Your Place is Above the Angels
Saint Michael and All Angels
Saint Luke 10:17-20
29 September 2013 – Redeemer
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What would you rather be – a child or an angel? I’m guessing angel. Children are weak, dependent, needy, and they don’t stand much of a chance unless they’re standing beside a strong man. I’d take the angel role anytime and I’m not talking the chubby cherubs that adorn the craft shows and contemporary posters and pictures. I’m talking Saint Michael the Archangel, Master Gunnery Sergeant in the Force Recon Marines that constitute the holy army of God.
Child or angel? It’s not your choice and that’s good because God has given you the greater place – child. That is what God made you to be. Children are greater than angels according to the Lord’s Word. If one of my children dies – my hope is not that he or she will become an angel. My hope is that he or she is a child of God the Father through baptism into Christ. Jesus never warns anyone about hurting the angels, but He does warn about hurting the children – “See that you do not despise one of theses little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” You hurt His children and you risk a visit from Saint Michael and the special forces.
Children are greater because Jesus didn’t become an angel. He became the son of Mary. Jesus didn’t exert His power over the devil or evil with a 50 caliber machine gun and an legion of angels. He beat the Devil by humbly being the Son of His Father and submitting Himself to sin, death, and hell for us.
In the text the 72 have returned after Jesus sent them out on a preaching journey. He sent them as children. They weren’t to pack a suitcase or a cooler. They weren’t to take their credit cards or billfolds. Now tell me – who travels without packing a suitcase, worrying about the cooler, or without cash? Children do. Why? Because mom packed the suitcase and the cooler and Dad’s got the money. Jesus sends the 72 out with one thing – the Word and promise of His Father. Their dad is going to take care of them. Whoever hears you hears me.
In Jesus’ words to the 72 there is both fatherly discipline and childlike delight. The discipline is when Jesus sends them out like children – totally dependent upon Him. The goal of children is to grow up, to be on your own, to pay your own way and make your own decisions and not be under anyone. That is not the way of the child of God. God wants you to grow evermore childlike, ever more dependent, to put aside your ways, your worries, your fears, and believe you are His child in Christ. Christ’s Words to the 72 are a call to repent – don’t worry about your wardrobe or your belly, don’t worry about your house and home. You are children of my Father. He will surely care for you – He will clothe you as you need and feed you with food for the journey. Jesus gives the 72 His Word and only His Word – go to the towns and villages and speak “peace” to them.
Children don’t worry about packing suitcases, filling coolers or making hotel reservations. That’s the great delight of children. They know mom and dad have taken care of everything. When the 72 left Jesus, I don’t think they were that confident or carefree. Jesus sent them as children, but in reality they were all grown men. What would you pack if you were going on a two month business trip? If you were ten minutes from home and realized you had no extra clothes, no food, and no money, wouldn’t you turn around and go back? Jesus called them to repent. He was teaching them the faith of God’s children. Man doesn’t live by clothes and food and money – man lives by God’s Word and this trip teach you the truth. You are a child and God your Father will take care of you. If you think you’re all grown up, you will have no need for a heavenly Father and you will go your own way to your own judgment.
The seventy-two returned with great joy – the great joy of grown men becoming children. This is what happens to the Christian when he is brought to faith in Jesus and knows that the Father has taken care of all things. And here is where we learn that the angels are beneath us – especially the evil angels. The 72 exclaimed, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us.” And Jesus said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions.”
Here we need a little history on the angels which could be titled “When good angels go wild.” The reading from Revelation recalls the fall of Lucifer from heaven. His sin was unbelief. He rebelled against God’s authority. And Saint Michael, the archangel threw him down to earth. Satan is now the prince of this world. He prowled around God’s new creation looking for someone to devour when He spied the greatest creatures God ever made – Adam and Eve. Satan’s goals are twofold – to bring chaos into God’s order and to foster unbelief among God’s children. So first he undoes God’s order. Instead of going to the man, to the spiritual leader of the house, he goes to Eve and tempts Eve to doubt God’s Word. Eve’s sin is unbelief. She no longer believes that God is her Father and that she is his daughter. She decides that she is God, that she knows what is right for her, so she takes the fruit. And she loses her place in the family, in the Kingdom. She is no longer above the angels. She is below. She is subject to Satan and his demons, his accusations, his trouble, chaos and evil.
Jesus Christ came into this world for sinners, to put us back in our place as children.. Martin Luther penned it like this in his famous hymn.
Though devils all the world should fill, all eager to devour us,
we tremble not, we fear no ill, they shall not overpower us,
this worlds prince may still, scowl fierce as he will,
he can harm us none, he’s judged the deed is done,
one little word can fell him.”
That little word is Jesus. The little word made flesh who was born of the Virgin Mary. That little word made flesh who taught in the temple at age 12. That little word made flesh who dined with sinners and tax collectors. The little word made flesh who became little for us, indeed who became the last of us. He became sinner for us. The Holy One of God became the filthiest and vilest sinner. God didn’t simply become a man in Jesus, God’s Son became God’s enemy. God’s obedient Son became God’s prodigal Son. Jesus became you and me. And there in last place he was subjected to all things – to the devil’s temptations, to the crowd’s rejection, to the spit of soldiers, to the injustice of a crowd pleasing governor, to God’s anger, to hell, to death, and the grave. The first will be last (that’s Jesus) and the last shall be first (that’s you). That’s what His death and resurrection mean. You’re restored. Back in your place – a holy child of God declared right by Christ Himself. One little word – Jesus accomplishes all that.
And so the 72 should not have been surprised (although they were because they were still on their way to childhood). They preached Jesus and the demons fled. They preached Jesus and sinners rejoiced in forgiveness. They preached Jesus and people were healed. They could walk on snakes and scorpions and not die – no doubt to teach the people that old serpent was loosing his grip on the world. Jesus gives them a glimpse behind the scenes. When the Word of God is preached, when the forgiveness of sins is spoken, Satan gets shoved down the stairs. To our eyes it looks like he’s gaining ground in this world, but trust Jesus, trust your Father. Satan’s gathering momentum on his downward fall. Whenever a baby is baptized or a mouth opens to receive Christ’s body and blood, whenever you forgive those who sin against you he falls, ever faster, ever farther, until that last day when he’ll crash to the bottom, land in hell, and be forever locked away.
So don’t fear evil. Don’t let the devil bother you. He’s under you. He has no power over Jesus. He cannot undo your forgiveness or salvation. He couldn’t keep Jesus in the grave and he cannot steal your sins out of the grave. A child of God is greater than the angels so be happy with your place, for it was given to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
28 September 2013 anno Domini