Lenten Service: "What do when you are asked to be an angel?"

Pastor Meyer’s Sermon

Lenten Service, March 28, 2007

Don’t be alarmed. Please, don’t be afraid. I know you’re not accustomed to seeing someone like myself. You see, I am angel from God. You see, we have a special responsibility. We praise and sing before God and we are happy to do it. The halls of heaven resound with the sound of our singing but it wasn’t always like that. There was a day where it was even hard for an angel to sing. When we heard the iron on iron of the hammer hitting the nail they were hammering on Jesus’ hands and feet so they could hang Him on the cross, it was hard for us to sing that day. It was hard for us to sing when we saw the blood dripping off of His body. It was hard for us to sing when we heard the cruel words and insults that were heaped up on Jesus as He was on that cross. Yes, it was hard for us to sing because that day was a day for tears. That day was a day to be quiet.

And I tell you that we would have never sung again if everything that had happened on that Calvary was the end of the story, that Jesus was in that tomb even today buried outside of Jerusalem. That was quite a day, quite a day for the angels, quite a day for all of you. That’s why we take time out to remember the day you call Lent but it wasn’t the end of the story.

We angels knew. We had the news. You see, one of the special responsibilities we have is when God gives us special instructions, instructions to come into the world, the world of men and women and be able to give you the message, the bible tells you all about us and all about how we’ve come into the world to minister to God’s people and to give to God’s people the messages God would have them know. Yes, that’s who we are. We are ministering servants who serve.

And I had a special message, a special message about an empty tomb and I gave the good news to the bewildered women who came to the tomb to finish the burial of Jesus and I said, “Don’t be afraid. It’s Jesus, the one who has been crucified who you are looking for. He’s no longer here. He has risen just as He has told you. Come, come, come see where they have laid Him and then go. Go quickly and tell them.” That’s what I said. “Go quickly and tell them.” That is what God wanted me to tell the bewildered women and that’s what the women went and told the disciples and those same words come down to us today. “Go. Go quickly and tell.”

And the question is, the question I have for you is how often have you been quick to tell? Quick to tell those in your lives about what Jesus has done? How many times have those words “Go quickly and tell” been in your schedule, been in your appointment calendar, in your goals for life? How often have they been there? Think about it. Think about it.

But I also want you to think about the forgiveness God, the Father God has given you. And the fact that He sustained you. He forgave the disciples who fell asleep. He forgave the disciples who ran away. He forgave the disciple who denied Jesus. And He forgives you. And He sustains you just as He sustained Jesus when He was in the garden. He sustains you during your weaknesses where it’s hard for you to go and tell others. And so it’s good, it’s good to remember that day, that we remember the day where Peter denied Jesus, that we remember the day Judas was so calculating in his betrayal, that we remember the day Pontius Pilate hypocritically washed his hands, his guilt-ridden hands. It’s good we remember the day the people chose Barabbas over Jesus and that we remember the day Simon of Cyrene carried the cross.

But as we remember, don’t dwell on it. Don’t be overcome with guilt and with sin because that guilt and sin, it’s in Jesus’ body nailed to that cross. And we can rejoice as we think about that day because we know we are redeemed. We know we are sinless. We know that you are innocent in God’s eyes. And there is something you all can rejoice in. There’s something we all can rejoice in, what Jesus has done for you.

So as you leave tonight and you ask yourself, “What do I do when asked to be an angel, to be a messenger of God,” know the good news is no longer sent down by the angels. No, that responsibility, that privilege is for you, for you to be the angel, the messenger. So I ask you, I tell you go. Go quickly and tell the others.

Copyright 2007 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church