by Gavin Ashenden
What the seated angel reveals about the nature of reality, hope, anger and courage.
Happy Easter “Christ is risen – He is risen indeed, hallelujah.”
One of the Gospel accounts I want to turn to this Easter is from the Gospel of Matthew, because as I listened to it, one extraordinary detail stood out—the angel.
“And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning, and his raiment, white as snow. And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men.”
Why did the angel need to sit?
Why Does the Angel Sit
What do we know about angels?
This is to take us back into scholasticism of course. Perhaps you already know that the joke about the scholastics, that they supposedly argued how many angels could dance on the end of a pin. In fact this never happened,- it’s not true. It’s a joke intended to make fun of over a highly intelligent and organised approach to enquire into metaphysical reality. It’s a caricature of a deeply serious and intelligent attempt to understand truth.
But still—the question remains.
Why does the angel ‘sit’?
I glanced through the Church Fathers. I looked to the mystics, especially Bernard of Clairvaux, whom I have come to love and trust, and I could find no one who shared my sense of astonishment at being told about the angel who sits.