As we begin the Season of Lent, we also begin a new sermon series on who were the twelve disciples of Jesus. I like the timing of this because it gives us an opportunity to journey with the disciples as they followed Jesus to the cross and to the empty tomb.
You might notice that for six of the eight Sundays, we’re going to need to pair up some of the disciples so that we can cover them all. We’re actually going to look at thirteen disciples since Matthias was the one who replaced Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus and ended up taking his own life.
There are four listings of the names of the disciples in the New Testament and these are found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke and the Book of Acts. In all of these lists, the disciples are paired up, but the pairings are not always the same among the four lists. And so, for this sermon series, I have decided to pair up the disciples by the places where they are seated in the famous Last Supper painting by Leonard da Vinci.
Let’s take a look at the painting of the Last Supper which includes the names of the disciples. For the most part, we’ll be pairing up the disciples by starting from the outside of the table and working our way toward the middle.
Before we begin focusing on the disciples, here are some interesting facts about this incredible painting of “The Last Supper.” It took three years for Leonardo da Vinci to complete this painting so it was a monumental task for him. He started it in 1495 and completed it in 1498.
He painted it at the request of one of his wealthiest clients who was the Duke of Milan. The Duke wanted this painting to be placed in the refectory or what we would call the dining hall of a local Dominican Church. He wanted the monks who worshipped there to be able to meditate on this Last Supper scene while they ate their meals.
Now, these monks ate their meals in silence, so can you imagine how powerful this must have been for them as they reflected on this scene whenever they gathered together for a meal. This ended up being a very large painting. It’s 15 by 29 feet so it takes up a lot of space.
When Leonardo da Vinci painted this, he wanted to experiment with his own version of a fresco painting by using a certain kind of paint that ended up not working very well. In fact, the paint that he used for this painting began peeling off just a few months after he completed it. Only 20% of the original paint has survived this painting which means that most of this painting needed to be restored.
Like the monks who had the opportunity to reflect on this meal when Jesus was gathered with the disciples for the Last Supper, we too can use this painting during this Season of Lent to reflect on each of these disciples. It will help us grow in what it means for us to be one of Jesus’ disciples.
I have one more feature of this painting that is very important to highlight as we begin this series and it’s one that I hope we will always keep in mind over these next several weeks. In his own creative way, notice that there is what appears to be an empty spot at the one end of the table next to the disciple, Simon.
By including this empty seat, Leonardo da Vinci is inviting you and me to take a seat at the table with Jesus and his disciples. This empty space is to remind us to not be passive spectators during this Lenten journey. Jesus calls us to be at the table with him.
With this background information in mind, let’s begin looking at our very first disciple in the Last Supper painting, the disciple Bartholomew. Looking at the painting of the Last Supper, Bartholomew is on the far left end of the table.
When Leonard da Vinci painted this picture, he wanted to humanize each of the disciples by showing their individual expressions. They are reacting to Jesus who has just told them that one of them will betray him.
Each disciple reacts in a unique way, but notice how Jesus is reacting. Unlike the disciples, Jesus remains calm. Notice that Jesus has the palms of his hands facing upward as a symbol of his trust in God.
This is also symbolizing how Jesus is calmly accepting his mission in the face of adversity. Even though he will be betrayed, the disciples will deny him, he will be arrested, and then will soon be crucified on a cross, Jesus remains calm and resolute.
In contrast to Jesus being calm and in control, carefully observe how the disciple Bartholomew is reacting. Notice that he is standing with his arms leaning on the table, almost in a defiant attitude. He looks to be responding to Jesus by saying, “Who would do such a thing!?”
This is how I see da Vinci depicting Bartholomew in this painting. Maybe you see it a little differently. That’s the beautiful thing about art. It’s meant to help us use our imagination.
So, who was the disciple Bartholomew and what do we know about him besides what we see in this painting?
John, the Gospel writer never refers to the name, Bartholomew in his entire gospel. If you remember, John is the only gospel writer who does not include a list of the twelve disciples like we find in the other three gospels.
