you with the joy that it should be is that you remain a sinner until the day you die. You remain ungrateful, slothful, selfish, and self-centered—curved in on your own ego. So, telling you that because of Jesus’ life, death on the cross, and resurrection your sins are forgiven only means something to the one who feels the weight of his sins, of his sin. Telling someone that the good news means they have eternal life only resonates to someone who either is not currently having a good life or to someone near the end of their life. The successful, happy-go-lucky, rich, powerful person with youth and money and toys…doesn’t know how much they too need the good news.
Why does The Lord use angels? Well, He wouldn’t have to. Why does The Lord use pastors? Why does He use water and wine and bread and preaching; why the Scriptures reduced in writing on paper? He wouldn’t have to.
God delights in using created things, material things, solid and concrete matter. It’s why The Son of God took on flesh and blood from the Ever Virgin—Emmanuel.
Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael were there too…at the stable and creche. They had been in fields earlier with The Sabaoth. You sang their song again this morning “Glory be to God on high; and on earth peace, good will toward men” and following.
When the sermon is over you will sing the Sanctus of the Angels—the Seraphim—which they are chanting in Isaiah 6—“Holy, Holy, Holy.”
Saint Michael and the host are messengers with a message, THE MESSAGE, that you need. And like their Lord, The Christ, they also fight as warriors before they deliver that message. Indeed, in the fight itself is the message. Christ’s Good News is in that very crucifix to which the angels hovered around during the six long hours on Good Friday—beholding with their spiritual eyes, just like you, the approaching sacrifice; the final Paschal Lamb given and shed.
Part of their spiritual and angelic warfare is their service to you—guarding and protecting you as The Lord has so tasked them: “let Thy holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me.”
Your Jesus is everywhere to be sure, but He is there with you when His Word is with you—in your + Baptism and when you read, sing, and pray His Word. Your bodies and your homes (and cars) are sanctified, made holy, by Jesus’ presence. And where The Master is, there too are His spiritual servants—The “Fiery Ones” the Seraphs and all the rest.
And now Saint Michael and his cohorts speak to you again, through the mouth the Angel of Augsburg, the called and ordained Pastor. One day soon they will come to you, to all of us, to bear you home to Abram’s bosom, that you may die unfearing. But this morning, they bid you to come to The Feast of The Lamb: “and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen” [Rev. 7. 10-12].
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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