Philemon

Philemon, page 845
Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother.
To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home; Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.
Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul – an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus – I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.
I am sending him – who is my very heart – back to you. I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do will be spontaneous and not forced. Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good – no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord.
So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back – not to mention that you owe me your very self. I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.
Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Sermon
I’ve always struggled with sermon titles, but today’s may take the cake. Today’s sermon title, bold in its vagueness, doesn’t tell you much of anything, but does at least tell you which of the three main characters from this letter I want to focus on. But to get to Philemon, we first have to deal with the other two – Paul and Onesimus.
Paul, here referred to in verse one as a prisoner of Christ Jesus, is the Apostle Paul – that great letter writer who’s letters make up such a large part of our New Testament. He wasn’t one of the disciples, in fact his relationship to Christianity began as a persecutor of the faith, but something happened and his life changed forever – rather than a great opponent of Christianity, he became her greatest supporter, evangelizing to the most distant reaches of the Roman Empire, often imprisoned for his faith, always risking his life for the good of the Gospel. In the context of this letter, Paul is the letter writer – he seems to have known Philemon well, knows this congregation that meets in his house – but is far away and imprisoned with only the slave Onesimus to help him.
Onesimus is the subject of this letter – a run-away slave belonging to Philemon – we don’t know exactly how his and the Apostle Paul’s paths met, but we do know that a strong friendship resulted from their chance encounter. Not only is this letter about Onesimus, whether Philemon will allow him to return home or will exact some sever punishment for running away; Onesimus is almost certainly the deliverer of the letter.
Can you imagine what that must have been like – to go back – to return to the scene of the crime knowing that you might well be facing your own death as punishment for running away? Onesimus is walking into the unknown, all his hope riding on a letter that his master may not even take the time to read for his anger. Onesimus is at the mercy of Philemon, and while he goes to Philemon’s house he doesn’t know how he’ll be received – like returning home after storming out, Onesimus is like a husband returning home to his wife with his tail between his legs knowing that he doesn’t deserve forgiveness but is asking for it anyway – like an immigrant who leaves the stability of home for the possibility of a new life – Onesimus is crossing the desert into a new land trusting his well being to a hope for a better life knowing full well he could die or be sent back at any time. It’s a tremendous risk that Onesimus takes here – putting his life into the hands of this letter – all his hope resting in Philemon reading it and having the courage or mercy to do as Paul asks should he even take the time to read the letter.
We may assume that Philemon does at least read it – I can’t see how the letter would have made it to us if he had just thrown it away – and while Onesimus’ life does depend on it, so much is being asked of Philemon here.
In his time Christianity was a private matter – this church met in his house, not in a big cathedral out on the public square – and we may go so far as to assume that this is where Philemon expressed his faith – that he was a Christian in his home where it was safe to be a Christian, but out in the world he was someone else. There was business to be done out in the world, slaves to be bought and sold, money to be made.
This was a time when Christianity was a fledgling religion and so much worship was done in private where people could safely express their faith without fear of judgment or ridicule.
It’s not that Philemon didn’t want to come out with his faith – it’s not that he didn’t want to be a Christian outside his home as well as within it – but these were times when faith was a private matter one kept to himself.
Not so different than today then I suppose.
Not so different from our world where so many act one way in church and another outside these walls – not so different from our world where so many are obligated to confess that we are brothers and sisters in Christ knowing full well that in our world there are still hierarchies of difference – not so different from our world where every Sunday we pray the Lord’s Prayer, for the day when our debts will be forgiven just as we forgive our debtors, while out in the real world our credit card bills are due and interest is piling up – not so different from our world where we have learned to manage our faith, living it out at times and keeping it private at others.
So it was for Philemon. He knew Paul and so he must have heard Paul say more than once that in Christ there is no Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male and female – he may have even believed it in his heart while his body went on living the way the world told him he could – owning slaves, managing his household, exacting punishment on the disobedient to maintain the system of power that his wealth depended on.
It was no easy thing for Philemon to even consider doing what Paul asks – go and be merciful to one runaway and you might as well give all the others permission to do the same. But more than that – word would surely spread and next thing you know every slave in the city is testing the limits of their owner’s authority.
What Paul is asking Philemon to do isn’t just to be merciful to this one man, Paul is asking Philemon to make a statement, to make his faith public, to go out into the world with his faith – to not keep the truth of the gospel confined any longer.
There’s nothing easy about it. It may sound unrelated to us – but I think we all know that there’s nothing easy about going public with what we believe in any time or place – and to think that by doing so we could actually make a difference.
Not just saying that we love our neighbor as ourselves – but really loving our neighbor, the ones we haven’t even taken the time to meet, loving them as ourselves.
Not just saying that debts will be forgiven – but really letting debts go, letting real money go.
Not just saying that we are all one in Christ, that there is no Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male and female, but living that way, not just in church but in the public square, at the ballot box, out in the world where we all know well and good that all men created equal may sound good but asks a whole lot, maybe more than we are willing to give.
It’s a lot to go up against the whole world like that, but it’s what Paul is asking us to do. Not reduce Christianity to a simple, “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?” but the full truth – that the Gospel calls us into direct opposition with systems that so many accept without question.
Enough about us – this letter is about Philemon – and we don’t know exactly how the story ends. We don’t know whether Philemon listens to Paul and treats Onesimus like a brother in Christ, or if Philemon listens to the world and treats Onesimus as the law commands.
“If he fails, it will be one more victory for rationality; one more victory for everyone who likes to see the world carry on spinning evenly and predictably; one more victory for common sense. It will be one more victory for all of us who never really tried.”1
1. Chris Heath, “An Army of One,” GQ, September 2010, 293.