On the Feast of St. Bartholomew, we hear how God builds His kingdom not through human glory but through hidden, often anonymous faithfulness. Scripture records little of Bartholomew—perhaps only his confession, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God!”—yet Christ called and sent him to carry the Gospel to the nations. Tradition tells of his preaching in Armenia, his conversions enraging King Astyages, and his gruesome martyrdom by being flayed alive. By worldly standards, his life seemed to end in obscurity and failure. But through Bartholomew and the rest of the Apostles, the treasure of Christ has been handed down through fragile vessels all the way to us. This sermon from St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Magnolia, Texas calls us to take courage: what seems like straw to the world will be revealed by Christ in the end as precious stone built on the one foundation, Jesus Christ our Lord.
