“MICHAELMAS 2024”
Saint Matthew 18: 1-11
Saint Michael and all Angels: September 29 Anno Domini 2024
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
“In The Name of The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost. We thank Thee our heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Thy dear Son, that Thou hast kept this night from all harm and danger; and we pray Thee to keep us this day also from sin and all evil, that all our doings and life may please Thee. For into Thy hand we commend ourselves, our bodies and souls, and all things. Let Thy holy angel be with us, that the wicked foe may have no power over us. Amen.”
Thus, you pray daily in the morning, for you faithfully believe in angels. Even as in the collect you assented with your “amen” to “…God Who hast ordained and constituted the services of angels and men in a wonderful order…”
As believers of The Word of God, His holy Scriptures, you believe in angels. Angel(s) is mentioned 283 times in The Bible and 18 times in The Book of Concord; Cherub(s) 69 times; and Seraphs (Seraphim) twice! Perhaps elevating Seraph to the level of Archangel. But you most fervently believe in these spirit-creatures because your Lord, Christ, speaks of them: “…in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven.”
Today is the great Feast Day of Saint Michael and all Angels. Michael (whose name mean ‘who is like God’) is one of three of The Sabaoth (host of heaven) listed in inspired writ. Along with Gabriel (‘mighty man of God’) and Raphael in the Book of Tobit (‘God heals’) mayhaps are the servants portrayed in Esaias chapter 6: “…The Lord sitting upon a throne (The Crucifix)…His train filled the temple…and one cried unto another and said, ‘Holy, + Holy, Holy, the whole earth is full of His glory.’”
These “fiery ones” (quadish Elohim) worship God perfectly, as Adam was supposed to do, but did not. As you are commanded to do daily, but do not. Not fearing and trusting God above all things (including the angels) is sin—your sin. Angels also are evangelists, messengers of the Evangel—The Gospel. That is what angel means: “messenger.”
They are also warriors, protectors, defenders, guardians. As servants of The Lord, guarantors of Christ’s mission, they too are reapers [Mt. 13.39], who will gathers all the risen dead at the end of time, even as they gather by The Holy Ghost all this day who are called and enlightened by The Gospel—Christ present in the flesh!
You believe. For did you not just confess your faith in God the “maker of all things visible and INVISIBLE?”
But you are fallen. Before being saved you are lumped in with the wicked foe—Satan the fallen angel and his demons (rebellious and enemy angels).
And now, Redeemed and Holy in your new man and new woman, you are still plagued by daily sins.
You quibble and quarrel over who is the greatest; usually placing yourself on the top rung. You refuse far too often to humble yourselves to become like little children—trusting fully your Father. And you, and all Christians, sin by offending “these little ones which believe in Me” says Christ. Jesus is referring to the “12” and to all His New Testament Bishops, Priests/Pastors, and called servants. Not that you offend me in my person (as Jay Watson; for I too am sinful and unclean) but rather your offenses come in fighting against The Word (most times the Law) and the Sacraments, with sloth, indifference, and secured presumptuousness.
One of your sins is to dismiss the “need” of angels as superfluous: “we have Jesus as our Savior and mediator. We do not need angels!” Yes, you do, because The Messiah has given them to you—for you. You have Jesus, so do you not need families, friends, brothers, and sisters of our parish? You have Jesus, yes, but do you not need daily bread as well?
Angels are “means” and “instrumentalities” which Jesus delights in using. Think of them; appreciate them; be grateful for Spiritual body-guards! You are not the devil misquoting and taking out of context God’s Word. You hold fast the truth that: “…for He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone” [Ps. 91. 11-12]. They too bore up Lazarus at his death and carried him to God—the “bosom of Abraham.”
Another sin is to elevate the angels too highly and with nascent idolatry to pray to them. But you do not do this as Lutherans. But since you do not pray as you should you wrongly dismiss the fact that the angels pray for you. “Besides, we also grant that the angels pray for us” Apology to The Augsburg Confession, article XXI. Melanchthon goes on to correctly cite Scripture: “For there is a testimony in Zechariah 1.12, where an angel prays ‘O Lord of hosts, how long wilt Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem?’”
It is always all about Jesus. It always is. The angels are all about Jesus. Even as The Blessed Ever Virgin points to The Christ and says: “whatever He says “whatsoever He saith unto you, do it” [Jn. 2. 5b] Jesus says “repent and believe.”
Believe that those same Cherubs, awful and awesome in their reflected majesty, that bore the flaming sword in Eden, bear those same swords of The Spirit to encircle you with protection in all your trials and temptations. They encircled the entire hills surrounding Elisah and Gehazi when they were threatened by the Assyrian army. They do the same for you every day—In Jesus’ Name.
When you are weary of the constant and daily attacks and temptations—your own 40 days in the wilderness of worldly sin and demonic harassment—know and believe that the same angels that nourished and fed Christ at the conclusion of His obedience and reliance on The Word, are there to feed you every day in Scripture and every Sunday at Mass. Not that angels feed you, per se, but they are your servers, maître d’s, and waiters—escorting you to the Holy rail. For when the guide you to the altar, The Holy Ghost has them direct your mouths, and your ears, to The Cross, To His precious Body and Blood.
The host of heaven sang with Gospel joy at the birth of the Savior on the Judean hills; they peered into the creche at the stable to see God in the flesh even as they once sat upon the Ark in golden imagery. They bring the same gracious salutation of peace to you as Gabriel brought to Saint Mary at the annunciation, and to Mary Magdalen at the empty tomb. They bestow peace, a peace which passes understanding, because they speak Jesus. They encourage you and re-direct you from your sinful heart and preoccupations, to the one thing needful: “ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven” [Act. 1.11].
And He comes now this morning in His Supper. He descends to be your meat and drink even as His angels ascended and descended on Jacob’s ladder, for you are the New Jacob, i.e., the New Israel.
The angels do always behold the face of God—the face of Jesus, and now, your face, at The Feast. Or as we say “with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious Name (Jesus-Savior), ever more praising Thee, and saying. Holy, Holy + Holy.” Or:
In The Name of The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost
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