SS Michael, Gabriel and Raphael

Sermon preached at St Alphege, Solihull at 9.15 and 11am Eucharists
Sunday 28th September 2008 – SS Michael, Gabriel and Raphael

Readings: Genesis 28: 10-17 Revelation 12: 7-12 John 1: 47-51


Today we celebrate Michaelmas, or more precisely the feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Now Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are not ordinary saints, but rather they are angels and so it is not surprising that this feast is sometimes known as St Michael and All Angels.
“And what are angels?” you might well ask. Well angels are spiritual beings which do not have bodies. They are creatures, that is to say they were created by God (Col 1: 16), but they seem to have been well established by the time that Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:1, 24). As spiritual beings, angels have their own personalities and their own free will. Some angels have chosen (as we are all free to choose) to rebel against God and to try to go their own way. These we call demons and we think of the Devil, the prince of all demons, who we read about being cast out of heaven by St Michael in our second reading today (see also 2 Peter 2: 4, Jude 6). When we use the word “angel” we are generally not thinking of demons, but rather we mean spiritual beings that are good. That is spiritual being who choose to use their free will in harmony with the will of God. They choose to do God’s work. In fact, according to St Augustine, the word “angel”, which means “messenger”, is more of a job title than a description of a particular kind of being. Psalm 103 (v20) tells us that angels are “might ones who do his bidding, obedient to his spoken word”. So angels are powerful, spiritual beings who are the messengers of God and who do God’s will.
Now if angels are spiritual beings, who can’t been seen or touched in the visible world in which we live, how do we know anything about them? How do we even know they exist? Well first of all, angels are always much closer than we think. Psalm 34 (v7) tells us that “the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them” and psalm 97 (9-16) tells us that God will deliver those who love him, sending angels to guard them and bear them up. And so we can believe that we each have a guardian angel walking always beside us and protecting us. Certainly Jesus is thinking this when he talks about children. He says, “take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my father” (Matt 18:10). And with angels always so close to us and looking after us it is perhaps not so surprising that we do sometimes meet people who have had some experience of the presence of angels, or of angels protecting them in moments of crisis.
And this certainly seems to have been the experience of God’s people over the centuries. We find that our holy scriptures are full of references to angels. They crop up in literally hundreds of places. As our readings today illustrate, they are spread throughout the bible from Genesis, the very first book, to Revelation, the last book. We find them especially at critical moments in our salvation history; when Abraham is about sacrifice his son Isaac, when Moses is called by God to set the Israelites free, when the Blessed Virgin Mary is told she is to expect the child Jesus, at the resurrection of Christ. The other place that they appear a lot in scripture in where there are visions of heaven. Our reading from Genesis and Revelation both include visions of heaven where lots of angels were seen.
It is interesting to note that it is not just the Christian scriptures that talk about angels. The Jews and the Muslims, who also worship the God of Abraham, also have a great deal about angels in their scriptures. Michael and Gabriel are mentioned in the Muslims holy book, the Koran. The Jewish Talmud has extraordinary details about many angels including Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. It describes many different ranks of angels, and the many different heights of heaven.
And what is so special about the angels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael? Well they are the only three angels to be named in the bible. Michael is the leader of the armies of God, as we heard in our reading from Revelation. Gabriel is the angel who tells Zachariah that he is to father John the Baptist, and tells the Blessed Virgin Mary that she is to mother Jesus. Raphael appears in the apocryphal book of Tobit. He heals Tobit’s eyes so that he can see again.
So that is a bit about angels, but why are angels so important to us in our Christian lives? Well firstly they are important to us because of the practical help that they can give us in our journey towards God. I am thinking here especially of the angels that are close to us all the time, guarding us and protecting us; our guardian angels. But really this is true of all angels. As the book of Hebrews puts it, “Are not all angels spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). With so much help available near at hand, we do well to grow in awareness of angels, thanking god for them and sharing with them in the praising of God.
But angels are also important because they show us something of the high court of heaven. Every now and again the scriptures give us a glimpse of the majesty, splendour and awe of heaven. We saw some of this in our scripture readings today, but it happens many times. [I particularly love the passage in Isaiah when Isaiah describes his vision of the throne of God (Isaiah 6: 1-5). There are seraphs in attendance all around singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” And the thresholds shake at their singing, and the house is filled with smoke. And then there is the moment when Jesus is born and a multitude of the heavenly host appeared before the shepherds singing, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace and goodwill among people” (Luke 2: 13-14).]
And the extraordinary thing is that we are called to share in this life of heaven. God wants each one of us to be part of it all. In Luke chapter 20 (v35-36) Jesus is talking about resurrection and marriage. He says, “But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection”. We are called to share in this life of heaven and in the holiness of God (Heb 3: 1, 12: 10) like the angels. We know that all this is only fully realised after the resurrection of the dead. We know that we have a long journey to walk before we get there, because we know that we are far from being angels at the moment. But despite this, there is a sense in which it is true already. If we are in Christ then we are already part of this new creation (2 Cor 5:17). And perhaps our best chance of being aware of this is at the Eucharist, where we join with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven to praise the glorious name of God. In the Eucharist, Jesus shares his life with us. Truly it is a foretaste of the great heavenly banquet to which we are called (Revelation 19: 9). Let’s try to place ourselves in that reality as we receive Holy Communion today.