https://app.dropwave.io/episode/31ede43f-a874-4b45-b35e-777470c765d9/st-bartholomew-apostle-ad-2025.mp3

++ JESU JUVA ++

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

After our Lord’s ascension into heaven, the eleven apostles recognize that the place of Judas, the betrayer, needed to be filled. But not just anyone could be an apostle. Peter speaks clearly. It must be “one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us” (Acts 1:21-22). That means we don’t have apostles walking around anymore. Everyone who was alive when Jesus was walking around on earth has since departed this life.

‘Apostle’ is a Greek word that just means “one who is sent.” By implication, we recognize Jesus as the sender. While He was on earth, Jesus sent these men and equipped them as co-workers in His ministry. They proclaimed the Kingdom; cast out demons; healed the sick. Jesus tells them: Whoever receives you receives Me. When He had risen from the dead, He sent them again: Make disciples by baptizing and teaching. Absolve the sins of all who repent, and retain the sins of all who refuse to repent.

One of these apostles was called Bartholomew. We aren’t told much about him specifically, but it seems likely that he’s the apostle called Nathanael in the other Gospels. That’s why the alternate Gospel for today is from John 1, when Jesus calls Nathanael. But the details about Bartholomew in the Bible are quite scarce. After Jesus was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven, Bartholomew brought the treasure of the Gospel into the world. Church history and tradition attests to his martyrdom for preaching the Gospel. The ruler of the land where Bartholomew preached — possibly Armenia or India — was angry at the proclamation of the Gospel. Tradition tells us that Bartholomew was skinned alive and then beheaded, although some reports indicate he was first crucified, then flayed, then beheaded!

It is to Bartholomew and the other apostles that the Lord Jesus entrusted the ministry of His Church that the Ministry of the Lord’s Word might continue throughout the world. But the governing, living Head of the Church is not the apostles. Jesus is the Head of His Church. And it’s clear from today’s Gospel that these men were sinners. It’s the night our Lord is betrayed. The vessels from the first celebration of the Lord’s Supper are still on the table. And it’s there, as Jesus prepares to give Himself into death for the forgiveness of all their sins that His twelve closest friends begin to argue about who is the greatest. Right in front of their Savior and Lord — God in human flesh — they seek their own lordship. So it really shouldn’t surprise us when this kind of conversation is heard among Christians today. Not that we excuse it, but that we see what our Lord has done with it. The conduct of our Lord’s apostles and disciples doesn’t prevent Jesus from going to the cross.

He rebukes their behavior. So we ought to curb this kind of behavior among ourselves. We should see that this kind of spiritual one-upmanship can entrap us — and can cause others to stumble, or to be scandalized from the faith. So Jesus rebukes His apostles’ behavior. He says they do not have authority by right. Instead, He points them to the future and what they have by gift. So even the apostles of the Church are not important on account of themselves, but because Jesus chose them and called them by name.

He appointed them as His ambassadors to the world, authorizing them to preach. That’s why in 1 Corinthians 4, Paul calls himself and the other apostles the “‘off-scourings’ of the world” — like that stuff that’s left in the sink after washing the dishes. In a similar way, Martin Luther used to call himself a maggot sack and a mere beggar. And in today’s Epistle, Saint Paul calls himself and the other apostles “jars of clay” — mere earthen vessels. What makes the vessel worthy is not because it chose to be so great.

That is, after all, the way the Pharisees conducted themselves. Jesus said: They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others (Matthew 23:5-7). They cleaned the outside of the cup, but inside they were full of dead men’s bones. No — it is not the outward adorning or even the vessel itself that makes it honorable, but its use. What matters is what’s inside it.

Immediately before our Epistle, St. Paul tells us what treasure is contained in the jars of clay: “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). Saint Paul speaks of this treasure as belong to the apostles and ministers of the Gospel, but every Christian has this knowledge. Every Christian is enlightened by the Holy Spirit and confesses Jesus as Lord. This knowledge has come to you by the Lord’s gracious gift. You have been baptized, called by name by your Lord. It is this faith and confession to which Michael gives voice this morning. Instructed in this faith, he will stand before God and you and promise by God’s grace to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it.

But is this really a treasure? Bartholomew confessed it — and he was flayed alive. All the apostles, save John, were martyred for this treasure. And St. Paul in our Epistle says it brings suffering and every kind of affliction. Not just death or martyrdom—. Not just being skinned alive or beheaded or crucified—. It brings uncertainty and difficulty and persecution and being laid low.

