Daily Excerpt: Christmas at the Mission (Sula): Angels
Excerpt from Christmas at the Mission
Angels
In the Bible, Luke tells us about the important role that the angels
played in the birth of Jesus. They were the voices and choir letting the
shepherds know the good news.
Angels are messengers
from God. In fact, that is what the word, angel,
means[B2] : messenger.[VW3]
Jesus’s birth is not
the only time that the angels been involved in the affairs of people. Think
about some other times:
·
Three angels
appeared to Abraham; he gave them food and rest, and they told him that his
wife Sarah, who was very, very old, would have a child—and she did: Isaac.
·
Jacob wrestled with
an angel.
·
It was two angels
who saved Lott[VW4] [B5] from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
·
An angel appeared to
Joshua before the fight for Jericho—and we know that Joshua and his people won,
with the help of God.
·
An angel rescued
Daniel from the lion’s den.
·
An angel announced
to Zacharias that he would have a son, St. John the Baptist.
·
It was an angel who
convinced Joseph in a dream to marry Mary.
·
An angel ministered
to Jesus after His temptation in the desert and in the Garden of Gethsemane
before His crucifixion, and after He was buried and risen, an angel stood at
the entrance to His tomb.
A very important one[VW6] , of course, is Gabriel, one of only four angels whose
names have been shared in the Bible[VW7] . Gabriel played a very important role related to the
birth of Jesus. He appeared to Mary (see Mary) with the message from God[B8] [B9] [VW10] that God wanted
her to bear the Messiah (see Annunciation).
The night of Jesus’s
birth, there was not one angel, or two angels, like at other times. There was a
whole host of angels, who came from the heavens to herald the arrival of the
Messiah and then returned to the heavens in sight of the shepherds.
Angels played a really
important role that night. That is why many Christmas ornaments are forms of
angels, including the common topping of the Christmas tree.
It seems that angels do
not appear to the world’s leaders (not typically), but to the simple folk, like
Mary, people who are open to being used by God, and like the shepherds whom the
angels knew would spread God’s important good news.
Angels play an
important role in the lives of many people today. Do you know of anyone today
who has had an experience with an angel? I bet you do! Maybe you have yourself.
If not, ask around…angels are here and not just on Christmas Day.
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