St Bartholomew
Lk
22:24-30
8/24/25
Today is the Feast of St. Bartholomew.
Bartholomew is not actually a proper name. Instead, it is a reflection of the
fact that first century Jews did not use last names. If you wanted to identify a person beyond their
first name, there were two options. The first was to identify him by his
city. So, we hear about how Joseph of
Arimathea buried Jesus in his own tomb.
Joseph is identified by his town.
The other option was to identify a
person by their father. “Bar” is Aramaic for son, and so a person could be
called Bar plus the name of their father. Jesus refers to Peter as Simon bar
Jonah, which means Simon son of Jonah. In the same way Bartholomew means
Bar-Talmay, or “son of Talmay.”
Bartholomew is listed among the twelve
apostles in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts.
We don’t hear anything else about him in Scripture, and never learn his
actual name. It has been suggested that
Nathaniel who is mentioned in the first chapter of John is Bartholomew. There
Nathaniel is brought to Jesus by Philip, and in several of the lists of the
apostles Bartholomew’s name is placed next to Philip.
However, unfortunately there is no
evidence that the early Church ever made this identification. The first time it
appears is in the ninth century. In fact, in the fourth century the church
father Epiphanius said that Nathaniel was one of the disciples on the road to
Emmaus, and in the fifth century St Augustine denied that Nathaniel was an
apostle. Probably following Augustine, Luther also said that Nathaniel was not one
of the twelve.
We wish we knew more about
Bartholomew. But if we are to remain on sure ground we will have to content
ourselves with what we learn about him more generally as one of the apostles.
In our text this morning we learn that the apostles weren’t holy or special in
themselves. Instead, the Lord Jesus chose them as his authorized
representatives who bear witness to how Christ served us.
Jesus Christ called twelve apostles to
follow him. The number was quite intentional. It reflected the fact that there
were twelve tribes of Israel. The
apostles accompanied Jesus during his ministry.
They heard his teaching. They
witnessed his miracles. He also empowered them to preach and heal. Luke tells
us, “And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over
all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the
kingdom of God and to heal.”
Apostles like Bartholomew are not
significant for us because of their personalities. We learn that they were
flawed sinners just like we are. Our
text takes place during the Last Supper.
Jesus had just instituted the Sacrament of the Altar, and had given them
his body and blood. Luke tells us, “A
dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the
greatest.”
Jesus has just told them “I have
earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you
I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” He has
spoken the Words of Institution, and given them the Sacrament. And what is
their response? They focus on themselves as they argue about who is the
greatest.
This is bad enough in itself. But then
we realize that this isn’t the first time they have done this. In chapter nine
we hear that an argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. Our Lord knew what was happening, so he took
a child and put him by his side and said to them, “Whoever receives this
child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who
sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.” The ancient world did not hold children in
high esteem like we do. Instead they were seen as being a liability and foolish
– they had little value. Jesus told the apostles that rather than trying to be
greatest, they were to focus on the one who was least.
Now Jesus must correct them again. He
said, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in
authority over them are called benefactors.” The Greco-Roman world was built
around the idea of status. Everyone understood their position in life by their
relation to those over them. This was true in the political realm. It was also true in the social as those
wealthy individuals who assisted others became the patron to whom allegiance
and subservience was owed.
This is how the world worked. But then Jesus went on to say, “But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.”
In the world, the greatest are served
by those who are lesser. But our Lord
said that this is not how it is to work with his disciples. Instead, the
greatest was to become as the youngest – the least. The leader was to become as
one who serves. Jesus pointed out that it wasn’t difficult to distinguish which
was which – the one who reclines at table is served by the one who brings the
food. Yet then our Lord added, “But I am among you as one who serves.”
Christ was at the Last Supper. He had
said that he wanted to eat the Passover with them before he suffered. This suffering was something that he had
already mentioned several times to the apostles. As they prepared to enter Jerusalem he had
said, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is
written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will
be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully
treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and
on the third day he will rise.”
