It takes the twelve awhile to learn the lesson but finally they learn it. Throughout Christ’s ministry, they are constantly arguing about which of them is going to be the greatest and most worthy of honor in Christ’s presumed earthly kingdom. But finally, after the death and resurrection of our Lord, and after receiving the Holy Spirit who opens their minds to understand all of Christ’s words, they understand the words we heard in our reading from Luke 22 today.
They have not been called into an office of glory where the world will serve them and feed them. Like their Lord, they have been called to be servants, to suffer scorn and abuse, hatred and death as they feed the world with the Gospel of Jesus. They’ve been called to be forgotten as they teach the world to remember the blood of Christ that won mankind’s salvation.
So today, as the church celebrates the feast of St. Bartholomew, don’t feel bad if you don’t know anything about him. The Gospels and the book of Acts don’t say much about him. He only has a couple lines in the Gospel of John under his other name Nathanael. And while it seems that he brought the Gospel to ancient Armenia, no one is really sure where he preached or where or how he was martyred. But none of that really matters in the end. What matters is that he did what our Lord commanded him. The man who once was obsessed with being served became a servant. He got out of the way, preached the Gospel and let the world forget him so we could know and remember Christ.
In our own lives, let’s follow his example. Don’t worry about your legacy. Don’t hunger for validation from a sinful world that is always going to hate the children of Gospel. Instead, share the Gospel. Teach it to your children, your grandchildren. Sing it to your friends and your neighbors. Give them Jesus Christ, the One worthy to be remembered because He’s the One through whom God remembered all His promises. Preach Christ and be forgotten. And when the Kingdom comes, you won’t be forgotten at all.