Daniel 10:10-14; 12:1-3/Revelation 12:7-12/St Matthew 18:1-10/
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
That which Daniel and St John describe - cosmic battles between good and evil; legendary forces of angelic power battling in the heavenly places - is the reality behind our present sight. For a moment, for each of them, the thin veneer of this visible creation is pulled back to reveal the invisible realm inhabited by the mysterious and the supernatural.
It is as if what we see out front is but a stage; the physical actors performing, dancing until that final curtain falls. But behind it all, breaking through the drawn curtain, a sliver of light, intense and powerful, revealing for a moment what happens behind the scenes, where our eyes cannot see; the stuff of pure imagination.
Yet it is for our good that this reality is hidden from our eyes. For if we beheld, like Elisha, that fiery, angelic host surrounding us upon the hillside, or like Isaiah, the deeper reality behind this earthly liturgy, we would tremble on our hands and knees in fear.
Or else we would become puffed up in pride; distracting our faithful gaze from Christ and His Word to His Sabaoth, making the gift of God an idol and false god. We would indulge these scenes in the same way we crave the adrenaline rush of superheroes and comic books. We don’t like weakness. And St Michael and his battalion are strong. We thirst for vengeance. And the routing of the great dragon and his angels tantalizes us. We have a fighting side. A side that desires power and greatness and authority. A side that would prefer to occasionally flex its spiritual muscle, slam down our enemies, and gloat amongst our comrades. Let’s face it, we want some of the glory.
Which is why the argument of the disciples is so problematic and disappointing. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Really? What kind of a question is that? I don’t know what answer they were hoping for. “Oh, you are, you Twelve, for sure. You are the greatest.” The old Adam rears his ugly head just as the dragon, in pride and arrogance, desiring to take for himself that which belongs only to God. The greatest is not Peter or John, it is not St Michael, surely it is not you.
And calling to Him a child, He put him in the midst of them and said, “Amen I say to you, unless you repent and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Our Lord describes power and greatness differently than the world, differently than the dragon, differently than your arrogant flesh.
This little one is the greatest. Not because of her power or her might or her strength, for she hasn’t any. Not because of his “innocence.” For he is not. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. His faith is great. Faith which clings to Christ Jesus and trusts Him for protection and provision. The child’s faith does not arrogantly assert its reason like the adult, but receives from Christ in humility. Its power is made perfect in weakness. This greatness is foolishness to the world. This power is mocked by the devil. Indeed the flesh rebels against it; for it surely means its mortification and death.
St Athanasius believed that the cause of Satan’s rebellion was the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He taught that the timely enfleshment of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, stooping down to wrap Himself in the humanity of the Virgin, to walk among His creation, sent the Accuser into a venomous rage. Lucifer misunderstood true power. He rejected the role of a Servant King. Having been thrown down to earth he sought to devour the Christ Child. Unsuccessful, he turned his ferocious destruction toward the Offspring of the Woman, that is, toward the Church; toward you.
Beloved, the reason Satan and his wicked horde hate you is the same reason why St Michael and his holy angels love and serve you: for the sake of Christ. For the reality of the Incarnation is indeed the mystery profound into which all the blessed angels gaze in wonder, awe, and worship. And the blood of the Lamb by which St Michael was victorious, by which Satan was cast down from heaven, is the righteous blood of the Christ Child, shed upon the Cross. This blood covers you; His blood bespeaks you righteous. By His blood your name has been inscribed in the book of life.
While the cosmic battle between St Michael and the dragon is captivating, the truly epic victory, the ultimate triumph of good over evil, is the Cross. It is folly. It is shame. It is weakness. Like the heavenly greatness of children. Yet it is where not just the battle, but the war is won. For Satan in his pride and arrogance did his worst to Christ Jesus. He unleashed the full arsenal of his malice against the Son: the snare, the pestilence, the terror, the arrow, the destruction - all those descriptions from Psalm 91, which the Fathers believed were nouns ascribed to fallen angels, the forces of evil, the demonic horde. St John Cassian wrote, “All these names we ought not to take as given at random or haphazard, but as alluding to their fierceness and madness under the sign of those wild beasts which are more or less harmful and dangerous among us” (Conferences 7:32).
Yet even in all this, it is the Lamb who overcame the dragon. The devil fell on his own sword. Death has been swallowed up by death. The victory remains with Life. For in order to rescue you from the jaws of Satan, the Good Shepherd filled the wolf’s mouth with His own flesh. Christ overcomes by laying down His life. He wins by losing. This is the radical nature of the Gospel. This is the wisdom and power of God made perfect in weakness. He loved not His life even unto death.
