Preached at Brampton Ash, Morning of St. Bartholomew’s Day, August 24, 1862.
“And there was also a strife among them which of them should be accounted the greatest.”—St. Luke xxii. 24.
This is St. Bartholomew’s day. We do not know much about St. Bartholomew. Some have thought that he was the same with that Nathanael of whom our Lord said “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” If he was that Nathanael, we ought indeed to remember him. For if He who knows the heart testifies of a man that he is without guile, he is clear and honest, he hates his own falsehood, and cleaves to the God of Truth; that is one to be reverenced above almost any. But we cannot be sure that Bartholomew was the same as Nathanael. All we can tell certainly about him is that he was one of the twelve apostles. So the passage I have read you from the Gospel does not mean Nathanael, or anyone more especially, but it has to do with all the apostles; and because it has to do with them, it has to do with us.
You might fancy that on a day like this, which is called after one of these apostles, we should hear something very good of them. It is not so; we hear something that is bad of them. They were met at the last supper they were ever to have with their Lord upon earth; that very night He was to be betrayed and seized and taken from them. They did not know what was coming upon them, but they knew that something was coming. He had said that He had a great desire to eat that passover with them before He suffered. What then were they doing at this time? Were they listening quietly to all the words that fell from His lips? Were they asking Him to tell them what was at hand, and to prepare them for it? No! “There was a strife among them which should be accounted the greatest.” They had had such strifes before. Jesus had rebuked them once by setting a little child among them, and saying that he who was most like that child would be greatest in His kingdom. But the wish in each of them to be higher than the others was so strong that it burst out again. Just when it seemed most utterly out of place it burst out. They were eating of the same bread, and drinking the same wine; and they had one master among them who had guided them all, taught them all, and to whom they all looked up; yet there was this strife among them, which of them should be greatest.
Perhaps it was not so strange as it might seem that they should be thinking of their own greatness, for our Lord had spoken to them of a kingdom which He had come to establish; He had chosen them out of all their countrymen to be with Him. He had lately entered into the city of Jerusalem, the chief city of the land, and the people had brought branches of palm-trees, and had strewed them before Him, and had hailed Him as the heir of the throne of David, the great king of the Jews. So, in spite of the sorrow that seemed to be oppressing Him, and in spite of what He told them about His sufferings, they thought He must be going to reign gloriously; and if He did, then was it wonderful that they should be thinking ‘And which of us shall be nearest to Him; which of us shall have the highest honour in that kingdom of His?’
Our Lord knew that this was what they were thinking of, and therefore He said to them “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.” That is as if He had said, ‘It is very true that in the kingdoms of the different nations of the earth people try to get the highest places; often they do it with a right purpose. When they are exalted above their neighbours they fancy they can do them good. And so the name which these rulers go by is benefactors, or doers of good.’
“But ye,” He goes on, “But ye shall not be so.” What! not doers of good? not benefactors? Can He mean that? No; but He is going to tell them how they may do good. It would not be by being raised above other men, by being in high places; “But he that is greatest among you let him be as the younger, and he that is chief as he that doth serve.”
Now you see our Lord does not tell the apostles that they were mistaken in supposing that He had come to set up a kingdom over men. If He had, He would have contradicted all that He had been preaching, and all that He had sent them to preach up to that time, for He had preached, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;” very near you; and He had sent them with the same message; and He did not tell them that they were wrong in supposing that His kingdom was about to be proclaimed very soon indeed, in spite of all the suffering He had to go through; and He did not tell them that they were wrong in supposing that they were to be sharers in His kingdom, and that they were to help in making men subjects of it. But this is what He said. ‘If you would be what you wish to be, high men, chief men in this kingdom of mine, then you must be servants—servants not only of me, but servants of all people among whom you go. So, instead of quarrelling and disputing which of you shall be most above his fellows, let this be your desire, “Lord, teach me how I may be most a servant; tell me what persons Thou wouldst have me wait upon.”’
“For whether is greater,” He goes on, “he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? But I have been among you as He that serveth.” ‘You reckon that the master who sits at the table is more than the servant who hands him his food, but I, who am the Lord of all, have waited upon you; I have washed your feet; I have been in all ways working for you, doing the things for you that you could not do for yourselves. All my life has been a service. Remember that, and then consider whether you wish to be like me or unlike me; whether you wish to exercise the kind of power I have exercised, or some other kind of power. Because, if you wish to be like me, you must be ministers or servants; if you wish to exercise the kind of power I have exercised, you must stoop and not rise; you must be more lowly, and not more lifted up.’
