Sagging Skin

Learning how our weakness reflects God’s strength

08/24/2021

Jn 1:45-51 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Did you know that both St. Bartholomew and Michaelangelo, the great artist, have something in common? They were both skinned alive. How so? Well, St. Bartholomew was skinned alive and beheaded for preaching the Gospel in Armenia. And Michaelangelo felt like he had been “skinned alive” metaphorically by Pope Clement VII who commissioned the 61 year old painter to depict the scene of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel. In that fabulous frescoe – which I have a copy of hanging in my office – Michaelangelo shows St. Bartholomew holding his sagging skin in his hand.

And whose face is on the skin of the saint? It is a self-portrait of Michaelangelo himself. In other words, that is how he felt for being forced to pain the Last Judgment. The irony, of course, is that even though for Michaelangelo the Last Judgment was the last thing he wanted to do, it became one of his most famous frescoes, and his enduring legacy. Indeed, that is the fresco all the cardinals contemplate when they gather in the Sistine Chapel to elect the pope. Perhaps every newly elected pope should reflect on the spiritual lesson and legacy of Michaelangelo being skinned alive. St. Paul taught: “For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Co 12:10).

Today, August 24, is the feast day of St. Bartholomew, one of my patron saints (and probably the patron saint of Michaelangelo) because he is said to have evangelized my home country of India. Many years ago I asked my father how long our family had been Catholic. After all, most people from India are either Hindu or Muslim. My father answered: “We have been Catholic since the time of St. Thomas the Apostle, who came to India.”

That means the Christian faith has been blossoming in India for 2,000 years, until it blossomed in the heart of this priest who is speaking to you. But Thomas was not alone in planting the seeds of faith in Indian soil and in Indian souls, he was helped by St. Bartholomew. So, India can count on two great apostolic patrons: two apostles of the Lamb spread the faith in India and all over the world. Ps. 19:5 prophesied this, predicting: “Their message goes out to all the earth.”

Let me also clear up a common confusion about Bartholomew’s name in the New Testament. The Synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all refer to St. Bartholomew but never to Nathanael, while John’s gospel only refers to Nathanael but never to Bartholomew. Well, are we talking about two different apostles? No, they are two names for the same apostle: one is his name in Latin, “Bartholomew,” and the other is his name in Hebrew, “Nathanael.”

Similarly, Peter is known as Peter but also as Simon, and Matthew is known as Matthew but also as Levi. That is why on the feast of St. Bartholomew we read from the gospel of John 1, where Jesus meets Nathanael. Why didn’t we read a scripture about Bartholomew? Well, we did! The liturgy is saying, “Listen up!” Bartholomew and Nathanael are one in the same, the saint who would be skinned alive.

My friends, what lessons can we learn from Bartholomew/Nathanael as Christians today? Well, I would suggest to you the same spiritual lesson that Michaelangelo mastered when he painted the Last Judgment. That is, when we are weak, it is then we are strong. Today, take a minute to think about the times when you seemed to fail at something, when all your perfect plans were ruined and nothing went right, when you felt like life had skinned you alive, and you wanted to paint your self-portrait on the sagging skin of St. Bartholomew.

The ironic lesson in the sagging skin of St. Bartholomew is that when we feel like we fail, it is then that God’s grace shines brightest. And we can echo the words of St. Paul and St. Bartholomew and Michaelangelo: “But Jesus said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness. I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.” That is the meaning of the sagging skin of St. Bartholomew.

Praised be Jesus Christ.