According to that kind of measurement, this treasure doesn’t seem very valuable. But the treasure Jesus gives is one that saves you even through all your difficulty and hardship. By the world’s reckoning, this treasure has no value. They call it silly and childish. They want to see a treasure that can be measured or used to get ahead. Some kind of knowledge or physical wealth. But like we heard last Sunday, all the wealth in the world can’t begin to compare to the treasure you have in Christ. That means that in your body, in your mortal flesh that will decay and be laid into the ground — in you is the death and resurrection of the Son of God, the redemption and life of the world. Or, as Paul says to the Colossians: Christ in you, the hope of glory.

But if Christ in you is so wonderful, so valuable, so powerful, then why all the suffering? Why death and martyrdom and persecution? Why are we called names and mistreated and despised? It’s not in spite of the treasure, but because of it. The world doesn’t want you to have this treasure. Those who are opposed to the Gospel often more quickly figure out what the Gospel threatens than those who confess it or preach it. So you are attacked because Christ is in you. It is He whom the world hates.

It’s like a common movie plot. A nobody finds a treasure. He doesn’t know what it is, but he holds onto it. By the next scene, he’s being attacked. They want his treasure because they know how valuable it is. I think that’s an illustration of being a Christian. This treasure that is given to us freely is more valuable than we can possibly imagine. It doesn’t look like much. It looks like a Christian boldly confessing the faith amid worldly opposition. It looks like the head of the family teaching the catechism to his family. It looks like someone confessing his sins and being absolved. It looks like a couple receiving their children from God by faith.

Even at church it doesn’t look like much. A big cross. Pulpit and lectern and altar. A couple guys in white robes. Words being chanted and spoken and sung. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God doesn’t often look like much. But its power is greater than anything else in the whole world. So it might seem strange that those who possess this power don’t normally attain great strength or special powers. You and I remain weak. This, also, is the Lord’s design. For if you carry within yourself a great treasure and yet remain weak, then it is clear you possess a power that is not your own. If you were powerful and mighty, people might think the power was yours. You might begin to think that the treasure is your own personal possession, to do with as you see fit. The purpose is so that no one confuses what holds the treasure with the treasure itself.

It’s like how in Acts 14 when the people of Lystra watch Paul and Barnabas heal a lame man. So they begin to confess that Barnabas is Zeus and Paul is Hermes. The local priest of Zeus prepares to sacrifice to the men. But Barnabas and Paul tear their clothes, saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you” (Acts 14:15). They have confused what holds the treasure with the treasure itself.

Today is also the Tenth Sunday after Trinity. If there had not been a church feast today, we would have heard the account of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. Jesus weeps over His beloved city because they believe that the Temple building and the work of performing sacrifices is what saves them. They have confused what holds the treasure with the treasure itself. That’s why the Temple must be destroyed.

This is also how it is for the Christian. You have the wisdom of God, yet you still ask God ‘why.’ You carry the life of the world in your flesh, yet you still taste death. You have this strength, but you remain weak. You hold the treasure, yet you remain in need. In other words, the treasure which you hold transforms you into the image of Jesus. For He who possessed all riches laid them aside, taking the form of a servant, and had no place to lay His head. He who formed the world and who commands the storms and seas also permitted Himself to be beaten and struck. He who is the Life of the Word also tasted death. He who is the Wisdom of God also cried out from the cross “Why?” Jesus took on your flesh that He might be like you in every way, yet without sin. Now He is at work conforming you to look like Him — even in your trials and suffering.

In your flesh, as you go about your daily life and do all the mundane things before you, you carry around the death and resurrection of your Lord Jesus. As you study for a quiz or teach your children, you have the victory of Jesus over death and all the powers of darkness. Even when your faith is weak. Even when you don’t resemble Christ very much. Even when life just seems hard or boring or hopeless. So, yes, being afflicted, perplexed, struck down, persecuted — all these are the experience of Christ’s death in your own flesh. Yet you are afflicted, but not crushed. You are perplexed and confused, but not given over to despair. You are struck down, but not destroyed. For where the death of Jesus is manifested, there also the life of Jesus shines forth. You are raised up with Christ. You have been seated with Him in the heavenly places.