Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

Why are there angels? What’s their point, when God could fight His own battles against Satan and the forces of darkness any way that He wants? When can we know for certain that we have, in fact, met an angel or shown hospitality to them like it says in the book of Hebrews may be possible? We hope to explain to ourselves the existence and activity of an entirely unseen world that somehow overlaps with the world that we can see. There is something genuinely fascinating to our human minds that there could be an angel standing above you or sitting next to you, and protecting you wherever you go. Our curiosity then gets the better of us and we let our own thoughts and feelings become the experts and we believe all sorts of things about those mysterious spiritual beings.

On the other hand, all of this mysterious and other-worldly language could discourage someone from thinking any further about angels and what they do. It seems everyone nowadays is getting caught up in all things spiritual just because it is the latest fad. Our minds, occupied as we are with the breathless pace of life, are still programmed with that idea of “What you see is what you get.” There needs to be enough proof or else we will not become convinced. Of course you could believe in angels, but just as long as it doesn’t mean that your life will be any different because of them. They’re ok when you’re going to church or reading your Bible, but at other times, it’s just a little strange to fix constant attention to matters unseen. Nobody thinks about the water, sewer and electrical lines buried out of sight in your front yard making everything you rely upon inside your home work, until you want to dig- then you actually pay attention to those flags that the workers put in your grass.

It is so easy simply to make-believe in this whole other spiritual realm, just like you’re telling a story, but if someone starts getting really serious about it, then questions from our so-called real world would come to mind. Questions like: “If God sends angels to protect us, then why are there still accidents and terrorists and destruction? Where are the guardian angels when these things happen?” So when it seems possible that there could be more than meets the eye, we tend to abandon what our faith says in favor of what our experiences tell us instead.

Jesus told a story about two men. The rich man and Lazarus were vastly different in appearance. One had the finest clothes and the other had rags. One ate gourmet meals and the other went hungry with longing for scraps. One had the care of the best physicians possible, and the other only had dogs to lick his open sores. The chasm between them was more than a physical appearance divide, though. At their death, a whole other world of difference was unveiled. The rich man, who believed not in God but in his own abundance was now separated by fire from Lazarus, who Jesus said was carried by angels to heaven, to the open embrace of the spiritual ancestor of all those who believe in God’s promises, father Abraham.

Despite the Grand Canyon separation, Jesus reveals a conversation that occurred between the rich man and Abraham. Send Lazarus to soothe me! I’m in real need now! I need God now that things aren’t going well for me! Isn’t that how we are at times? I was just digging a hole for a simple mail box and now I’ve struck a gas line. I didn’t need to pay attention to it before, but now it’s going to really ruin my day! Can’t Lazarus help me?

But the chasm remains impossible to cross, says father Abraham. No one can cross over after their death. No one from heaven, not Lazarus, not even the angels, can come to the rescue. The time to believe in Jesus is now, while we’re still alive. We cannot put it off like the rich man assumed he could. He could have helped Lazarus, who sat at the gate of his own property. The reality for the rich man and Lazarus was completely the opposite from the reality they each faced during their earthly life. There is, also for us, a whole other world that truly exists, even though we cannot see it. And not only that, this unseen world is the way things really are in God’s kingdom of heaven. This is the realm we read about, in which St. Michael the archangel and all the angel armies under his command defeated Satan and cast him down like a bolt of lightning from the presence of Almighty God. It is the realm in which all those miserable demons flee at the mere speaking of God’s Word. Angels in heaven rejoice when a sinner repents, and we join their choir when we sing Holy, Holy, Holy in the Communion liturgy. In this spiritual realm, there are angels right here among us and protecting us even now. Angels will carry us to heaven one day. In the realm that we can see, all you get is a dead man hanging on a cross; in the spiritual realm, the devil’s head is crushed, he is thrown out of heaven and sin and death are completely wiped out.

