“I am among you as one who serves.” Jesus in Luke 22:24-30, today’s Gospel.
”I opened myself to you only to be skinned alive. The more vulnerable I became, the faster and more deft your knife. Knowing what was happening, still I stayed and let you carve more. That’s how much I loved you.” Rabih Alameddine in ‘I, The Divine, A Novel.’
Today is the feast of St Bartholomew, one of the Twelve and a trusted follower of Jesus. His name is Semitic, meaning son of my furrows, indicating a farmer or land owner and it may be that he also had the name Nathanael as he is often associated with Philip, who brought Nathanael to Jesus and called him an Israelite worth of the name. He isn’t listed as an apostle whereas Bartholomew is – was he possibly Nathanael Bar-Talmai?
Much about him is uncertain, not least that there are three versions of his martyrdom. The best known is that Bartholomew was flayed alive and depictions often show knives and his skin wrapped around him. The horrific manner of this death has lead to him becoming the patron saint of tanners, butchers, leather workers, bookbinders, vellum makers, glovers and shoemakers but perhaps the greatest tribute is the hospital named after him, Bart’s in London – now a centre of excellence for heart and cancer care.
Today’s Gospel doesn’t name Bartholomew but happens at the Last Supper where all the disciples have gathered with Jesus to share what will be a final meal with him before his death. As a dispute breaks out about which of them will be regarded as the greatest, Jesus reminds them that leadership is about service and that he is among them as one who serves. How bitterly disappointed he must have been to hear the disciples argue about this and to know how little they have understood about what he is trying to teach them. Yet Jesus focuses on the positive and tells them that they have stood by him in the various trials he has faced and that he is conferring on them the kingdom that his Father conferred on him. He says they will eat and drink at his table in the kingdom, of which the Last Supper is a foretaste although they don’t realise that. What must the disciples have made of this later, when they fled rather than stood by Jesus at his arrest and realised they had argued so pettily at their last meal with him?
There are perhaps times for us when we realise that arguments may have intruded over a meal or meeting and that things weren’t as we thought or hoped at the time in a way that causes regret later. It’s also easy to become sidetracked with disputes over the approach or leadership of others as can often be seen in so many disagreements where power rather than service becomes key. The affirming and encouraging words of Jesus to his followers despite their shortsightedness were hallmarks of his own commitment to what he preached to them, shown in the agony of his scourging before crucifixion. That involved a whip where the flails were weighted with strips of sharpened metal designed to flay partially the skin on his back and make the suffering on the cross even more horrendous. God also asked of his Son what was asked of his followers.
As a child, I remember hearing the phrase don’t do that or you’ll be flayed alive being used as a deterrent. Sometimes, the word used was skinned alive, often shortened to being skint, where money had run out for various reasons. Horrible images were also depicted in other ways such as Rabih Alameddine’s powerful writing of what can be the terrible and sacrificial cost of love – thankfully, the term is not used so much now.
Perhaps Jesus’ affirmation of his followers at the Last Supper, combined with the terrible suffering and sacrifice of his crucifixion, partly underpinned their resolve to spread the Good News the world over after the resurrection. Bartholomew’s flaying came after his missionary work in India, Ethiopia, Turkey and various other countries before going to Armenia where he was said to have been skinned and beheaded on the orders of its king, Astyages. That was a terrible death after a life based on the Good News and service but it showed the best as well as the worst of humanity as it has since inspired the work of healing in the hospital of which Bartholomew is patron. Perhaps it could inspire us, too, as we wrestle with the worst as well as the best and the everyday challenges of humanity before us today?
With my prayers; pob bendith,
Christine, Priest Guardian.