Mt. 9:35-38
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest.”
According to Matthew, the Lord spoke in parables to the masses, but he explained them all to his disciples, unveiling the mysteries of the Kingdom to them. Hence, when Jesus speaks to his disciples of the “harvest”, he is opening up his harvest parables to them. Explaining these parables to them, he identifies the harvest as the consummation of the world, and the harvesters as both his disciples and angels.
Friends, I want to highlight this peculiar Biblical mystery: that to be a disciple of Christ is to be an angel.
Perhaps we are accustomed to thinking of “angels” as a term for a spiritual species; this is not quite the case. Angels, which means “messengers”, are missionaries: “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Heb. 1:14). In the Bible, there are many species of heavenly beings acting as angels: seraphim, cherubim, etc.
But angels also appear in the Bible as “men”, such as the angels who appear to Abraham by the Oaks of Mamre (Gen. 19); the one with whom Jacob wrestled until dawn (Gen. 32:24–30); the commander of the Lord’s army, sword drawn, met by Joshua (Josh. 5:13–15); the angel who appears to Samson’s parents (Judg. 13). When the women came to Jesus’ tomb on Easter morning, the angels there were also “men”; and at his Ascension, it was “men” who asked, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking at the sky?”
St. Paul tells us that hospitable people may entertain “angels unaware” (Heb. 13:2) among the strangers they take in. This need not be taken only to mean that angels masquerade as men. Men may also appear as angels. John the Baptist identifies himself as the angel of Mal. 3:1; in the story of St. Stephen’s martyrdom, he is described as having the face of an angel (Ac. 6:15); in one of the earliest commentaries on Revelation, St. Epiphanius of Salamis taught that the “angels” of the seven churches were in fact the churches’ human pastors.
We can allow this “angelic” language to mystify us, or we can allow it to enlighten us and bring us closer to the heart of the Gospel. For there, we find the promise of resurrection, and here is the key to this “angelic” mystery: Jesus taught that in the Resurrection, humans are “like angels in heaven”. We attain to the resurrection through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, by whom we are born again. Jesus taught that “that which is born of Spirit is Spirit” — hence, the born-again Christian as an “ambassador of Christ” and herald of his Gospel is in fact “a ministering spirit sent to serve those who will inherit salvation” through his or her witness.
The Harvest, then, is the Great Commission; Jesus is the Lord of the Harvest, and we are his angelic harvesters, gathering together the nations under the discipleship of Christ.
This is Christ’s vision of the consummation of the world. His parables’ dramatic imagery of the sky rent by angels who descend upon the world and judge it is no mere bait and switch beside the Great Commission; it serves to vividly illustrate just how cosmic is the depth and degree to which the Great Commission transfigures the cosmos, if only we had eyes to see it. Worldly eyes see homely discipleship: Sunday morning worship and coffee hour fellowship; daily prayers; household drudgery, family life in all its glory and conflict; community potlucks; soup kitchens and open pantries; Bible studies; humble hymns and songs of praise; laughter and tears — all the quaint touchstones of the “Mere Christianity” which the world, and sometimes even Christians of the elite bent, find trite and kitschy.
All this, together of course with the cries of those oppressed for Christ’s sake and the blood of his martyrs, precisely rend the heavens, for they are the very fiery life and activities of the Holy Spirit striking down on earth like a lightning bolt. The natural eye is equipped to see neither the glory of Christ’s humility, nor the glory of the modest Christian life to which he calls his disciples — and yet glorious they are. It this harvest of humble virtue among God’s spiritual people that the world ascends to its teleological apex in consummation.
In the disciples of Christ, the world is indeed entertaining angels unaware.
Amen.
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You, by Seán McMahon Seán McMahon from the album Hymns and Homilies |
This Holy Week I found myself writing and recording companion songs for the journey, from the Triumphal Entry to the Resurrection. You can find all these brand new songs here:
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All Hail King Jesus Christ, by Seán McMahon Seán McMahon 4 track album |
I invite you to download and listen to my album, out now: “Hymns & Homilies” — an eclectic collection of songs for worship and musical sermons. This is not your grandaddy’s Christian music. Name your price — your support for my work of music ministry is a blessing!
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Hymns and Homilies, by Seán McMahon Seán McMahon 9 track album |
