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Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; (Matthew 10:3)
Happy Friday to you, Friend! Here's trusting your plans to this weekend include time with God in God's House! And, today will be great if we listen to God as He speaks through His word and perhaps through this devotional. May our prayer time today include prayers for Mr. Doug Smith as he undergoes a long surgery today in San Marcos. He's set to be under the knife for 5.5 hours. This is part of the battle against cancer. Pray for his wife, Autumn, and their children. Doug and Autumn have been a joy and a blessing to Nellie and our girls since we met them while I was serving First UMC in San Marcos. May the Lord be glorified in this day with the Smith family. Prayers for the family of Mrs. Olga Molina, a longtime family friend, servant of the Lord's from McAllen, Texas. Olga was very active in all areas of the church; we came to know here through her involvement with youth and later through the UMW. Prayers for the family of John Nieto. John was the son of my first district superintendent. He was also a known painter of Indian art in the Southwest.
All we know about this apostle is his name. Bartholomew. And what makes it interesting, is that some scholars believe that was his surname. The possibilities are high that his first name was Nathanael. Surname because it's more than likely that it follows the Jewish tradition of bar, meaning son of, and in this case, a man named Tolmai. Although, his first name may have been Nate, we will deal with that next week.
The first three gospels never mention Nathanael. The Fourth Gospel, John, never mentions Bartholomew. Hmm. In the lists in each gospel that reference Bart, it is also with Philip; and since it was Philip who brought Nate to Jesus (John 1:45), and since Philip is closely identified with Bart and Nate, it may be they're the same person. But certain proof falls short, and Nate has been identified with many other people in the Gospel story.
We go to tradition and legend to see what we can find out about Bartholomew. The most interesting comes from Jerome. Jerome shares how he believes Bart to be of noble birth. We find in 2 Samuel 3:3 there is the mention of a Talmai who was king of Geshure, whose daughter was called Maacah, and she becomes the mother of Absalom, whom she bore to David. And the possibility is that Bart descended from this lineage, which is a royal lineage. The other possibility is that Bart may have been connected to Ptolemy, thus the son of Ptolemy, and the Ptolemies were the kings of Egypt, and that Bart was connected to the royal house of Egypt. While this cannot be proved completely, the thought at the apostolic band lived in perfect harmony with the humble fishermen of Galilee.
Legend also tells us that Bart may have gone to preach in India. Pantaenus, a stoic philosopher from Alexandria, when converted to the Christian faith went to India to preach. He found there were already Christians there who also possessed the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew. He wrote, "For Bartholomew, one of the apostles, had preached to them, and left them with the writings of Matthew in the Hebrew language, which they had preserved until that time."
He is also believed to have preached in Phrygia. The Acts of Philip records how Philip and Bartholomew preached in Hierapolis and how Philip was martyred there; Bartholomew escaped and went to preach in other places. These include Armenia, where the Armenian Church claims him as their founder. It is said he met his martyrdom there in Albana. This death was brought about because Bartholomew's preaching rendered the heathen gods powerless. He performed many signs and wonders there, including the healing of the king's lunatic daughter; exposing the emptiness of the king's idol, and the banishing of the demon who possessed it. The king and many others were baptized, but their priests became hostile and went to the king's brother, who had Bartholomew arrested and beaten with clubs, flayed alive, and crucified in agony. And so, Bartholomew died a martyr for his Lord.
There exists an apocryphal Gospel of Bartholomew that tells us four questions Bart asked of Jesus and Mary between the time of Jesus' resurrection and ascension. First question: Where did you go Jesus from the cross? The answer was that Jesus went to the House of Hades, scourged Hades himself, and bound him in chains that cannot be loosed. Thus the "descent into hell" that we have. The second question: How many souls die and are born each day? The numbers vary from the different manuscripts that exist; but the number is 30,000 souls die each day, and only 3 are found righteous. 30,001 souls are born each day in the world. Bartholomew asked Mary about the Annunciation, and Mary answers that in the book. Last question: Bartholomew asks to see the abyss and the adversary of man. The devil is revealed to him, and Bartholomew is allowed to place his foot upon the devil's neck. He asks about the sin agains the Holy Spirit, which Jesus answers, and at the end of the questioning, Bartholomew "took hold of the hand of the Lord the lover of men," and uttered a magnificent ascription of praise: "Glory be to Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, that giveth unto all the grace that all we have perceived. Alleluia. Glory be to Thee, O Lord, the life of sinners. Glory be to Thee, O Lord, death is put to shame. Glory be to Thee, O Lord, the treasure of righteousness. For unto God we sing."
Truly, a man who knew the Lord intimately, loved Him, and lived to preach and died for the faith.
PRAYER: Loving God, grant us a stronger faith to live and share You! In Christ Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! Let the name of Jesus be known in you today!
Eradio Valverde