Then, as the Psalmist writes, “Because He holds fast to Me in love, I will deliver Him; I will protect Him, because He knows My Name.” This is the Father speaking to His Son. He raised Him from the dead.
And this is Christ speaking to His Church. When he calls to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. And this is why children are the pinnacle of faith, not adults. Why they are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, not us. For they believe in Him; they hold to the faith once for all delivered to the saints; and they trust in the sacrifice of Christ Jesus and the love of their Father in heaven who sends His holy angels to watch over them.
Beloved, do not despise these little ones. They can teach us a thing or two about humility and faith and trust. He calls them to Himself, honoring them. They are not cute little poopsies, but courageous young Davids, battling towering Goliaths in the Name of the Lord. For in receiving the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer, they live by this Word of the Lord; practicing them from their youth, growing in them as they mature.
This is why our Lord warns against temptations to sin, that is temptations to fall away from the truth of His Word and trust in His promises. For the one who brings false teaching or cause to sin is like the ancient serpent, he is to be cut off and cast down, for there is no place in heaven for such a member. But whoever receives such a child in Jesus’ name, receives Him.
In his 1941 novel, The Hammer of God, Lutheran Bishop Bo Giertz describes a scene in which an incompetent young pastor is called upon to visit a dying man and bring him the Holy Communion. After receiving the absolution and then the Lord’s Supper, the dying man beholds a vision in his mind’s eye of sitting in his boyhood church and there, upon the Altar, stands the holy Chalice filled with the Blood of Christ. How it gleams. And the angels, descending from heaven, come and kneel before the Altar and the Blood of the Lamb. One of them carries the precious Blood to the sin-parched lips of the dying man and he is terrified of being undone. But it does not obliterate him. Rather, it cleanses and restores him. The Lord sent his holy angels only to comfort and protect.
Come then, dear little ones of Christ, and receive the Body and Blood of the Christ Child, in humility and faith. For here, in the holy liturgy, in the Sacrament of the Altar, the curtain is pulled back and you are joined with the angels and archangels in adoration of the Lamb. And behold, the great mystery, you receive into your body the very Blood of the Lamb by which the devil is conquered. You are given His victory. Thus do you abide in the shelter of the Almighty, and are covered with His pinions and have the protection of all His holy angels.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
That which Daniel and St John describe - cosmic battles between good and evil; legendary forces of angelic power battling in the heavenly places - is the reality behind our present sight. For a moment, for each of them, the thin veneer of this visible creation is pulled back to reveal the invisible realm inhabited by the mysterious and the supernatural.
It is as if what we see out front is but a stage; the physical actors performing, dancing until that final curtain falls. But behind it all, breaking through the drawn curtain, a sliver of light, intense and powerful, revealing for a moment what happens behind the scenes, where our eyes cannot see; the stuff of pure imagination.
Yet it is for our good that this reality is hidden from our eyes. For if we beheld, like Elisha, that fiery, angelic host surrounding us upon the hillside, or like Isaiah, the deeper reality behind this earthly liturgy, we would tremble on our hands and knees in fear.
Or else we would become puffed up in pride; distracting our faithful gaze from Christ and His Word to His Sabaoth, making the gift of God an idol and false god. We would indulge these scenes in the same way we crave the adrenaline rush of superheroes and comic books. We don’t like weakness. And St Michael and his battalion are strong. We thirst for vengeance. And the routing of the great dragon and his angels tantalizes us. We have a fighting side. A side that desires power and greatness and authority. A side that would prefer to occasionally flex its spiritual muscle, slam down our enemies, and gloat amongst our comrades. Let’s face it, we want some of the glory.
Which is why the argument of the disciples is so problematic and disappointing. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Really? What kind of a question is that? I don’t know what answer they were hoping for. “Oh, you are, you Twelve, for sure. You are the greatest.” The old Adam rears his ugly head just as the dragon, in pride and arrogance, desiring to take for himself that which belongs only to God. The greatest is not Peter or John, it is not St Michael, surely it is not you.
And calling to Him a child, He put him in the midst of them and said, “Amen I say to you, unless you repent and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Our Lord describes power and greatness differently than the world, differently than the dragon, differently than your arrogant flesh.
This little one is the greatest. Not because of her power or her might or her strength, for she hasn’t any. Not because of his “innocence.” For he is not. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. His faith is great. Faith which clings to Christ Jesus and trusts Him for protection and provision. The child’s faith does not arrogantly assert its reason like the adult, but receives from Christ in humility. Its power is made perfect in weakness. This greatness is foolishness to the world. This power is mocked by the devil. Indeed the flesh rebels against it; for it surely means its mortification and death.
