Reflections on Scripture: St. Bartholomew and Tue. of 21st week Aug.24 and 25th

Two meditations follow. The first for St.Bartholomew, today's feast and the
second for the Tuesday of 21st week:

Scripture: Rev.21:9b-14. Psalm 145:10-18 and John 1:45-51. Lectionary #
629:

Some people are said to be legends in their own time. Perhaps, the
apostles were such persons and today we have a feast in honor of one of
them who is called Bartholomew, Son of Tolmai. He is one of the twelve who
is mentioned in the listing of the apostles (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke
6:14; and Acts of the Apostles 1:13). In John he is considered to be
Nathaniel and today's Gospel features his call as a disciple and apostle.
It concludes the first chapter of John and gives us the only historical
information about this apostle. The rest are later traditions and legends
about the apostle named Bartholomew (a patronymic) or Nathaniel.
As a martyr and witness to the Good News about Jesus, there is an
early tradition that he brought the Gospel of Matthew to India (Malabar)
and that he was martyred possibly flayed and beheaded. There are several
apocryphal works that are named after him thus later years brought more
creative legends about him. They tell us more about the culture of the
people who wrote these apocryphal than they do about the historical person
behind them. Writers like to fill in the gaps and we have plenty of them
in the Bible both in the Old and the New Testament.
A philosopher named Pantaenus gives us the first and earliest
tradition about Bartholomew. This is passed on to us by Eusebius, the early
Christian historian who collected information about the early centuries of
Christianity and had a dislike for heretics. Clement of Alexandria held
Pantaenus in high esteem as a teacher and Stoic philosopher. He is
connected with the catechetical school at Alexandria. Later he traveled to
India and preached the Gospel there. It is Pantaenus who is said to have
met Christians who said that Bartholomew had left a Gospel according to
Matthew in Hebrew there. The Acts of Bartholomew claim his martyrdom in
India. But the Acts of Andrew, another apocryphal work, say he was a
missionary apostle along the Black Sea coasts. And according to the Acts of
Philip he accompanied that apostle to Hieropolis (W.Turkey) and to
Lycaonia. "Later tradtions described his martyrdom in Armenia (flayed and
beheaded or crucified). His relics are venerated at Daras, Mesopotamia, in
the Lipari islands and at Benevento and Rome." ( Encylopedia of the Early
Church, page112).
These apocryphal writings connected to his name are fascinating and
help us to recover the religious mentality, culture, and devotions of the
time in which these spurious writings occurred. Most of these emanate from
the 400 hundreds.
In our Gospel Nathaniel is said by Jesus to be without guile, a true
Israelite. We learn from John 21:2 that he was a native of Cana in Galilee.
Philip is the one who introduces him to Jesus and as we have seen the
apocryphal work mentions Bartholomew in connection with Peter. There is a
dialogue with Jesus in our selection and Nathaniel has these three points:
first, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Secondly," How do you know
me?" and thirdly, " Rabbi, You are the Son of God; you are the king of
Israel." Is this the first time that Jesus is called king by one of his
apostles? It is up to you to find out. Amen.

Scripture: I Thessalonians 2:1-8. Psalm 139:1-3,4-6. Matthew 23:23-36.
Lectionary # 426:

Jesus continues to rail against and excoriate the scribes and leaders
who misinterpret the Torah. The message and charge he gives them is to be
clean and to come clean on their false way of interpeting the precepts so
as to benefit their own interests. This is nothing new in people in the
leadership role within their religious institutions even today! Moral
cleanliness is what Jesus is calling them to and ethical behavior. In the
words behind his scolding are the powerful words of justice (zedekah),
mercy (hesed), and fidelity (emunah). These words are at the heart of the
Torah and should be within our heartbeat when it comes to fulfilling the
Torah and the commandments. Jesus' words show this to us plus he adds his
own expectations of us in the realm of behavior, virtue, justice, and
mercy. The beatitudes are good ways of interpreting both the Torah and the
Gospels. Both the Torah and the Gospels are revelatory words inspired by
the Spirit of God. The prophets spell out what the leaders and scribes
should have done and what we should do. Jesus helps us for he lived them
out and gave us his good example as well as his words.
True, Jesus is very judgmental here. The Psalm fits the tone of
judgment: "The Lord comes to judge the earth. He shall rule the world with
justice (zedekah), and the peoples with his constancy (emunah)." The Latin
of this last word is translated as fidelity instead of constancy. The
Hebrew is even closer to our Gospel in what Jesus is saying since the words
zedekah (justice) and emunah (good faith) are used to conclude the Psalm.
Paul in First Thessalonians demonstrates what Jesus is demanding of
us. He expresses the joy that he and his helpers have in bringing the Good
News to this community at Thessalonica. " We were among you as gentle as
any nursing mother fondling her little ones....so dear had you become to
us. Amen."