The Guardians Who Protect the Father's Children

St. Michael and All Angels

Observed September 25, 2016

Matthew 18:10

The Guardians Who Protect the Father's Children

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Angels are messengers and guardians who see the face of our heavenly Father. And they have two jobs: delivering messages from God to humans and protecting humans, particularly Christians, from harm and danger.

Cynics might ask that if angels do these two things, why do Christians die in car crashes? And why hasn't an angel ever spoke to them? We can answer these questions.

This first question wrongly assumes that the worst thing that can happen to someone is physical death. And the second question wrongly assumes that angels speaking to humans is about receiving secret knowledge that no one else has.

As to the first question, believers know that the worst thing possible isn't death; it's not trusting in Jesus' promise of forgiveness—unbelief. We are protected from unbelief in part due to the work of angels bringing messages from heaven down to Earth. And this addresses the second question: when angels from heaven deliver messages to humans on earth, the message is always Christ. Not secret knowledge just for you, but the truth of the Gospel for all people.

So angels protect us from unbelief and everlasting death by delivering messages of Christ. They were sent to deliver messages of Christ's conception, His birth, and His resurrection.

An angel brought the Word of God to the blessed Virgin Mary through his divine message.

²⁶In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” ²⁹Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:26-33)

A whole bunch of angels delivered the joyous news of Christ's birth.

⁸And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹²This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:8-14)

And they announced the news that Jesus was no longer dead.

¹On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. ²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. ⁵In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ⁷‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” (Luke 24:1-7)

In addition angels comforted Jesus after the temptations of the Devil in the wilderness and also in the Garden of Gethsemane. God chose to use these created beings in service of His work of saving us. And He continues to send His angels for our benefit in a world that filled with evil, mostly inside of us.

Jesus addressed the evil that's around us and inside of us when He said:

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. . . . ¹⁰See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven. (Matthew 18:3-4, 10)

We do evil when we look down on little children. We do this by thinking too much of them and by thinking too little of them.

We think too much of little children when we fail to discipline them when they do evil, because we think of them as innocent or ignorant or uneducated. We think too much of them when we fetishize their wishes as the way of the future. Our culture thinks that if a young person says something, then it must more pure and correct and profound than if an older person says that the same thing. Our churches are not immune from this obsession with youthfulness. Everybody wants to stay young.

We think too little of little children when we ignore what they really need. We spend great amounts of time and money plotting to make our kids successful grown-ups and so we easily neglect what they really need: to pray with them. Prayer before meals and bedtime is wonderful, but God's children need more. Healthy children need to listen to Jesus Himself every day and to remember the great things He does for them. Children, that's what we are doing right now: remembering that Jesus died and remembering that Jesus lives again and forever for you! Say that everyday with your parents: Jesus was born, Jesus died, and Jesus lives. These things happened and you know it and so you say it.

Jesus sends angels to little ones who speak His name, even little baptized babies who can't yet speak, yet believe in Him. These angels are sent by Jesus to protect us from harm. These guardian angels rejoice when they hear the name of their Master spoken in the homes they protect. And they rejoice to report these glad tidings to their Father in heaven. The angels who protect you see His face always; this is good news for you because this means that the good angels are watching over you. The angels cast out of heaven do not see the Father's face; only the good angels see Him and He sends them to watch over you.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Alleluia! Amen!