Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ + Amen.
Very rarely in our lectionary does a pastor have the opportunity to preach on an entire book of the Bible, but today, as our Epistle reading was the entire book of Philemon, it is an opportunity I did not want to pass up.
Today we hear the letter from Paul to Philemon, a letter so short you can easily overlook it. I myself had a hard time opening up to it because the one page that it takes up was stuck to another. But what this letter lacks in length it more than makes up for in content.
Paul writes this letter to Philemon, a wealthy man from Colossae. Philemon was a prolific member of his church, as it says in the letter that his home was the place where the Colossian church met. Philemon was wealthy enough not only to host a church in his home, but also to own slaves, as this was a common practice in the Roman world. Yet, Philemon had a problem: one of his slaves had run away.
This slave, Onesimus, had at some point in his escape encountered Saint Paul in prison. Through meeting Paul, Onesimus heard the Word of God and became Christian. At some point after this conversion, Paul, though he would have preferred to keep Onesimus around, did what was right in the eyes of the law, and sent him back to his master.
Yes, you heard that right, rather than helping the man stay free, Paul convinced Onesimus to return to his master. This is a strange thing for a modern person to hear. American history is heavy with scars regarding slavery, and just as importantly, America points to freedom as one of its greatest treasures. Slavery was different in Roman times, as it was a result of both the justice system of the time and a result of wars between different societies in ancient times. Slavery was not a system of oppression for any one type of people. While there were certainly cruel masters, there were also good masters, and some who even considered their slaves to truly be part of their families. Keeping this in mind, it was not unusual for wealthy Christians of the time to have slaves.
But no matter what the relationship was like between Onesimus and Philemon, Paul sent Onesimus back to his master. As a servant of Philemon, Onesimus was legally bound to Philemon’s authority. But Paul isn’t simply interested in keeping the law when he writes to Philemon. During this time Onesimus has become a Christian, and in sending him back to Philemon, Paul puts Onesimus forward to Philemon as so much more than just a slave.
Paul writes: “For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.” Paul encourages Philemon to receive his servant back to himself as a true brother, and even as Paul writes, he encourages Philemon to receive Onesimus back as if he were Paul himself! As a Christian, Philemon and Onesimus, while still in the dynamic of master and slave, are also both on the same level as men freed in the name of Christ Jesus.
While Paul certainly stresses that the following of the Law is important for Onesimus in regard to his master Philemon, Paul all the more stresses who the true master of all Christians is: our Lord Jesus. Paul introduces himself at the beginning of the letter as “a prisoner of Christ,” not just in reference to his status in prison, but also to model the humility that Paul prays Philemon can have in receiving Onesimus. In Jesus, it is just as Paul writes in the letter to the Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” As a Christian master, Paul writes that it is Philemon’s duty to treat Onesimus as a true brother, not only receiving him back and treating him well, but also forgiving his debts just as Christ forgives the debt of our sins.
Dear brothers and sisters, just like Paul, we are all prisoners of Christ. Through His death on the cross Jesus set us free from the slavery of sin, redeeming us of the unfathomable debt of our sin. Now, we find ourselves under the direction of Himself as our loving Master. Our freedom is seen in the true fact that we are now owned by Christ. As our loving master, even when we run away like Onesimus, acting against our master in sin, He still accepts us back, all of our debts to Him paid by His loving sacrifice on the Cross.
In the end, Paul takes on the duty to settle any debts Onesimus has with Philemon. As a servant of Christ, Paul models and teaches Philemon that just as our sins are forgiven by Christ, we as Christians should forgive one another all of our debts. This is not an easy task, but it is something we should learn to live out in our lives as well. If we are truly redeemed in Christ as we believe, we ought to treat one another as Christ treats them, and help one another settle and forgive the debts that are among us.
Ultimately, a main message of the Epistle to Philemon is that we are to show the love of Christ in brotherhood to all Christians, no matter what our relationship is with them. To be Christians means that before anything else, our identity is in Christ. In this letter to Philemon, Paul writes that no matter what labels or rankings exist among us in the secular world, to one another we are always first and foremost children of God, loving brothers and sisters. Thus, Philemon is to accept Onesimus back as a child of God and as a brother. Philemon is encouraged by Paul to go above the responsibilities he carries to be a good master to his slave and to treat Onesimus as a true brother in the Gospel. All debts between them are to be resolved, even if it must be Paul who pays that price to remind of the price paid by Christ. The redemption of all who believe is central to our lives in Christ Jesus, and should spill out into every other element of our life, acknowledging that it is not only our own sins that are forgiven, but the sins of our brothers and sisters as well.
While we might not have slaves in this day and age, there are definitely power dynamics in society that place us above and below one another. Many among us have had bosses or are bosses themselves. Social standings orient some people higher than others. Even so, in Christ, we are all equal. We are all redeemed and sanctified, truly free from the debt of our sin in the captivity we find in Jesus. Thanks be to God then that we all have a good, loving master, who calls us from the ends of the earth to love one another as He first loved us. You, who were once prisoners to sin, are now prisoners to Christ, kept secure in His love and care. Even though this epistle is one of the shortest sections of the scriptures, it is full of the great truth of the Gospel and is incredibly applicable to our lives today. We are like Onesimus, often running away from our God, but called back through His divine Word. Yet we are also called to be like Philemon, forgiving one another and receiving one another as brothers and sisters, no matter what debt or social standings we find that divide us. In the end, we can find great hope in the fact that we are all prisoners of the Lord Jesus, granted the paradoxical gift of true freedom in this captivity to the Lord who loves you.
In the Holy Name of Jesus + Amen.