Of Angels and Children and Shepherds

See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. – Matthew 18:10

The idea of guardian angels owes much to this statement by the Lord. Taken alone it may not be obvious how that connection was made, however, consider the verses that follow immediately: What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish (vv 12-14).

The disciples had questioned Jesus about who was the greatest, and the Lord had answered by bringing forward a little child to admonish the disciples for their worldly attitude. A child-like humility is essential to entering the kingdom. Not far from this passage, Matthew records the meeting of Christ with the rich young ruler where Jesus said, “There is none good but God.” He could have said here, as well, there is none great but God.

An angel is a “sent one”, a messenger dispatched on behalf of another or one could even say an ambassador going on a mission of representation. It is said of angels in Hebrews 1:14, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?” Angels may be sent from heaven to earth for the purpose of helping, supporting, and strengthening believers. They may be enabled, in some cases, to intervene in human affairs. Perhaps, some speculate, angels have turned the tide of battles, or aided in the saving of a particular life. Many of us can probably cite specific situations where we found ourselves in great difficulty and were delivered in some uncanny way. With all the near-misses I have had, I am pretty sure, if I have an angel, he qualifies for the hazardous-duty premium.

Angels may go, too, from earth to heaven. Could it be that Jesus means there angels sent by the prayers of humble believers who represent those “little ones” before the Father? In Matthew 5:8, the Lord said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Do those who are pure and refuse to exalt themselves have direct access to the throne of God? Whether Christ is talking about some special order of being or metaphorically of an agency of the human spirit, I do not know, and probably will not know in this life. In any case, we can be assured that purity of heart and humility do put us in contact with the Divine. A child-like trust in the goodness and greatness of our Father puts us in harmony with all of heaven, and all of heaven’s inhabitants.

Do we fear being separated? Do we worry about going astray and being forgotten by the Shepherd? It cannot happen.

In winter our cows were usually pretty easy to find. But the lure of the summer pastures sometimes led the more adventurous Jerseys well out of sight of the house and barn. One of my jobs was to make sure that all were gathered for the evening milking. In this I was ably assisted by my little black shepherd. It was her joy to race across the field and push all visible members of the herd toward and through the gate where I would count them as they passed. The little dog would look at me as she trailed the last one by to know if the job was done for the day or if more remained. While I did not believe she could count, it was my habit to tell her how many were still missing. The words she did clearly understand were “go back” and “on back”, and she would follow the direction of my pointed finger as surely as a black arrow from a bow. Sometimes I would see a stray in a far corner. Other times I sent her flying by instruments over the hill and out of sight. Invariably, in a moment or two, a bovine form, or two or three would come trotting over the crest gently pursued by the happiest angel on four legs.

But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his”… (2 Timothy 2:19).

The Best Offense

He said to His disciples, “Offences will certainly come, but woe to the one they come through! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble.” – Luke 17:1-2

He went away from there and came to His hometown, and His disciples followed Him. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished. “Where did this man get these things?” they said. “What is this wisdom given to him, and how are these miracles performed by his hands? Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t his sisters here with us?”

So they were offended by Him. – Mark 6:1-3

Have you ever been offended by something? I was talking the other day about how I took offense at the way people treated me and subsequently made my own life more difficult by becoming bitter and doing my best to further alienate people. We will often do things that are detrimental to ourselves just to hurt or get back at those who have offended us. We say sometimes that a person will do something just for spite. A spiteful person is one who has been offended, and not necessarily by the one suffering their spite.

There are things that ought to offend us. I remember as I was crossing a parking lot one day, minding my own business, I saw a man slapping his girlfriend. This offended me. We should be offended by bullying and intimidation, by injustice and ingratitude, not when we suffer – in which case our first response should be forgiveness -- but when someone else suffers under it. The weaker and more helpless need us to become offended enough to step in on their behalf.

The world is full of people who have a grievance against God. Scratch a militant atheist and you’ll likely find a little Catholic or fundamentalist kid who got offended by an over-simplified, childish depiction of God in His Nature and Person. The arguments presented by these great intellects are generally unsophisticated. The best of them is probably something along the lines of how the universe would be different if there really was a God – as if anyone could know that – and even that one mostly comes down to “there would not be any suffering”. Essentially the atheist is reduced to arguing that God, as He can be understood, is no different than no god at all – hardly a convincing proof for the non-non-believer.

People get offended toward God for many reasons, but the source is too often found in their relationships to other humans. Jesus warns us that as believers we need to be careful how we live and what we say. I am aware of a situation where some people who call themselves Christians are not representing the Lord at all well to those on the fringe of belief. Based on the behavior and attitude of these church-goers, a non-believer might deduce that Christians are vengeful, vindictive, envious, greedy, and deceitful. The church-goers excuse their behavior on the grounds that the unbelievers should suffer because of their unrighteousness and that the “sinners” need to learn whose side God is on.

Sick.

But there is another kind of offense that is unavoidable. One Sunday afternoon, I ran across a group of young men sitting on tailgates drinking whiskey and telling bawdy stories. They were parked beside a cemetery not far from a church. I pulled in beside them, since I was well-acquainted with them, and we began to talk about one thing and another, but mostly about the nature of God and the work of Christ. You might say we were having a Bible study. Some religious folk passed by on their way to the church’s Sunday evening service. Several months later, I happened to be in a conversation with one of those passers-by, and she said, somewhat nastily, that she had seen me out there. “You should have been in church,” she pronounced triumphantly.

“With you?” I replied, and I confess to saying it with more than a hint of sarcasm. I had offended this good church-lady by doing exactly what Jesus would do, and does. I had been a friend to sinners. Now if I confirm a sinner in his sin, ease his mind about his actions and attitudes, and work to quiet his uneasy conscience (which is the voice of God), I do him no favors. On the other hand, if I can genuinely befriend him and encourage him to good then I am fulfilling my purpose as an ambassador of Christ and an agent of the Holy Spirit. There is a time to speak of holiness and judgment, but there is also a time to speak of the Holy One as the Good Shepherd who lovingly searches for His lost sheep.

Let us be careful never to offend the little ones. Let us never hesitate to turn on the light for fear of offending self-righteous cockroaches.