Saint Bartholomew the Apostle

The Collect
Almighty and everlasting God, who gave to your apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach your Word: Grant that your Church may love what he believed and preach what he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Psalm
91

The Readings
Deuteronomy 18:15-18     +     I Corinthians 4:9-15     +     Luke 22:24-30

. . . we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. We are fools for the sake of Christ . . .
~ I Corinthians 4:9-10

One of the more intriguing and unusual concepts in Christian spirituality is that of "the holy fool." Though associated most often with Russian Orthodoxy, holy fools can be found in many times and places (St. Francis of Assisi is a well-known example from Western Christianity). Eschewing social conventions, often in shocking and eccentric ways--dressed in rags, or naked in the snow, throwing away opportunities for wealth or stability, speaking blunt and unsettling truths that others fear to even think about--the holy fool appears unhinged, but his or her life is fired by a divine inspiration. Like the prophets of old, their appearance and behavior compels us to look, and to consider--to consider the shocking claims of this thing we call the gospel.

Basil, Fool for Christ

The great onion-domed cathedral in Moscow is named 

for this 16th century holy fool, who is also buried there.

A scriptural inspiration for the holy fool may be found in today's passage from First Corinthians. But the idea is not simply a case of lifting a phrase from sacred writings to justify some bizarre behavior (though that can and does happen). In the writing leading up to this passage of the letter, St. Paul has been at pains to stress that the gospel is, indeed, foolishness. And we who cling to it are, by the world's standards, fools. For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God . . . God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise . . . For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified (I Cor. 1:18, 27; 2:2).

Like the holy fools after him, Paul seeks to remind us that the gospel represents the great reversal: the least become the greatest, the mighty are cast down and the humble exalted, the first are last, God takes the form of a slave and is shamefully executed--God's power is made perfect in weakness.

It's tempting to look at Jesus and so much of the scriptures as representing a sort of exalted, respectable wisdom. And, indeed, in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3). But God's wisdom is not the world's; the way of Christ is not a philosophical path to advancement, or a pragmatic road of conventional morality, or a set of keys to success. Perhaps it is inevitable that most of us fail to fully embrace the implications of the gospel, but the holy fools will at least not let us forget: the way of Christ is a scandal, and we who follow Jesus are his own fools.

Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, who gave all for love of us: may nothing in this world keep us from loving you. Amen.