Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Readings – Jeremiah 18:1-11; Psalm 139:1-5,12-17; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14:25-33
Viewing the texts for today, there are many avenues possible. However, let’s stay with the personal letter of St. Paul to his friend Philemon. We have the entire body of the letter, which then concludes with:
One thing more – prepare a guest room for me, for I am
hoping through your prayers to be restored to you. Epaphras,
my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and
so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Why was a personal letter included in the New Testament? The answer begins in Ephesus, on the western coast of Turkey. Scholars are convinced that it was in Ephesus that the letters of St. Paul were first collected. We have a letter of Bishop Ignatius of Antioch, written as he was traveling to Rome to be executed in the Colosseum by wild beasts for not worshiping Emperor Trajan in 110 CE. The letter was addressed to the Bishop of Ephesus, Onesimus. Scholars think this is the very same person St. Paul was writing about. This letter was then shared across the earliest Christian communities and included in the New Testament.
It seems that slave Onesimus stole from Philemon and ran away to Rome. There, he encountered St. Paul, who was confined for two years. Harboring a runaway slave was punishable by death. There were an estimated 60,000,000 slaves in the empire built on slavery. A slave was considered property and could be dealt with as the owner wished. A rebellious slave could be executed. Had Onesimus not been returned, St. Paul and all Christians in the empire would be in danger. Scholar William Barclay wrote that emancipation was bound to come in time, but the time was not ripe.
There are some things that cannot be suddenly achieved and
for which we must wait until the leaven works.
The key points of the letter are as follows.
Previously, the runaway thief and slave was useless. Yet now St. Paul found him useful and called him a brother in the faith, encouraging Philemon to do the same. Through transformation by faith, a useless slave became a brother.
Second, Onesimus had “to face the music”. He was sent back to his master, acknowledging his past behavior. A note to us, faithfulness does not erase past behavior, but rather enables one to look in the mirror and see the reality, and then, to move forward as a transformed person.
Third, St. Paul was crystal clear; he accepted Onesimus completely, and he encouraged Philemon and the church in his house to do the same. Forgiveness included welcoming back the offender as a brother in Christ.
Through Jesus and Jesus’ people, like St Paul, a useless person can be transformed.
The transformed needs to face the reality of his behavior and move forward.
The community of faith needs to embrace the transformed.
One final thought about what makes the transformation of Onesimus, Philemon, and the congregation gathered in his house possible. St. Paul wrote about the power and the support of prayer.
I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your
love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed
through you, my brother [Philemon].
Then, to encourage Philemon to receive Onesimus as a brother, St. Paul wrote:
Refresh my heart in Christ.
Here is the key to the transformation of everyone and every community of faith.
We are here today to refresh one another. And we are here to be refreshed.
A thief and runaway slave became a brother in the faith, and then even a bishop.
Refreshed—how can we grow? Refreshed – what can we accomplish? Refreshed – we can enrich and transform our community, our commonwealth, our nation, our world, and ourselves, too.
Amen
