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Jesus said, “I am among you as the One who serves.”

᛭ INI ᛭

Today we’re celebrating the feast of St. Bartholomew. He was one of the Lord’s Apostles. He also went by the name of Nathaniel. “An Israelite in whom there is no deceit,” Christ says. When Christ says He prophetically saw Nathaniel under a fig tree and describes what Nathaniel said and did, Nathaniel cries out: “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” This is all recorded in John 1.

What do else we know about Nathaniel or Bartholomew? Not much. He was probably the son of Talmai, maybe a farmer, before being called to be an apostle. But we don’t know anything else about his ministry, beyond what was common to all the apostles’—he received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, preached in tongues, and went out to the nations to preach and teach Christ as God and Savior. Various traditions put him in various places and that he died for his preaching in various ways.

So, why remember him? We remember the apostles and other people from the Bible that we might be able to live our Christian lives with endurance and faithfulness. To see in them various aspects of our callings as Christians. The callings, these vocations are summarized for us Lutherans in the Small Catechism under the Table of Duties.

Now, the Table of Duties isn’t about anything but service. How each Christian submits to and serves one another. We always think it’s all about power, who’s got power over whom, who gets a say, who’s best, who’s first, who’s last. That’s how things work in the world, after all. Everyone’s concerned with who’s the boss, who’s in charge, who’s calling the shots. The apostle’s were, too! They were getting each other’s goat and enjoying every minute of it (φιλονεικία), “as to which of them should be considered the greatest.”

Christ says to them and us, “Yeah, that’s how it works in the world. Rulers exercise lordship over others. But it should not be so among you. After all, I am among you as the One who serves.” That’s what we’re to be reminded of each time we look at an apostle or person from the Bible, that’s what we’re to have in mind when we consider the Table of Duties and our vocations and callings as Christians, that

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST AS THE ONE WHO SERVES.

(I. He serves us by giving His life as a ransom for many.)

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST AS THE ONE WHO SERVES. But how does He do such service? Well, during His earthly ministry He preached and taught God’s Word. He brought sinners to repentance, being sorry for their sins, He forgave their sins, and gave them new life to live according to God’s Word. He also healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead.

God Himself, the eternal and transcendent God came into the world. The One in whom we live and move and have our being, lived and moved and had our being! “For us men and for our salvation [He] came down from heaven.” “He became man.” He came into our midst as the One, the only One, who truly served. He served not only by delivering God’s Word to bless people’s souls or only by delivering healing to bless people’s bodies. No, “the Son of Man came not to be served,” like so many other lords and kings, but “came…to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many,” for you. He served by living a holy life for you, by suffering the punishment you deserved, and by redeeming you from your sins, by rescuing you from God’s eternal wrath, the power of the devil, and from everlasting hell.

(Transition.)

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST AS ONE WHO SERVES—“His life,” given at Calvary, His blood shed, “as a ransom for many,” for you. But it’s not just history. It’s not just what He’s written down for you in the Bible. All those things are true, but it’s also now! CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST [NOW] AS THE ONE WHO SERVES! It’s just He’s using you and me to do it.

(II. He contines to serve us with His Word through our vocations.)

This is what we also get from remembering St. Bartholomew or any other Apostle or person from the Bible. Who led the People of Israel out of Egypt? Who rescued them from slavery to Pharaoh and his sentence of death? The LORD, YAHWEH, the Son of God, did. But He did it in a certain way, with a certain people—Moses and Aaron! It’s not one or the other. It’s One by means of another! As the Psalmist says, “You led Your people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron.” (Ps 77)

And so He also preached among the nations by the mouth of Bartholomew, and He continues to preach and baptize and forgive and commune by the hands and mouths His pastors and preachers. But He doesn’t just use His pastors to do this. It was never his intention to limit His Word. It’s certainly a unique way He delivers it through me or any other of His sent men. But He also intends for His people—fathers and mothers—each according to their vocation to deliver His Word.

And we must focus on the deliver of His Word on a day such as this. As even our Gradual and Introit point us to, as well as Proverbs 3, our Old Testament reading. Hear these Words of the LORD again:

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.” (Rom 10; Is 52, Ps 19)

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. (Ps 89; Eph 5)

My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands. (Prov 3; Dt 6)

(Conclusion.)

So on day like the day of an Apostle we get to rejoice in all the various ways that our Lord delivers His Word. It’s not about power or who’s in charge, but the ways that our Lord gives us to serve. Not our will be done “but Thy will be done.” And “God’s will is done when He breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God’s name or let His kingdom come; and when He strengthens and keeps us firm in His Word and faith until we die.” (SC) This happens when parents sing and/or tell in their own homes “the wonderful works of God” (Acts 2), telling to each generation, their children, their grandchildren of all that Christ has done for them, how Christ is in our midst as the One who served by giving His life as a ransom for many.

But it’s also rejoicing that the Lord sends His men, His Apostles, as well as preachers and pastors to deliver that Word, to deliver His Baptism, to Absolve, but also to deliver His body and blood at His Altar until such time as He gathers His apostles, His pastors, His fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands, wives, and workers—all His saints—“that you may eat and drink at His table in His kingdom,” forever.

And so, CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST AS THE ONE WHO SERVES. He served up His life at Calvary as a ransom for many, for you. He serves up His Word and forgiveness through His pastors and His people, that’s you in your various daily callings, and He even serves up His body and blood for you for forgiveness that you would be strengthened and preserved in body and soul unto life everlasting. And then, He’ll still be in our midst as the One who serves: “he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them,” (Lk 12) even you forever.

᛭ INI ᛭