Saint Bartholomew the Apostle

The Collect of the Day
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.
~BCP pg. 243

The Psalm
91:1-4

The Readings
Deuteronomy 18:15-18     +     1 Corinthians 4:9-15     +     Luke 22:24-30

The greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves . . . I am among you as one who serves.
~Luke 22:26, 27b

The Bible doesn't tell us anything about Bartholomew, other than that he was one of the twelve apostles. It is fitting that the church remembers and honors Bartholomew and all the holy apostles--those chosen by Jesus to be his closest friends and followers, and to carry on the work of the kingdom he came to proclaim. Yet the gospels are continually reminding us of their all-too-human failings, as in today's Gospel reading, which begins with the apostles arguing among themselves as to who among them is the greatest--on the very night of Jesus' betrayal and arrest, no less! Yet these are the ones to whom Jesus gave the authority to preach and teach, to heal and judge--to confer on them a kingdom, so to speak. But it is a strange sort of kingdom, with a strange sort of authority.

The disciples confess and follow in the way of the only true king--Jesus, who set aside his glory and came among his own as one who serves. And he laid down his life in service until he gave the last full measure. The kingdom to which the apostles were called, and to which we are called, is a kingdom that upends what we think we know about leadership and greatness and authority. How could it be otherwise, when we serve a King who washes our feet?

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank you for showing us by your own example that to be great in the kingdom of God is to be one who serves; thank you for calling us into your kingdom, and welcoming us to eat and drink with you at your table. Amen.

Coptic (Egyptian Christian) icon of St. Bartholomew