PAUL’S SHORTEST BIBLICAL LETTER

Philemon 1-21

In reading the Biblical stories, especially about theApostle Paul, we are reminded of the ways that people treated prisoners: ironbars, limited food, harsh conditions. In our day, due to jail overcrowding, sentencesget woefully reduced to the detriment of society. Yet conditions behind barsare much more humane than they were 100 years ago in America or 400 years agoin Europe. Visits to sites like the Tower of London remind us of a time ofbeheadings or worse.  But therehave been places for prisoners in every society of every age. Today we arehearing not just about Paul being a prisoner (as he was an awful lot!) but alsoabout one of his cellmates, a slave.Unless we are reading Huckleberry Finn or Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or unlesswe have tuned to the History Channel, we don’t think much about slaverytoday.  At the end of the service,however, we will sing a beloved song, Amazing Grace, written by a man who transportedand disciplined slaves who were aboard his ship- John Newton. In a wave of hugeremorse and confession, he asked God to forgive him, and when he believed thatGod did, Newton wrote the words to his most famous hymn.  So yes, there have been people inbondage over the ages, and there arestill those in bondage around the world.Some are in iron shackles; some have a tracking device on their person;some are in abusive relationships; some did not get to file proper restrainingorders. And some are in the horrendous slavery of prostitution or childpornography. Prisoners of war often are, and have been, treated like slaves, orworse.  Do you know some people whofeel shackled in some way? Do you, in some way, feel shackled?  Some who can no longer see well, feelconstrained when they wish they could drive. Some who have lost their hearing,feel constrained when their hearing cuts them out of conversations.  Those experiences are confining; butthere are places in our world where people are captured and brutalized; andduring Biblical times we know that people bought and sold slaves and property,denying them their human dignity. And let’s just name it: the United States isnot a stranger to slavery. So as we hear this story about a slave, perhaps wehear it with the humanizing literary license that Mark Twain used with Jim, arunaway slave, but that would be a mistake. In this short letter from prison,Paul is a prisoner, but his status as a Roman citizen gives him authority, histraining by the great Rabbi Gamaliel gives him wisdom, and his Christianitygives him the courage to make a bold request. Paul is selflessly thinking aboutOnesimus, who he says has become like a son to him. He has already planted theidea of God as Father in verse 3 to open the suggestion of familyrelationships. He refers to Onesimus as “his child” in verse 10 which opens thedoor to an otherwise unexpected request to Philemon in verse 16: to welcome hisslave back as a brother.  He feelsprotective about his life, and proud that he has been transformed by thegospel. Paul is testing the waters; if Onesimus is released into the hands of aharsh slave owner, he is seeing if he might instead convince Philemon to make ahuge leap: that welcome Onesimus as a brother in Christ instead of property. Ifnot, Onesimus could do better work for Christ along side of Paul. Paul isclever with his wording, and shows a mastery of the ways of winning people. Weare most fortunate to have this personal letter of his.

From these 25 verses, what is Paul doing? Isn’t he, insome ways, doing what you and I have done before? Isn’t he going to bat forsomeone who cannot bat for himself because he has no standing or status? Isn’the willing to pay the price for any wrong that transpired that got him intothis situation? What a Christ-like thing Paul says: “Welcome him as you wouldwelcome me. If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge thatto my account.” Can you think of times when you have paid the price for thewrong someone else has done? I can think of those times; as a parent, as afriend, as a worker, as a student, sometimes we are presented with a bind thatwe think we can fix. We say, “I did it” when someone else did wrong; or we say“I’ll pay for it” when someone else should pay. At other times, we let anotherperson take the consequences. Sometimes haven’t you also made emotionalsacrifices for someone else? Paul not only pulls out his wallet, he pulls outhis heart with it. Then, to show he means it, he says “I, Paul, am writing thiswith my own hand; I will repay it.” Why, that’s as good as a signature with anotary!  And then he shares thenews of his impending freedom with instructions that some people would dread:“Prepare your guest room for me! I am hoping you and we’ll continue ourfriendship!”

 Jesussays something similar to each one of us. First of all, knocks on the door ofeach of our hearts. Some have already invited him in to stay there; others haveyet to do so; others may never do it. But today, Jesus invites us those whohave opened that door to share the meal that he has prepared! It is a HolyCommunion meal; and like the meal that Paul hopes will one day soon includePhilemon, and Onesimus, and Paul, all are invited by the grace of the Lord JesusChrist.

Today I conclude with this; there are people, eventoday, who have paid financially and emotionally for someone else whose lifehas gotten broken or out of control. There is a Lord who ransomed the souls ofdead slaves and the repentant heart of slave-ship captain named John Newtonages ago and he put his gratitude down on paper with a song called “AmazingGrace.”  There is also a Lord whotook the nails for us! And we are blessed to have the God of great love whohears people like you, and me, and the Apostle Paul, pleading the case of yetanother lost soul: of one who is a slave to materialism, or a slave to atyrant, or a slave to a foreign regime, or a slave to a drug, or a slave to arelationship, who out of amazing grace puts people in our path to show us theway to wholeness.  To all of thosepeople, who turn to Christ, both the lost and the found, the Lord says “Come.The room has been prepared; the table has been set. Let this be a day of newbeginnings for you!”

Jeffrey A. SumnerSeptember 5, 2010