Philemon 1-21; Jeremiah 18:1-11; Luke 14:25-33
What a delightful letter. With cosmopolitan sensitivity the author combines the Greek concept of “grace” with the Hebrew idea of “shalom/peace” and uses the result to underlie the entire correspondence. The letter is different from Paul’s deep and often polemical writing. These 21 verses bring a human and practical reality to ideas and images that are heady by nature and made more so by our human attempts to understand them.
We don’t know if Paul ever visited Colossae. It was near Laodicea which would have been on his route from Psidia to Ephesus during his third missionary journey. Since Jews in neighboring towns often came to hear Paul, that was likely how Paul and Philemon first met. Philemon was a wealthy man. He owned at least one slave and was the master of a house large enough to accommodate a church. He, his wife Apphia, and Archippus were the leaders of this congregation, and the entire community got to overhear the apostle’s request when the letter was read aloud.
A young man named Onesimus had run away from Colossae and had come to Paul during Paul’s house arrest, possibly in Ephesus but more likely in Rome, although Rome would have been a long way for a slave to travel. Did he know that Paul was there? We don’t know. Onesimus’ name means “useful” or “beneficial” and he apparently lived up to it assisting Paul during the imprisonment. Paul brought Onesimus to Christ and made the young believer’s faith strong. A close bond—like that of a father to a son—grew between them.
We don’t know what Onesimus did. Did he run away from Philemon’s household? Did they have a falling out that possibly ended with an assault? Did he steal something from Philemon? We simply don’t know. Paul says only that Onesimus had found his way to the imprisoned Paul and became a Christian through his close contact with the apostle.
Over the course of their relationship Onesimus had confessed to Paul about the rift which existed between himself and Philemon. Paul must have felt caught in the middle of a poor situation. On the one hand Onesimus was quite useful to him. And it was a joy for Paul to teach him about Jesus and to watch the young man eagerly grow in the faith. And on the other hand, Paul had had much the same kind of experience a number of years earlier as Philemon eagerly received Paul’s teaching about Christ and took it to heart.
There are three main actors in this vignette: a slave, Onesimus, who has very little to his name other than the clothes on his back (and now, thanks to Paul, the good news of salvation); a gentile (Greek) Philemon (who also has come to know Christ through the agency of Paul), a man with a good deal of means including a great house and the need and ability to own a slave; and Paul, a Pharisaically trained, diaspora Jew, tentmaking itinerant, converted by Christ into an apostle of Christ for the gentile world. What strange companions. They are from radically different backgrounds and cultures. The only thing in common is Jesus Christ, who makes them equal.
Paul lived and practiced a very deep ethical principle that he shared with Christ: the principle of non-dominance. By their backgrounds Jesus, a Palestinian, Aramaic-speaking, Jewish carpenter with a rudimentary synagogue education and Paul, a Hellenistic, Greek-speaking, highly trained Pharisee were very different men. What they shared through their teaching and living was a refusal to dominate other people, even when they could easily do so. Jesus had a quick mind to perceive the hypocrisy of other people’s words and actions. Paul had a caring yet sharp tongue to put people in their place.
In his letter to Philemon, Paul openly declined to tell Philemon what to do although, as he said, he could have done so. Rather, Paul stated that any economic, class, or cultural differences that had existed among the three of them have been eliminated through Christ Jesus working in each of their lives. Paul dared to contemplate a wealthy Hellenistic Christian receiving another Christian, who had been his disobedient slave, as a spiritual equal, as a brother. He trusted Philemon not to fall back into the reigning patterns of prestige, discrimination, and violence that were the customary framework for everyday life in those days.
Paul’s letter reminds us on this Labor Day weekend that regardless of our day-filling work, be it a highly trained profession, a skilled trade, customer service work, social service work, or the career of retirement, the chief work of the Christian is to live a Christ-like life for the world each of us interacts with minute by minute and day by day.
Much of the church through the ages, including today’‘s church, has not caught the drift of this radical understanding of the community of Christ. We routinely regard power structures in the church as normal. We worry about matters of authority as if they were the chief concern of God. The Church shies away from deep discussions of theology. And the conversations that are had are thinly disguised arguments over issues that have little relevance to what people think about the nature of God or how to contemplate the Exodus or the Resurrection.