St Athanasius believed that the cause of Satan’s rebellion was the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He taught that the timely enfleshment of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, stooping down to wrap Himself in the humanity of the Virgin, to walk among His creation, sent the Accuser into a venomous rage. Lucifer misunderstood true power. He rejected the role of a Servant King. Having been thrown down to earth he sought to devour the Christ Child. Unsuccessful, he turned his ferocious destruction toward the Offspring of the Woman, that is, toward the Church; toward you.
Beloved, the reason Satan and his wicked horde hate you is the same reason why St Michael and his holy angels love and serve you: for the sake of Christ. For the reality of the Incarnation is indeed the mystery profound into which all the blessed angels gaze in wonder, awe, and worship. And the blood of the Lamb by which St Michael was victorious, by which Satan was cast down from heaven, is the righteous blood of the Christ Child, shed upon the Cross. This blood covers you; His blood bespeaks you righteous. By His blood your name has been inscribed in the book of life.
While the cosmic battle between St Michael and the dragon is captivating, the truly epic victory, the ultimate triumph of good over evil, is the Cross. It is folly. It is shame. It is weakness. Like the heavenly greatness of children. Yet it is where not just the battle, but the war is won. For Satan in his pride and arrogance did his worst to Christ Jesus. He unleashed the full arsenal of his malice against the Son: the snare, the pestilence, the terror, the arrow, the destruction - all those descriptions from Psalm 91, which the Fathers believed were nouns ascribed to fallen angels, the forces of evil, the demonic horde. St John Cassian wrote, “All these names we ought not to take as given at random or haphazard, but as alluding to their fierceness and madness under the sign of those wild beasts which are more or less harmful and dangerous among us” (Conferences 7:32).
Yet even in all this, it is the Lamb who overcame the dragon. The devil fell on his own sword. Death has been swallowed up by death. The victory remains with Life. For in order to rescue you from the jaws of Satan, the Good Shepherd filled the wolf’s mouth with His own flesh. Christ overcomes by laying down His life. He wins by losing. This is the radical nature of the Gospel. This is the wisdom and power of God made perfect in weakness. He loved not His life even unto death.
Then, as the Psalmist writes, “Because He holds fast to Me in love, I will deliver Him; I will protect Him, because He knows My Name.” This is the Father speaking to His Son. He raised Him from the dead.
And this is Christ speaking to His Church. When he calls to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. And this is why children are the pinnacle of faith, not adults. Why they are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, not us. For they believe in Him; they hold to the faith once for all delivered to the saints; and they trust in the sacrifice of Christ Jesus and the love of their Father in heaven who sends His holy angels to watch over them.
Beloved, do not despise these little ones. They can teach us a thing or two about humility and faith and trust. He calls them to Himself, honoring them. They are not cute little poopsies, but courageous young Davids, battling towering Goliaths in the Name of the Lord. For in receiving the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer, they live by this Word of the Lord; practicing them from their youth, growing in them as they mature.
This is why our Lord warns against temptations to sin, that is temptations to fall away from the truth of His Word and trust in His promises. For the one who brings false teaching or cause to sin is like the ancient serpent, he is to be cut off and cast down, for there is no place in heaven for such a member. But whoever receives such a child in Jesus’ name, receives Him.
In his 1941 novel, The Hammer of God, Lutheran Bishop Bo Giertz describes a scene in which an incompetent young pastor is called upon to visit a dying man and bring him the Holy Communion. After receiving the absolution and then the Lord’s Supper, the dying man beholds a vision in his mind’s eye of sitting in his boyhood church and there, upon the Altar, stands the holy Chalice filled with the Blood of Christ. How it gleams. And the angels, descending from heaven, come and kneel before the Altar and the Blood of the Lamb. One of them carries the precious Blood to the sin-parched lips of the dying man and he is terrified of being undone. But it does not obliterate him. Rather, it cleanses and restores him. The Lord sent his holy angels only to comfort and protect.
Come then, dear little ones of Christ, and receive the Body and Blood of the Christ Child, in humility and faith. For here, in the holy liturgy, in the Sacrament of the Altar, the curtain is pulled back and you are joined with the angels and archangels in adoration of the Lamb. And behold, the great mystery, you receive into your body the very Blood of the Lamb by which the devil is conquered. You are given His victory. Thus do you abide in the shelter of the Almighty, and are covered with His pinions and have the protection of all His holy angels.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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