I ceded my space here to the homily this Tuesday, August 18 of our beloved Among Ambo. It struck me as a prophetic vision – the good bishop will most certainly disagree – that flashed the handwritings inscribed on the wall in the Book of Daniel.
THE PROPHET’S oracle of judgment in our first reading sends shivers down my spine. He is pronouncing a prophetic curse on the prince of Tyre. Apparently, this ruler had become so arrogant, he even insulted Yahweh, the God of Israel, claiming to be wiser than God himself, all because he was clever enough to climb his way to power, and gain so much influence by shamelessly bowing in subservience to a foreign Empire.
To paraphrase him, the prophet says, “Let’s see what becomes of you when another world power brings down your patron? Let’s see where you’ll find yourself when your own horde of murderers turns against you. When you get a dose of your own medicine, it is then that you will realize how foolish you are to play god. You will die the most humiliating kind of death.”
In the Gospel, Jesus is also speaking like a prophet of judgment, denouncing those who are deluded by power and wealth. Remember what we quoted about hubris and nemesis a few weeks ago from Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
In Hebrew, “WHO IS LIKE GOD?” is the meaning of the name of the archangel, Michael. Mi (who is)-ka (like)-‘El (God), “who is like God”? He is identified in later Jewish tradition as the heavenly warrior whose role is precisely to challenge Satan, the fallen angel. The story has it that it was Satan’s pride that led to his downfall. His motto is I WILL NOT SERVE because he thinks of himself as superior to all other creatures.
Even in the verses of the Qur’an you encounter passages about the fall of the Devil called IBLIS, as having been caused by pride. How the devil had been commanded by Allah to bow before Adam and how he reacted with vehemence because he considered himself to be more a more dignified creature than Adam, whom he considered to be a lower creature. And so, from then on, the Qur’an tells us the devil made it his vision and mission to serve as a stumbling block for humankind, just to prove God wrong and assert his superiority. You see, the theology of evil is shared commonly by Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
In the Book of Genesis, we read in Chapter 3 how God expelled Adam and Eve from paradise because they had fallen into the trick of the serpent to eat of the forbidden fruit. The serpent had deceived them into believing that by eating of it, they would BE LIKE GOD. The writer tells us that after they were cast out, God installed by the gate of paradise an angel and a flaming sword.
Later Jewish literature, especially in the Apocrypha, would put the angel and the flaming sword together. That is why you have the portrayal of Michael as the archangel with the flaming sword. His job is supposedly to guard the entrance gate of paradise and to challenge anyone who attempts to enter through it with his name: WHO IS LIKE GOD?
This literary character would eventually become something like a riddle. And Christianity would be founded on the narrative of regaining paradise after losing it. Remember the epic poems of John Milton PARADISE LOST and PARADISE REGAINED? The archangel Michael by the door standing like a security guard of the Garden of Eden has become like a prophecy that a time will come when the poor banished children of Adam and Eve would finally be able to regain access to Paradise.
Tree of Life
Remember, there was supposed to be another mysterious tree in the Garden of Eden aside from the tree of desire for power that had brought about death? The other tree was called the TREE OF LIFE. Christian tradition will see in the Cross of Christ that tree of life, and in Jesus Christ life-giving body and blood, the fruit of that tree. He becomes the answer to Michael’s Challenge to those who want to enter: WHO IS LIKE GOD?
No one but the Son of God, who, “although he was in the form of God, did not deem equality with God as something to be grasped. Rather, HE EMPTIED HIMSELF, TOOK THE FORM OF SLAVE, BEING BORN IN HUMAN LIKENESS, HE HUMBLED HIMSELF, BECOMING OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH, EVEN DEATH ON A CROSS.” I am quoting all of this from St. Paul in Philippians Chapter 2, his famous hymn on KENOSIS (self-emptying).
Please remember this; I am telling this as a secret, especially to all of you who might be aspiring to enter through the gate when your own time comes. Be ready for the challenge of MICHAEL. Be ready to answer his question, WHO IS LIKE GOD?
The answer is the sweetest name of all, a name that is above every name, for at the mention of his name, Paul says, “every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Then you will see how the gates will be flung open to welcome us all into God’s dwelling, God’s eternal embrace.