Then He went on, “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.” ‘You say I have called you and chosen you out of the rest of your countrymen, though you were but poor fishermen. Yes, truly, that is so. I have allowed you to be with me in the trials and temptations I have been passing through. They have been very sore. All manner of people—my own subjects—have been contending with me, priests and rulers and lawyers. Nay, even one of you, is to betray me; and the devil has been contending with me, trying to separate me from my Father. Yet you have seen that my Father has enabled me to heal sicknesses and cast out devils. I have been ruling in the midst of my temptations; I have been delivering other men from their troubles, whilst I have had harder troubles to go through than any of them.’
“And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me.” ‘I am not going to cheat you or disappoint you; you are to have places in my kingdom; you are to sit with me on my throne. But then see what a kingdom it is! See what the king of it has had to bear, and has still to bear! See to what depths He has sunk and will sink! Remember, if I appoint you a kingdom as my Father has appointed me, I appoint you suffering as my Father hath appointed me. If I appoint you to rule over men, and to set them free from their bondage to death and the evil spirit, as my Father hath appointed me, I appoint you to be tried and tempted as my Father hath appointed me.’
And so it will come to pass that you “shall eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you shall sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
What does this mean, “You shall eat and drink at my table”? They were eating and drinking then with Him at the Passover, the Jewish feast. And whilst they were eating, He took bread and blessed it, and said, “Take, eat, this is my body; and then after Supper He took the cup and drank, and gave it to them, and said, This is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.” Now as often as the Apostles ate that bread and drank that cup, according to the Lord’s commandment in remembrance of Him, they sat at His table and ate and drank with Him. That was the sign and pledge that they were one with Him, though He was gone out of their sight; that was the sign that they were one with all His saints in heaven and earth. And they were never to forget that they were one with Him and one with all His saints in heaven and earth; one with Him in His sorrow and in His temptation, and His death; one with Him in the glory that He had with His Father; one with all suffering people on earth; one with all that have passed out of the earth, and are with Him where He is. This was to eat of His table in His kingdom.
And what was it to “sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel”? The tribes of Israel were called out of all the families of the earth, that they might be a blessing to the families of the earth; that they might tell all the families of the earth of God’s truth and God’s love.
Now these twelve Apostles, these poor fishermen, did go about as Christ’s ministers, blessing all the families of the earth, telling them how God had sent His Son to redeem them, and His Spirit to bind them into one; so they judged the twelve tribes of Israel, who had failed to do their work, who had refused to bless men, who thought they were to live to please themselves. The twelve tribes of Israel lost their land and their city. But these Apostles who did their work still kept alive the remembrance of them; still bore witness of what they might have been; still showed that God would fulfil His purpose, however disobedient His servants might be. And now then, my friends, we have seen ourselves in these Apostles. They were men not richer or more learned than any who work in our towns or villages. They were men of like passions as we are, men who were easily puffed up with vanity, each of whom thought it would be very pleasant to exalt himself over the rest. But Christ, the Son of God, took them under His guidance. He said that they were to be ministers of His kingdom, and that in that kingdom He who was the chief of all was the servant of all. Let us understand then, my friends, that every one of us is a servant or minister in this kingdom. Some of us have the name of Ministers. That is not that we may be separate from our fellows, but that we may give them a sign what Christ would have them be. All of us are ministers. Every father is a minister of Christ to his children. Every mother is a minister of Christ to her children. Every brother and sister is a minister of Christ to his brothers and sisters. Wherever we are going, whatever we are doing, in a house or in a field, we are ministers of Christ. That is our calling. We may be faithful or unfaithful ministers; but He is our Master, and He has set us to wait upon some or other, upon more or fewer. And we must ask Him to teach us how to wait on them. What a wonder it is to think that He, the Lord of heaven and earth, was the great Minister; that He came down from heaven, not to get the service of men, but to serve them. So He proved Himself to be the King. He stooped more than all, so they felt and knew that He was higher than all. And for you, brethren, as much as for them, He stooped. For you, as much as for them, He took on Him the form of a servant. You, as much as them, He would have to sit at His table in His kingdom. You, as much as them, He would have sharers of His throne by helping them whom now, as much as ever, He cares for.
You need not strive which of you shall be the greatest. Ask Him to make you lowly and meek, and ready to help others; that was His greatness, and you would not wish to be different from Him.
And one thing more I must say. The Apostles were to judge the twelve tribes of Israel; but the twelve tribes of Israel, those poor Jews who were cast out of their city because they did not care to serve their brethren, will judge us, if we, who call Jesus our Lord, do not like to be what He was and to do as He did. They refused Him and put Him to death, not knowing what they did. We know far better. And we refuse Him as our King; we act as if He had never come down to save us and bring us into His kingdom, if we are not willing to serve our brethren for His sake.