St Michael and All Angels

Good Shepherd

2004 Pass Rd, Biloxi, MS 39531

Draft Dan 10:10–14; 12:1–3; Rev 12:7–12; Mt 18:1–11; Ps 91; ant: v. 11   –     9/28/25

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus said, 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. For the Son of Man came to save the lost. What an odd thought, not just that every Christian has a guardian angel, but that the angels always see the face of Christ’s Father who is in heaven. What on earth do you suppose that can mean?

Alfred Edersheim explains how the Jews of old thought of the angels: “only the chiefest of the Angels were before the Face of God within the curtained Veil,” the others of the different classes stood outside and awaited his will. The chief angels always beheld His Face, and heard and knew “directly the Divine counsels and commands.” The rest knew and heard less. “This distinction was, therefore, one of knowledge;” but in our Gospel reading “Christ taught that it was one of love. Not the more exalted knowledge, and merit, or worth, but the simpler, the more unconscious of self, the more receptive and clinging—the nearer to God. Look up from earth to heaven; those representative, it may be, guardian Angels nearest to God, are not those of deepest knowledge of God’s counsel and commands, but those of simple, humble grace and faith”. We could say that it is not the glory of the angel that brings him closer to the Face of God within the curtained Veil, but rather the humility, or even the childlike simplicity of need and faith.

Why does Jesus say, Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The simple reason is that children are themselves simple in their trust, firmly believing what their parents say, and fully reliant on their parents for everything. The result is that children live carefree lives because they think that dad and mom have everything under control.

We adults are too arrogant, too reasoned, too jaded, too cynical. Faith for us is difficult. We have had to rely on our own abilities and knowhow too long, so the idea of trusting blindly in what God says is difficult. We worry about everything because the world has taught us to think that things will only happen if we are the ones to do it. From an earthly perspective that is true; but such a lesson by the world misleads us into doubting God’s goodness and desire to provide for us. When Jesus says we must turn around and become like children, He means we must repent of the arrogance of trusting so fully in ourselves and our abilities; that we must repent of the lack of trust in God’s promise to provide our daily needs; and repent of any cynicism about the state of the world. God does hold all the world in His hand, and He sets His holy angels about us to guard and protect us, so that nothing truly evil may befall us, nothing we don’t invite ourselves by our lack of faith, that is. The greatness of the angels is in their humility; the greatness of childlike faith is in its humility; and a greatness of Christ’s work for us was His humility.

For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost. “This,” Edersheim says, “His greatest condescension when He became the Babe of Bethlehem, is also His greatest exaltation. He Who is nearest the Father, and, in the most special and unique sense, always beholds His Face, is He that became a Child, and, as the Son of Man, stoops lowest, to save that which was lost.” (558) The high and mighty, the self important, the too knowledgeable among us won’t let themselves be saved; therefore, become like a child, simple and humble in trusting all that God has said to you; become like the angels, who though far more powerful and glorious than we can imagine, humble themselves to serve even the littlest of mankind, and eagerly desire the salvation of all mankind, as Jesus says, Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Lk 15:10).

What of the faith Jesus speaks of? How can we describe the effect of faith? Look again at the psalm we chanted today. It opens: He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Then the psalmist chants a litany of great deeds which God does for the one who has faith, that is, dwells in the shelter of the Almighty God, the one who trusts God as his refuge and fortress. If you believe in Christ, that He died for your sins, rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; if you confess your sins and receive absolution; if you have received the waters of baptism in Christ’s name, washing away your sins and marking you as a child of God, then all which the psalmist has sung God does for you, such as when the psalmist tells us, For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. And as God Himself has said:

Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” The the Apostles and St. Stephen knew this, and died as martyrs in absolute confidence praying for the salvation of even their enemies, Lord, do not hold this sin against them (Acts 7:60). The later martyrs also knew this and faced their persecutors confidently. Thus the voice of the angel spoke to St. John, they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. What did they love? They loved Christ. What was the measure of their faith? That of a innocent child who knows his father will provide all his needs. These men and women died in the faith, and so the angels bore them in their arms before the throne of God, rejoicing that another child of God has won the race, lived and died as Christ.

What of you, then? Is Psalm 91 not also a bundle of promises for you? Are you baptized into Christ? If so, then all the promises of God are yours; you inherit with the saints of old; the martyrs of the church are your martyrs also; St. Michael and all angels rejoice at your salvation; God has set a holy angel to watch over you day and night lest the devil, banished from heaven now to earth, have any power over you. Do not be afraid of tomorrow. Do not be afraid of the world. Do not be afraid for your house or your daily bread. All this God has in hand for you and has set His angels to guard you, so you need not worry.

When Jesus says, For the Son of Man came to save the lost, He meant you. He trusted the will of His Father in heaven, and, as St. Paul says in Philippians 2, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (6–8). All this Jesus did that He would save you from your sins. All this St. Michael and all the angels witnessed with joy. All this the Apostles reported to you in the Scriptures. So be confident of your salvation, and believe the Psalmist when he says, because of the death and resurrection of Christ, You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.  ANd believing that, also believe what St. Gabriel said to Daniel about the last days: many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” Believe that because you are baptized into Christ you too shall be among the righteous who, even though they die, shall awake to everlasting life. Amen.

Now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen