We often shortchange love. We think of it as sweet and sentimental, something that is good for children and family members. We think of love as sort of soft and cuddly, nice in its place, but not very useful in the things that really matter. Do we think of love as tough, transforming, powerful? This little book of Philemon, tucked into the back of the New Testament at the tail end of Paul's letters, teaches us about the potential of love.
Thomas Long, who teaches preaching at EmoryUniversity in Atlanta, reminds us that when we read from Paul in the New Testament, we are reading someone else's mail. Paul never intended his letters to be read in the twenty-first century in the United States of America. If we went into our neighbor's mailbox and took out personal letters, we would not be able to make much sense of some of the contents. The letters would presuppose that the reader knew some background. Much the same situation occurs when we read Paul's letters to his churches. If we are to see the ways in which we are somehow similar to the Corinthians, the Galatians, and the Thessalonians, we have to try to imagine their situation behind the actual words on the page. We aren't exactly like them, but what's the connection? All of that is especially difficult when we read this letter to Philemon. It is difficult for us to identify with Philemon, because his situation is so different from ours. More importantly, we are not quite sure what went on behind the scenes of this letter. This was a personal letter from Paul to one man, about one matter. That makes it different from Paul's other letters. Yet, the ones who compiled the New Testament thought it should be considered sacred scripture. What did they see in it?
Let us give our best effort to reconstructing the events behind this letter. Paul is in prison, but we are not sure where. Perhaps he is in Philippi or Caesarea. As we know, Paul spent much time in prison. Paul used this time to write, a fact for which we should be grateful. We have benefited from his suffering, because he might not have worked out some of his best ideas had he not been imprisoned. We might not have Philippians with its inspiring words about Jesus taking on the form of a slave. Imprisonment seems to have deepened Paul's commitment and his identification with Christ. At some point in his imprisonment, Paul encounters a runaway slave named Onesimus, a name that means "useful." Paul leads Onesimus to convert to Christ. Then comes the big question: What should Onesimus do now that he has become a Christian? Paul is tempted to keep Onesimus with him, so that he can help Paul in his ministry. Paul decides, though, to send Onesimus back to Philemon, his "owner," and one who received ministry from Paul. We don't know how much Paul agonized over this decision, or how he explained the decision to Onesimus, who surely did not want to go back.
If Paul sends Onesimus back, the slave's fate is up to the master. We can probably assume that Philemon is angry that his slave ran away. Paul even suggests in verse 18 that Onesimus might have done some harm or stolen something from Philemon. Paul sends a powerless slave back to an angry master. Almost no limits existed to what the master could do with a runaway slave. The master could torture a slave, send him to work in the salt mines, or even have him crucified. Why would Paul send Onesimus back to such a possibility? Paul calls Onesimus his "heart," so he loved Onesimus. Why take such a risk with one you love?
For Paul, sending Onesimus back to Philemon was an act of faith. Paul saw an opportunity for reconciliation, for Philemon to grow in his understanding of what it means to be a Christian. As Paul says in verse 14, "I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced." Paul asked Onesimus to go back to his master, to step out in faith for who knows what? Oh, and by the way, take this letter with you!
Paul, who has led Onesimus to Christ, wants to lead Philemon to a deeper understanding of Christ. Now that Onesimus has become a Christian, everything has changed. To the world, a master was a master and a slave was a slave, and that was that. In the church, looking through Christian eyes, a slave and a master were brothers in the Lord. That kind of upsets the applecart! The person of lowest rank, with no status, no power, and no rights is now your brother. Remarkably, Paul does not tell Philemon exactly what to do with Onesimus. Paul doesn't say, "Now be sure not to punish him," or, "You know, you could set him free." All Paul says is that because of Christ, he is now your brother. Paul seems simply to have wanted that new idea to get under Philemon's skin.
When Paul sent the letter, he was acting in faith on three levels. First, he trusted Onesimus, who had already run away once, to carry the letter to his master without running away again. Second, he trusted Philemon, who might have punished Onesimus without even reading the letter, to understand what it means to be a Christian. Third, he trusted God that somehow this would all work out to some good end.