Columnist E. J. Dionne says that “We go straight to hot-button issues.”(1) He calls that politicizing the Gospel. In that sense what passes for discussion is theological domination – who is right and who is wrong. Neither Paul nor our Lord take that approach. They are braver than we are because they did not seek to dominate fellow believers. After all, Jesus got down on his hands and knees and washed the feet of his disciples, saying, “I have given you an example: Just as I have done, you also must do” (John 13:15). Paul said “God forbid that I should boast about anything except for the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).
In a recent blog post Marshal Segal said that we cannot serve both God and theology. He wrote,
“Be committed to having a right theology, but be as committed to having a relational theology—a growing, humble and heartfelt intimacy with God. Do not simply search the Scriptures for soteriology [how Christ saves us], but search for salvation—the eternal life—that is only found in the flesh, blood and person of Jesus Christ (John 5:39).”(2)
In his request to Philemon, Paul sought neither to dominate him or to be dominated by him. Philemon, Onesimus, and Paul were equals in the sight of Christ. Further, Paul’s trust in God was so deep that he was able to discover the love of God in every situation, no matter how difficult or strange. He wrote while he was imprisoned and it sounded more like a vacation postcard, “Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here.” Would we be able to discover a loving gift if we were to revisit the catalog of our past ills and misfortunes? That’s not as easy as it might sound, but saints across the ages courageously have done just that.
Paul also challenged Philemon to allow the Holy Spirit to take up residence within him and start moving the furniture. Paul trusted his friend to quit worrying about respectability and to act in favor of what is just and right, not traditional and expected. Christ’s Spirit heightens our native abilities in ways that feel at once both natural and beyond natural. The Spirit of Christ working in us will always direct us to behave generously on behalf of others. When God’s people are “in the Lord” or “in Christ” (a favorite expression of Paul’s) there is no longer any special status—neither up or down, older or younger, slave or free, male or female (Gal. 3:28). All are beloved brothers and sisters in the love of God in the Lord Christ Jesus.
That takes great courage which only the Holy Spirit can provide. Living the Christ-life is not for sissies.
We don’t know how the story ends. In Jesus’ parable of the father and two sons, we don’t know the elder son finally joined the party. Did Philemon receive Onesimus as a brother rather than as chattel?
In Huckleberry Finn, Huck was ready to post a letter to Miss Watson about her runaway slave Jim. Then he got thinking about all he has been through with Jim, how Jim has cared for him and become a friend, and treated him like the kindly father Huck never had. Huck then tears the letter up.
Imagine an illegal immigrant today. Say that it is Rosa, now the single mother of children born in this country, but who herself entered the country illegally. There are reasons for laws dealing with illegal immigrants, and Christians are meant to be law-abiding citizens. Yet, before all else, the immigrant is a sister or brother in the love of God. Gospel teaching and baptismal vows call Christians to respect the dignity of every human being. Imagine receiving a letter—one Christian community to another—commending reconciliation and care for Rosa.(3)
We don’t know how Philemon responded to Paul’s request. When the gospel brings strange companions together in our lives, we can respond as Paul believes we should. We can live out the answer that Christ looks for.
Paul’s closing words still have power: “May the grace of Christ be with your Spirit.”
General Resource: Gray Temple, “Philemon 1-21: Theological Perspective,” Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), Year C, vol. 4, 38-42.Christ).
(1) E. J. Dionne, “Theology gets lost when religion is politicized,” Columbus Dispatch, August 25, 2016, B-11.
(2) Marshall Segal, ChurchLeaders.com, August 25, 2016, http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/247944-cannot-serve-god-theology.html
(3) Frederick Borsch, “Philemon 1-21: Homiletical Perspective,” Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), Year C, vol. 4, 43.
Unless noted otherwise, all scripture references are from The Common English Bible, © 2011 www.commonenglishbible.com.
Copyright © 2016 First Presbyterian Church of Waverly, Ohio. Reprinted by permission.
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