Luke 2:13-14 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
American astronomer, Carl Sagan, perhaps best known for his TV series Cosmos and his novel Contact, was extremely successful as a popularizer of astronomy. But, as fascinating as this subject surely is, the driving force behind his popularity was not the subject in itself. It was his deep belief in extraterrestrial life,… intelligent life. This is intriguing since there’s no real “scientific” evidence of any life beyond this tiny cosmic speck we call Earth, and certainly of any “intelligent” life. But the Universe is big, to say the least, and so the possibility is there. And human curiosity is such that that’s enough. It seems we simply must keep looking.
And there is, perhaps, nonscientific evidence; these stories among all people’s everywhere, of visitors from other worlds: fairies, leprechauns, jinns, gods, spacemen, UFOs. And angels, what of angels? Do they not fit the profile? Beings from another world; created beings like ourselves, but very different. Not physical in quite the way we are, but real. Intelligent? Who knows? It seems they can communicate ideas, but so can a DVD. And what does the word “intelligence” really mean, even when applied to creatures much more like ourselves, to hummingbirds or bumble bees for instance, let alone to angels. It seems that they have wills, and that their wills can be corrupted, much as ours can be. But then again, what does “will” exactly mean when speaking of an angel?
If you search the scriptures on the topic, avoiding speculation and traditional embellishments, and carefully sticking to what is clearly and precisely said, I think you’ll be amazed at just how little we are told. And this puts those of us who believe in angels in a delightfully humble situation. We are thoroughly convinced of what we simply do not know.
And this is what I love about them most.
- They force us to acknowledge that there is far more happening, even in our own tiny world, than we can comprehend.
- They cause us to suspect, if not to know for sure, that we are not the only beings who serve and worship God, or perhaps refuse to worship and to serve.
- They put us in our place, reminding us that, though it’s wonderful to be human beings, there are also limitations.
- And they tell us things we cannot not know.
Isaac Asimov is another science writer I enjoy, especially his humble spirit. He points out that it’s not when the scientists examine the results of their experiments and shout “Eureka! I have found it!”, that they are on the threshold of discovery. It’s when, upon examining the evidence, they scratch their heads and say, “Hmmm, that’s funny.”
That night something unexpected happened, and when it was all over those poor shepherds were convinced of more than they could know, and far more than they would ever understand, “Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” And they paused and scratched their heads and said to one another, “Hmmm, that’s funny. Let’s go see.”
And so do we.
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