The thinking here is that it would be strange if John would totally leave out one of the twelve disciples. You would think that he would have at least mentioned Bartholomew’s name, but he never does.
If you look at the four lists of the disciples including the one in the Book of Acts, we find that the disciple Phillip is paired with Bartholomew three out of the four times. Even though John doesn’t mention the name Bartholomew, he does offer us the story about Phillip and a man named, Nathaniel.
Since the disciple, Phillip is connected with both Bartholomew and Nathaniel, it stands to reason that this could very well be the same person. Are you still with me? This can be a little confusing and what I’m offering is only an educated guess. But I believe that Bartholomew and Nathaniel are two names for the same disciple.
In our Gospel reading this morning, Phillip finds his friend, Nathaniel also known as Bartholomew and tells him that he has found Jesus of Nazareth, the one who Moses and the prophets had promised would come.
This is one of the more humorous stories we find in the bible because when Phillip tells his friend about Jesus, instead of offering a statement of faith, Nathaniel or Bartholomew offers a sarcastic comment, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
And I love how Phillip responds to Nathaniel’s skepticism. He simply tells him, “Come and see.” Those are three of the best words that we can share with others about our faith. Sometimes, we think that we have to be bible scholars before we can begin to tell people about our faith. All we really need to do is offer this simple invitation, “Come and see.”
The humor in the story continues when Jesus sees Nathaniel or Bartholomew coming toward him. And you have to wonder if Jesus could already sense Nathaniel’s skepticism and sarcasm because he takes the initiative and offers his own little fun jab at Nathaniel. He greets Nathaniel by saying, “Now, here’s an Israelite who can do no wrong.”
Nathaniel, who was probably surprised by Jesus’ quick wit, asks Jesus how he knew him. And when Jesus said that he had already noticed him under the fig tree before Phillip had called him, that’s all Nathaniel needed to realize that Jesus was who Phillip said he was.
And this leads Nathaniel to say to Jesus, “You are the Son of God, the King of Israel.”
I love this little exchange between Jesus and Nathaniel because it reminds us that Jesus meets us right where we are. “If you can make fun of my backwoods town of Nazareth, then I can talk about how you are the first person who has never sinned.”
In that brief conversation, Nathaniel had met his match and Jesus won him over. This just goes to show how Jesus always meets us where we are. If you’re mature in your faith, Jesus will meet you at the level of your maturity. If you’re skeptical and doubting, Jesus will meet you at the level of your doubts. If you’re questioning your faith, Jesus will meet you at the level of your questions. Jesus always meets us where we are.
We’ve all been in those social situations where you arrive at an event and you’re a little nervous because you don’t know anyone there. But what a relief when somebody who is gracious in spirit comes up to you, offers an introduction, and includes you with the rest of the group.
This is what Jesus did when he met Nathaniel or Bartholomew. He put him at ease with some humor that he wasn’t expecting. But notice that Jesus doesn’t stop there. Immediately after Nathaniel refers to Jesus as the Son of God, Jesus tells him, “Do you believe in who I am just because I said that I saw you under that fig tree? Spend some time with me and you will see so much more, Nathaniel. You will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
It’s like Jesus is telling Nathaniel, “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
The only other time that the disciple, Nathaniel is mentioned in the scriptures is the time when Jesus appeared to the disciples for the second time after his resurrection by the Sea of Galilee. And I can’t help but wonder that when Nathaniel saw Jesus, now resurrected from the dead, that he was remembering these words of Jesus during their first encounter.
“You will see greater things than these, Nathaniel.” I would think that rising from the dead would qualify as one of those greater things that Jesus had in mind.
And so, when I think of Nathaniel or Bartholomew and what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, I think of how important it is to have an open mind to who Jesus is. It means letting go of any preconceived notions of Jesus that would place limitations on what Jesus can do in and through us.