It is remarkable that Paul wrote the letter, given the risk he was taking. It is even more remarkable that the letter was preserved for us to read. What might well have happened is that Onesimus might have gone in the opposite direction from where Paul sent him. He might have used the letter to start a campfire to keep himself warm. He might have wanted nothing to do with Philemon, doubting Paul's confidence that it would turn out well. He might have thought that whatever caused him to run off the first time had not really changed. We might have expected that Philemon would read the letter, wad it up, and toss it in file thirteen. Even if Philemon had done just what Paul asked, why did he preserve the letter, and how did it begin to circulate along with Paul's other letters? We have to speculate a bit here, but it seems to be a justified speculation. We have to assume that everything worked out. We have to assume that Onesimus made it back to Philemon. We have to assume that Philemon took Paul's advice and began to see Onesimus in a new light, as a brother and not just a slave. If anything else had happened — if Onesimus had run off, or if Philemon had snarled, "Brother my hind foot, I'll show this worthless slave a thing or two," then this letter would never have been preserved.
This powerful, important letter raises the question of what it means to call one another brother and sister in the Lord. To call one another brother and sister in the Lord sounds easy, but as we see from this letter, that simple act can have far-reaching consequences. Simply calling one another brother and sister in Christ changes everything.
Malcolm Muggeridge found this truth out when he worked with Mother Teresa. Writing about his trips to leper colonies and working with unwanted children gave him new insights into what it means to show Christian love. "I found that I went through three phases. The first was horror mixed with pity, the second compassion pure and simple, and the third, reaching far beyond compassion, something I have never experienced before — an awareness that these dying and derelict men and women, these lepers with stumps instead of hands, these unwanted children, were not pitiable, repulsive or forlorn, but rather dear and delightful; as it might be, friends of long standing, brothers and sisters."1
We rejoice in such beautiful insight about the meaning of love and the act of calling another person a brother or sister in Christ. Let us begin to see other people, even people we might not be inclined to love in this way. Let us allow this insight to change the way we do mission work and charity. We are not just givers in mission work, we receive as well. We gain new brothers and sisters in the process. We can push the idea of seeing other people as our brothers and sisters even deeper, however.
What would it mean for our nation's immigration policy to call those from another country brothers and sisters in Christ? We may not think such a political question is appropriate in the pulpit, but the relationship between master and slave in the first century was a political question as well. Paul taught that love transformed the way we see all of life, even politics. We may say that immigrants should obey the law, but if Philemon had obeyed only the laws of the state, what would have happened? Paul does not advocate a specific policy; he just says that Philemon should love Onesimus as a brother and take it from there. Maybe we can't put forth a specific policy for immigration, but we can call the church to love immigrants as brothers and sisters and take it from there.
Let us talk of one other way in which we might read this letter about the importance of using the terms "brother" and "sister" in the church. In every mainline denomination, the arguments continue to rage over social and theological issues. These arguments over doctrine, human sexuality, reproductive policy, and other issues, cause much bitterness. How can we hear this call to love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ? Being a brother to Onesimus pushed Philemon to places he didn't want to go. For us, listening to people with whom we strenuously disagree, even over the most volatile of issues is part of being brother and sister. We may not come to an agreement, but maybe we can keep the dialogue open and keep the church intact. Liberals and conservatives are brother and sister to each other. Let us hear that and see where it will take us.
When Paul made his decision about Onesimus, and wrote this letter, he stepped out in faith, not knowing exactly what would happen. We don't know where showing real, Christian love will take us. Let us give love a chance to surprise us. Let us allow love to unleash its real power. Love can change things. Love can transform. God can take a small thing, like a letter, or the choice to call another person a brother or sister, and use it for things we could never imagine. Amen.
____________
1. Malcolm Muggeridge, from Something Beautiful for God, quoted in Reuben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck, A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants (Nashville: The Upper Room, 1983), p. 233.