Readings:         Revelation 12:7-12; Matthew 18:1-10

I speak to you in the name of God: Father (+), Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

There are few scenes that are painted by our scripture that may be as disturbing as today’s lesson from the Book of Revelation.  The Book of Revelation is an unsettling book filled with unusual images and difficult concepts.

 

Today’s lesson is no exception.  For myself it is particularly difficult to read.  As a pacifist, someone who does not believe that violence can solve anything, I am greatly troubled when I read, “And war broke out in heaven.”

 

The very first time I read this passage I was struck by the violent nature of it.  A dear friend of mine proposed that we should make a movie about the Book of Revelation because of how well some of it fit into the formula of an action film.  And when we read today’s passage we can see what he was getting at.

 

Our action films, many of which, I must confess, I really enjoy watching, look a lot like what we read about today.  St. Michael and his angels fight against the devil and his angels.  It is a classic piece of “Good versus evil” with the outcome in no doubt.

 

But what is most disturbing for me is that a violent conflict can erupt in the realm of peace, justice and love.  Heaven has always been seen as a place of complete contentment and oneness with God.  If we were to read this passage in a literal way we would be very confused to say the least.

 

However the struggle that takes place between Michael and his angels and the dragon and his angels is a prelude to the final cosmic contest in which Satan and his cohorts are completely overthrown and his reign terminated, so that God’s new and perfect age may be ushered in.

 

Evil is to be defeated once and for all.  What this teaches us is that evil belongs to time and goodness belongs to eternity.  The victories of wickedness are temporary and deceptive.  In our own time we have seen great evils come and go.

 

There are evil forces unleashed upon the earth today whose immoral fury seems unappeasable.  But what ever their temporary victories, their time will be short.  Our faith tells us that they will go the way of all evil earthly things – Michael and his angels will cast them down.

 

In my work amongst the people of God I have often sat with people who have been hurt, physically, psychologically and emotionally.  Many times their greatest fear is that the evil that has been perpetrated upon them may actually win.  In this moment they are expressing their deepest fear that this is no hope in this world.

 

I am here to tell you today that there is always hope!

 

I have sat with people in their darkest hours and promised them that there is always hope and that we find that hope in the people around us and seeing God’s hand moving amongst them.  I have told them that I would stand next to St. Michael the blessed archangel and amongst the heavenly forces and fight against this evil.   I have told them that there is hope in God’s justice.

 

This is what gives me hope for the future of our eternal lives.  As a pacifist I look at the world, all the evils that dwell within it, all the violence that occurs, all the hatred that is held, all the injustices that are propagated, and I see that there is a justice beyond our human notion of justice.

 

When we were studying the nature of “heaven” in our class on systematic theology we were all asked to give a one-word definition of what heaven is.  My definition was; and is: “Heaven is just.”

 

There are many things in this world that make us shake our heads in disbelief.  Evil often seems to triumph in our world; there is violence, death, destruction, devastation all in the name of human progress.  Many fear that greed and corruption will win and our world will be destroyed by those evils.  That the world God created and saw that it was good will be undone by this portion of God’s creation called humans.

 

As a Christian pacifist I see injustice, greed and other evils and I fight against them as best I can by first drawing attention to them so that they can be brought out into the light of day.  And then if nothing happens and evil seems to win then my faith tells me that evil will be brought to a greater justice then human justice: evil will have to answer to God.

 

For our world is a place of goodness.  When God created the world He looked upon it and saw that it was good.  This world may have become the dwelling place of all sorts of evil but it was not made for such a situation.

 

When I am feeling down about the state of our world and the violence that is in it all I have to do is go and marvel at the beauty that God has provided us with and my faith is strengthened that this world is a good one after all.

 

There is a great folk singer whose name is Garnet Rogers.  He sang a wonderful song called “After All” that points us in the direction that today’s lessons are pointing.  In this song Rogers sings:

 

“Let our enemies go by their old dull paths
let theirs be fault or shame”

 

This reminds me that the justice of God is the only real justice we can look forward to.  We who are called Christians can rise above the evil of this world.  We can refuse to be drawn into the cycle of violence in this world.  As Jesus tells us, if we are wronged then we should pray for the person who did evil against us.

 

Later in the song Rogers sings:

 

“But I’ll keep my face to the dawning light
though the Devil stand behind.
Though the Devil stand behind my back
shall I see his shadow fall?
I’ll read in the light of the morning stars,
a good world after all.”

 

If we keep ourselves focused upon the goodness of this world, the beauty inherent in it then even if evil stands directly behind us we will not be affected by it.  For with the light of God before us we will not be touched by the evil in this world.

 

My friends, we who are called to be Christians, we have the benefit of a faith that tells the world that no matter what others do to us we believe that God will provide for our eternal souls.

 

But with this great belief comes the responsibility to live as if we mean it.  For even Jesus allowed the decisions of evil people to affect his life, and his death.  Jesus was put to a cruel death for no other reason than he was seen as a threat to those in power around him.  But because of this great evil came about the greatest good:  the salvation of our souls, the sure and certain hope that comes with the power of the Resurrection. 

 

So go out from this place and be people who live justice!

 

We are therefore called to pattern our lives to show the goodness that is inherent within this God made world and thereby show that we live in a good world after all.

 

To that end, my friends, let us pray:  Gracious and merciful God, we live in the world you created and called good.  Lead us in the way that shows your goodness in this world that we have made troubled.  May we, then, with St. Michael and all your angels be so bold as to fight against the evil of this world so as to sow “sweetness in the air, and justice on the wind” and prove that this is a good world after all.  Amen.