Bartholomew, or Nathanael, as John calls him, appears to have been a skeptic. Philip witnesses to him about Jesus, and his first words are: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (St. John 1:46, ESV) As with Thomas after the first Easter, hearing isn’t enough. He has to see Jesus before he believes “anything good” could come out of Nazareth. And even then, it seems that Bartholomew is more impressed over Jesus’ claims about the “greater” things he would see.

Jesus uses this as a “teaching moment.” He takes the opportunity to tell Bartholomew, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” – “You will see greater things than these.” Don’t get caught up in Jesus’ miracles and omniscience. Instead, take comfort in His greater things!

Bartholomew did follow Jesus and learned from our Lord in His “traveling seminary”. Spending three years at the feet of Christ, he saw greater things. He saw the greater things of Jesus as He taught great crowds and healed the sick. He saw greater things as Jairus’ daughter, Lazarus, and others were raised from the dead! He saw our Lord take bread and wine and deliver His Body and Blood to the apostles. He saw our Lord arrested and taken off to trial. He hid while Jesus was crucified, but was there when the Risen Lord stood before the apostles and had them touch Him and eat with Him.

Bartholomew saw greater things as he stood in the presence of the Risen Christ! And seeing this greatest thing, he was given courage and confidence to boldly proclaim the Gospel. In his apostolic ministry, Bartholomew saw greater things as he served as Jesus’ hands and mouth to baptize, preach, and feed the Sacrament to Christ’s Church. Years later, keeping these greater things in mind, he willingly submitted to the executioner, as he was skinned alive for the Gospel of Christ!

See also James Kiefer's Christian Biographies:

Bartholomew, Apostle , 24 August

The name "Bartholomew" appears in the New Testament only on lists of the names of the twelve apostles. This list normally is given as six pairs, and the third pair in each of the Synoptics is "Philip and Bartholomew" (M 10:3; P 3:18; L 6:14; but A 1:15).

John gives no list of the Twelve, but refers to more of them individually than the Synoptists. He does not name Bartholomew, but early in his account (John 1:43-50) he tells of the call to discipleship of a Nathaniel who is often supposed to be the same person. The reasoning is as follows: John's Nathanael is introduced as one of the earliest followers of Jesus, and in terms which suggest that he became one of the Twelve. He is clearly not the same as Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Thomas, Judas Iscariot, Judas (not Iscariot, also called Lebbaeus or Thaddeus), all of whom John names separately. He is not Matthew, whose call is described differently (M 9:9). This leaves Bartholomew, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes. Of these, Bartholomew is the leading candidate for two reasons:

(1) "Bar-tholomew" is a patronymic, meaning "son of Tolmai (or Talmai)." It is therefore likely that he had another name. (A historical novel which may not be well researched informs me that a first-century Jew would be likely to use the patronymic instead of the forename as a mark of respect in speaking to a significantly older Jew.) "Nathanael son of Tolmai" seems more likely than "Nathanael also called James (or Simon)."

(2) Nathanael is introduced in John's narrative as a friend of Philip. Since Bartholomew is paired with Philip on three of our four lists of Apostles, it seems likely that they were associated.

We have no certain information about Bartholomew's later life. Some writers, including the historian Eusebius of Caesarea (now Har Qesari, 32:30 N 34:54 E, near Sedot Yam), say that he preached in India. The majority tradition, with varying details, is that Bartholomew preached in Armenia, and was finally skinned alive and beheaded to Albanus or Albanopolis (now Derbent, 42:03 N 48:18 E) on the Caspian Sea. His emblem in art is a flaying knife. The flayed Bartholomew can be seen in Michelangelo's Sistine painting of the Last Judgement. He is holding his skin. The face on the skin is generally considered to be a self-portrait of Michelangelo.

Prayer (traditional language)

Almighty and everlasting God, who didst give to thine apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach thy Word: Grant that thy Church may love what he believed and preach what he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God for ever and ever.

¶ 8/24/2006 04:46:00 AM 0 Comments