Of Ashley, 'the Angel,' and God's Message for Us All

The story of Ashley Smith, the hostage held by Brian Nichols following a killing spree that began in an Atlanta court room last week, is truly extraordinary.

While honestly owning her desire to live to Nichols, she also showed great grace and courage, attributes, it appears, nurtured by her faith.

I was particularly struck by this statement by Smith in The Chicago Tribune's account of her experience with Nichols:

"He just wanted some normalness in his life right then," she said. "He said he thought I was an angel sent from God. And that he was lost and God led him right to me."

The New Testament word for angel, angelos, literally means messenger. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew equivalent of the word is often used of the very presence of God come to earth. The angel of God with whom the scheming Jacob wrestled in Genesis 32:22-32 is God Himself. The same is true of the angel of God met by Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18.

Most other Old Testament occurrences of the term are more like those we see, in the New Testament in, for example, the angelic appearances to Mary or to the shepherds. These are messengers sent from God, sort of like heavenly email.

Of course, all human beings who follow Jesus are called to be messengers of God, who, whatever our jobs or circumstances have a single, fundamental mission in life: To love and serve our neighbors as though they were God. (Matthew 25:31-46)

It is this that Ashley Smith appears to have done. Although fully aware of who Bruce Nichols was and fully acknowledging her fear, she calmly won his trust, related to him, cooked breakfast for him, and read Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life to him.

What Nichols has done is monstrous beyond description. Civil justice must and undoubtedly, will be done. Prosecutors have the moral and legal obligation to prosecute him to the full extent of the law.

But I also believe that no matter how monstrous we may be, God doesn't give up on redeeming us for eternity. He does that by sending His messengers, angelic and otherwise, to remind us that we matter to Him, that we can turn from our monstrosities.

Who knows how many such messengers God sent to Bruce Nichols before he erupted in that Atlanta court room last week? It's tragic he wasn't listening then.

God has a simple message for all of us:

16‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. [John 3:16-18]

Let's not tune Him out!

[The best book on angels that I've read is Angels: God's Secret Agents by Billy Graham.

[A great discussion of Christian 'vocation,' how we live our lives in the everyday world is found in D. Michael Bennethum's new book, Listen! God is Calling: Luther Speaks of Vocation, Faith, and Work.]