Jesus Christ – the Son of God - was
present to suffer and die. He was here to serve by carrying out the Father’s
will. He was here to serve us by
fulfilling what the Holy Spirit had revealed through the prophets. A little later Jesus said, “For I tell you
that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered
with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its
fulfillment.”
Our Lord quoted Isaiah chapter 53
because on the cross he the sinless One took his place with sinners and for
sinners. He was the One upon whom the
God laid the iniquity of us all. He was stricken, smitten
by God, and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions. God judged and condemned our sin in Christ as
he died on the cross. There his body was given for us. There his blood was shed
for us.
Christ served us as he carried out the
Father’s will. But the Father’s will involved more than death. On Easter he
raised Jesus from the dead. Through Christ God defeated death as he began the
resurrection of the Last Day. And then the Father exalted Jesus as he was
seated at God’s right hand – as he exercises all power and might as the One who
is still true God and true man.
Jesus served us by being numbered with
the transgressors. He did this because quite often we would rather serve
ourselves. Our actions are guided by
selfish motives. Baptized into Christ we
receive forgiveness. And through the work of the Holy Spirit we now live in
Christ. Jesus becomes the model and
pattern for our life. Just as Christ has
served us, we now seek to serve others.
We put the needs of others before our own – the needs of our spouse, our
parents, our neighbors.
Bartholomew was present with the apostles as Jesus went on to say, “You are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” The apostles had been with Jesus during his ministry. They had traveled with him. They were about to fail him as they fled and abandoned Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. But the Lord looked ahead to the role that they would have as his authoritative representatives.
On the evening of Easter the risen
Lord appeared in the midst of the locked room where Bartholomew and the
apostles were. He demonstrated that he
was the same Jesus who had been crucified as he said, “See my hands and my
feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have
flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Then he told the apostles that they
would be witnesses of his death and resurrection. He said, “And behold, I am
sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until
you are clothed with power from on high.”
On Pentecost Christ poured out the
Spirit on the apostles. They went forth as witnesses for the risen Lord.
Bartholomew and the apostles do not matter because of who they were as people –
their personalities and characteristics. They matter because the Lord Jesus
chose them to be witnesses of his life, death, and resurrection. They matter
because they were the authorized representatives of Jesus Christ. They have
spoken and delivered his authoritative word to the Church.
When I was in Africa, I was covering
the beginning of Galatians where Paul asserts his status as an apostle. The
students asked whether there could be anyone else who was an apostle today.
Apparently, this was a claim they had encountered. And there is in fact a
so-called “Apostolic-Prophetic movement” which uses the title apostle for
leaders in the church.
But there can be no more apostles. It
was a one generation phenomenon of those who were with Jesus Christ. It was tied to with the incarnate Lord who
lived, died, and rose from the dead in first century Palestine. Bartholomew and the other apostles were
chosen by Christ, and there can never be any other apostles.
The apostles have delivered the witness about Christ’s death and
resurrection. They have given his
authoritative word through the inspired Gospel writers. We have received that word in the epistles of
the New Testament. As St Paul told the Ephesians, the Church is “built on the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself
being the cornerstone.”
At the end of our text, Jesus says to the apostles, “You are those
who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you, as my
Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my
kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Christ chose the apostles and set them apart. We learn that their role
continues on beyond the first century A.D. They were chosen as the Lord’s
authorized representatives, and they will serve in positions of authority in
the new creation.
The Lord refers to eating and drinking at my table in my kingdom. We
give thanks for the knowledge that as the baptized children of God, we too will
share in the feast of salvation. We will because already now we have received
God’s reign in Christ through the work of the Spirit. We receive that reign as
we come to the Sacrament of the Altar.
Here Jesus gives us the very price he paid for our salvation. He
places into our mouth his body that was given for us, and his blood that was
shed for us. Through this he continues
to apply forgiveness to us. Through this food he strengthens the new man to
continue to walk in faith as we look towards the day when we will dwell with
St. Bartholomew and all the apostles at the feast of salvation.
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