Rev. Paul A. Hottinger Irony of Satan Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael

Rev. Paul A. Hottinger

Irony of Satan Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels Saturday, September 29, 2018 Rev 12:7-12ab; Jn 1:47-51 (We might reflect a little bit about ourselves, and our world, and how the battle between good and evil exists on many different levels.)

Today we are celebrating the feast of the Holy Archangels: Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel.

Now it’s very difficult for people to understand what an angel is because angels are pure spirits and therefore they have no outward form. Through the ages artists have tried to render the meaning of angels, the work of angels, in one way or another, usually making them look more like people, but we have to keep in mind those are just artistic renderings from their imagination, and however beautiful they may be, they have nothing to do with the nature of an angel, which is pure spirit.

So this means that God has and does create reality that is different from anything we would know that does not impinge on our senses. So we can’t see angels, smell angels, touch angels, or anything else, except by virtue of some extraordinary message. And the whole idea of angels is

God is sending messages to us in some way or another.

Now in the Old Testament angels would often appear to the eyes of someone in some sort of terrible being, and then people would hear, not an angel, but actually the word of Yahweh. So the word of Yahweh would actually come into the heart through hearing and the angel would be some sort of, sometimes terrible, image.

Well now one of the great ironies is that the prince of all angels was created good, but turned enemy of God. This is whom we call the devil or Satan. Satan was created as the greatest angel, the most intelligent angel. Now here is the irony: that the motive of Satan becoming an enemy of

God was to become equal to God. And that’s ironic because there is nothing about what he did that is God-like. On the other hand, Michael means “the one who is like God.” So Michael, in a way, accomplishes in his service and in his guardianship and in his protection of others, actually

Irony of Satan accomplishes what Satan supposedly wanted. So the problem with Satan is, although he wanted to be equal with God, he apparently didn’t know what God was like. So that’s something we have to keep in mind. Angels don’t necessarily know; Satan surely didn’t.

Satan not only deceives others, he deceived himself or was deceived because what he is trying to do is actually working against himself, but isn’t that the nature of all sin? Sin is ultimately working against ourselves. It’s pursuing something that is actually false. In the case of Satan equality with God, in our case something else perhaps, something perhaps smaller in scope, but in a way the same thing. What marks the ministry of the Holy Angels is openness to what God really wants and willingness to learn and to respond to the real God, the God who actually reveals himself, discloses his own nature and will. That’s not something Satan did, or the fallen angels. They are pursuing some imagination that is twisted. But is that not a description of our whole world: people pursuing imagination that is twisted?

So on this feast of the Holy Archangels we might reflect a little bit about ourselves, and our world, and how the battle between good and evil exists on many different levels.

2 Irony of Satan