Brothers and sisters, do not be ignorant of the real spiritual things, even though they are hidden. You may understand and believe with all your heart that your sins are taken away and that one day you will be in heaven. But it is still possible to believe that and still imagine, along with the rich man in Jesus’ story, that you are your own person, that you don’t need God’s help in your day-to-day life. God’s grace could easily become for you just a safety net for you to fall back on when you can’t help yourself out of your own mess. You have a deep-seated desire within you to be self-reliant, to be independent of God. You were born with this desire, and the devil always turns your attention to it. For he wants you to believe that you can get by in life without God’s help, so that then you become easy prey to fall into the hands of the evil one. Even though Michael defeated him forever and God cast him out of heaven, Satan can still bring you down to hell with him, and he knows his time of opportunity to do that is short.

There is a whole other dimension to God’s grace. Above and beyond giving you the free forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven, our Lord has given you more. He always gives you more. He has entrusted your safety to his most powerful servants even while you are still on this earth. He promises that He will send His angels to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and cobra and trample them underfoot. Even though the devil like a roaring lion prowls about, waiting to devour you, he will not come near you, because God has given you Michael and all the heavenly armies to watch over you until the day you are with Him in Abraham’s legendary hug. Every day that you are alive is a gift with which God richly blesses you, and that gift is especially yours thanks to the work of His holy angels.

But, again, it is all too easy to get carried away when you think about those angels. As much as they do for you, they are still God’s humble servants. They deserve no worship, thanks or praise for their work—they themselves would tell you that all glory goes to God alone who made them and who gave them their power. And as great as Michael, Gabriel and other archangels are, they still could not bridge that cavernous gap between those who are condemned and those who are saved. But there was One who could. Their commander-in-chief Jesus accomplished the impossible when He came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary and was made man. For miserable Lazarus, and also for you, dear child of God, Jesus has not only relieved your pains and sufferings that you experience in this world, but He has promised most importantly that you will not pay what your sins against God have deserved. He paid the price, and bridged that gap, and Jesus paved the way for the angels to bring you away from the flames of torment to the blessed rest of everlasting life.

Our praise and thanks never go to the angels. So this festival occasion today is yet another time to give thanks to Jesus for what He did for us, and for adding to that the amazing work of His perfect servants, the angels. In fact, that’s why the colors today are white- because that draws attention to Jesus’ purity, perfection, trimmed with the gold of our heavenly hope, a hope that by God’s Word is a certainty for all who believe in Jesus. You have God’s love as your precious gift and that love is seen in Jesus your Savior, who gave up all He had and became obedient to death, even death on a cross—and all for your sake. God knows that you are a sinner and that you deserve punishment, but with Jesus standing in your place, He no longer looks upon you with punishment and condemnation. Instead He abundantly showers His love on you for the sake of Jesus, who kept the law and suffered its punishment for you. Jesus gives you His very own Body and Blood, which was the price He paid for your sins, in order that you may join with Him and the angels of heaven in receiving salvation even now, both for your body and for your soul.

It is truly a mystery—as deep as a bottomless well—when it comes to thinking about God’s love. Even the angels themselves wonder in amazement at how great the love of God is for you, His precious creation. They as His special messengers gladly bring us Good News of God’s love, just like they did to the shepherds at Christmas, and to the women and the disciples on the first Easter. We then join with them in their heavenly song so that with angels and archangels we laud and magnify God’s glorious name.

Why are there angels? So that you may believe and finally realize what came true at your baptism– that your name, like Lazarus, is written in heaven. Anything more or less than this simply misses the point. Whether you focus too much on the angels or deny that they have any bearing on your life, then that’s when doubt and unbelief have the chance to creep in and destroy your faith. Remember first of all that you are saved and you have crossed that Grand Canyon from death into life– no one can take that from you. Depend on Him for everything, and not on yourself. Then give thanks to God for sending His angels to remind you of that blessed truth and to protect you on every side from the attacks of the devil. Why? Because He loves you. O Lord, “Let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.”

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Dan. 10:10–14, 12:1–3 At that time Michael shall stand up
Psalm 91 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Rev. 12:7–12 Michael and his angels fought with the dragon
Matt. 18:1–11 whoever humbles himself as this little child … if your eye causes you to sin
or Luke 10:17–20 I saw Satan fall