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The Sermon for Sunday, August 24th, 2025, the Festival of St. Bartholomew the Apostle
The Lessons: Deuteronomy 18:15-18; Psalm 91; 1 Corinthians 4:9-16; Luke 22:24-30
The Text: Luke 22:24-30
INTRODUCTION
Today we celebrate the Festival of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, whom many scholars have identified as Nathaniel, whom St. Philip the Apostle found and brought to Jesus (John 1:45-51). In Jesus’ words, Nathaniel was “an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile” (John 1:47b, KJV). Nathaniel was so impressed by our Lord’s knowledge of him that he at once confessed Jesus to be Son of God and King of Israel (John 1:49). Now, if Bartholomew was Nathaniel, then he had the grace of God to know the truth of who Jesus is, and to hold fast to that truth. It is important that we see that it was the love of Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life, that it led him later, after receiving the Holy Spirit together with the other Apostles and disciples at Pentecost (Acts 2), to preach the Gospel in other lands, such as India, Persia, and Armenia, according to tradition. In Armenia, while preaching the Gospel, he healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, and cast out demons. In return, he insisted on the destruction of idols and conversion to Christ. After preaching the Gospel to Polymius, the King of Armenia, that king became a Christian, but his conversion so angered the king’s brother and the pagan priests of that country that they captured and flayed Bartholomew alive and beheaded him. That is why St. Bartholomew is pictured holding a knife and his own flayed skin. This is also why in tradition he is regarded as the patron saint of all who use cutting tools in their trades, including butchers and masons.[1] As a result of the preaching of St. Bartholomew, and probably St. Jude, in Armenia in the first century A.D., the Armenian kingdom became the first Christian state in 301 A.D.[2]
The severity and brutality of St. Bartholomew’s death shows the extent of his devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and to bearing witness to the life-saving power and grace of the Gospel of the Lord. This is an inspiration to us steadfastly to bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. Today there are countries in the world where Christians are being put to death because they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the United States, we are fortunate not to have faced such persecution. But the example of St. Bartholomew’s life and death reveals the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
THE GOSPEL LESSON: TRUE GREATNESS LIES IN SERVICE
In our Lord’s farewell discourses to his disciples, he gives them a new commandment to love one another, but he adds the supreme example of such love:
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
(John 15:12-13, KJV)
St. Bartholomew obeyed this command, following the supreme example of Christ’s love for all the redeemed. But years before, when he was one of the company of the apostles following the Lord Jesus during his earthly life, he might have been taking part in the discussion among the disciples about who was the greatest (Luke 22:24).
The Lord Jesus then taught all the Apostles the great contrast between worldly leadership among the Gentiles and the servant leadership of God’s kingdom (Luke 22:25-26). The former is the exercise of lordship and the consciousness of power and authority based on rank and position in society, while the latter springs from the very example of the Lord Jesus Christ, as he himself explained at the end of the parallel passage from St. Mark:
For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
(Mark 11:45, KJV)
The action and ministry of giving his life as a sacrifice for sin on the cross, the Lord Jesus holds up as an example for his disciples to follow. Instead of domineering behavior, the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ are to be like the younger, and he that is chief as the one that serves (Luke 22:26).
What does this mean for the Christian today? It certainly means that one does away with narcissism and any form of egotism that attempts to persuade others of one’s own superiority and their inferiority. If we are deeply concerned to serve one another in the Christian community, we shall do this unobtrusively, not seeking to draw attention to how well we are serving others.
Winston Churchill emphasized the unobtrusiveness of good service, according to an account by Don McCullough in Waking from the American Dream:
During World War II, England needed to increase its production of coal. Winston Churchill called together labor leaders to enlist their support. At the end of his presentation he asked them to picture in their minds a parade which he knew would be held in Piccadilly Circus after the war. First, he said, would come the sailors who had kept the vital sea lanes open. Then would come the soldiers who had come home from Dunkirk and then gone on to defeat Rommel in Africa. Then would come the pilots who had driven the Luftwaffe from the sky.
Last of all, he said, would come a long line of sweat-stained, soot-streaked men in miner’s caps. Someone would cry from the crowd, “And where were you during the critical days of our struggle?”
And from ten thousand throats would come the answer, “We were deep in the earth with our faces to the coal.”
Not all the jobs in a church are prominent and glamorous. But the people with their “faces to the coal” play a vital role in helping the church accomplish its mission.[3]
CONCLUSION
Let each of us consider how best to serve one another, and how best to minister the grace of God. The Lord Jesus Christ said to his Apostles:
For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.
(Luke 22:27, KJV)
As the Lord Jesus Christ lived among his disciples “as he that serveth,” so we must serve one another, showing the love of Christ. Whatever gifts of grace the Holy Spirit has given you, use them in ministry and service to the edification of the Church and as a witness to the love of Christ.
[1] Based on HolyBlog: https://www.holyart.com/blog/saints-and-blessed/saint-bartholomew-the-apostle-the-story-of-the-martyr-flayed-alive/#:~:text=Saint%20Bartholomew%20the%20Apostle%20is,was%20flayed%20alive%20by%20them.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_the_Apostle
[3] p.505, , 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers from Craig Brian Larson and Leadership Journal. Grand Rapids, Michigan: BakerBooks, 2002. Second Printing, 2008.