The Roman historian, Eusebius of Caesarea from the 3rd and 4th centuries recorded that Nathaniel or Bartholomew ended up going to India to preach the good news of Jesus Christ. He also claims that he went to Armenia and it was there where he was killed for his faith. He was skinned alive and beheaded according to church tradition. This is why the emblem for Bartholomew includes three knives.
In Michelangelo’s famous Last Judgment painting, Bartholomew is shown holding his own skin. The face on the skin is generally considered to be a self-portrait of the painter, Michelangelo.
And by the way, as we shall see as we go through this series, according to church tradition, of the twelve disciples, only one of them did not die a violent death for his faith and that was the disciple John who will be our focus on Easter Sunday. The only other exception was Judas Iscariot who took his own life after he betrayed Jesus.
So that’s really all we know about the disciple Bartholomew or Nathaniel which ever name you prefer.
Let’s briefly talk about the disciple, Simon. On the far right side of the painting, your right, you can see Simon.
It’s interesting that the two disciples to his right are looking his way as Jesus offers the words, “One of you will betray me.” Why are these two disciples looking at Simon?
It’s probably Leonardo da Vinci’s way of showing that the disciple, Simon was seen as a leader, as someone the other disciples could turn to during difficult times. Simon had two nicknames. He was known as Simon the Zealot and Simon the Cananean.
The reason there are these two nicknames for Simon was because the word “Cananean” is an Aramaic word that literally means “to be zealous.” Those two words, “Cananean” and “zealot” mean the same thing.
These nicknames also help to distinguish the disciple Simon from the other disciple who went by the same name. We know the other Simon as Simon Peter, probably the most well known of all the disciples and who will be our focus on another Sunday.
If Simon was anything that his nicknames indicates, he probably was somebody who was very zealous for his faith. He would have been very passionate about the scriptures and his commitment in being a disciple of Jesus. I think that Leonardo da Vinci is paying a very nice compliment to Simon in this painting by having the disciples turn to him for support when Jesus shared those very troubling words that one of them would betray him.
When I think of Simon the Zealot, I think of John Wesley, the 18th century founder of Methodism. He too was known to be very zealous in his faith. Many people who didn’t appreciate Wesley’s zeal, labeled him an “enthusiast” which in 18 century England was a very derogatory word to use of someone.
To be an “enthusiast” meant that you were somebody who acted impulsively and irrationally without using logic and linear thinking. What some people didn’t realize was that John Wesley emphasized the use of reason as well. He believed that both the head and the heart were important in living out one’s faith in Jesus Christ.
The scriptures don’t have a lot more to tell us about who Simon the Zealot was. Church tradition teaches us that Simon, along with another disciple we will look at later, Jude, traveled together to Persia to share the good news of Jesus Christ. While they were in Persia, they were killed for their faith. Some sources say that Simon was sawed in half and other sources say that he was beheaded.
Jesus told the disciples to expect opposition to their message. I’m sure they were well aware of this since Jesus himself ended up dying on a cross for the sins of the world. Sometimes, our walk with Christ involves suffering and pain, but God promises to always be with us.
The symbol for Simon is a boat hook and fish because he traveled by sea in order to be a fisherman of people and share his faith with as many people as he could.
As we conclude this first Sunday in our focus on these first two disciples, Bartholomew and Simon the Zealot, here’s what I would like us to focus on this week. The first question is, like Bartholomew, am I willing to set aside my preconceived notions of who Jesus is and follow him?
And the second question is this: Like Simon the Zealot, am I zealous in my relationship with Jesus Christ? Am I zealous in my worship of God, in my obedience to Christ, and in the sharing of my faith with others?
Next Sunday, we’ll focus on two more disciples, James the Lesser and Thaddeus.
Lord Jesus, on this first week in the season of Lent, we confess that that we have not always been your faithful disciples. We have heard your call to follow you, but we have often played it safe instead. Help us to become more like Bartholomew and Simon who served you with zeal and with an open mind. Thank you for your grace which accepts us for who we are and transforms us into the disciples you want us to be. Amen.
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