Reflections on "Onesimus: In the Particular" Philemon 1: 8-21

This is probably two sermons collapsed into one.  The first two points approach the text from the idea of listening beyond the text.  How do we hear the voice of Onesiumus, a slave who is not given voice.  It was fun to use this approach and imagine beyond the text.  The challenge, of course, is to keep the sermon from becoming "whatever Richard wants to say," instead of letting God speak through the text.

The third move was where I had originally intended to go with the sermon.  Interestingly, someone remarked how they thought it worked well to finish with the idea that each person has to determine in the particularity of their own lives how to do what I talked about in the first two points.  I had not intended it in that way, but that works.  I originally wanted people to reflect on how God has chosen each of them in the particular, both to receive God's love and to know God's claim on their lives.

“Onesimus: In the Particular” July 3, 2016; FPC, Troy; Philemon 1: 8-21

(Philemon 1: 8-21) For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me. I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel; but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced. Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

Introduction: We continue reflecting on minor characters in the Bible. This morning we turn to Paul's letter to Philemon, a letter we seldom read (although I know I preached it once here because one of you corrected me on how I pronounced Philemon).

In that letter we meet Onesimus. We do not know much about Onesimus. Presumably he was a slave, at least by Roman law. Perhaps he was a fugitive slave. He has become a follower of Christ, as has his owner Philemon. In some way, he has become useful to Paul.

At least we think all of that by reading between the lines of the text.

But we do not really know Onesimus, because he is not given voice in the text. (For some interesting insights along these lines, read Holly Hearon, Professor of New Testament, Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, IN; http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=669)

Move 1: Invitation to look beyond the text

a. what do I mean by that?

     1. Typical read on this text: Bruce Reyes-Chow: On a first read of this week’s passage one could easily come away with a powerful story of reconciliation and faith: slave runs away with stolen times of owner, owner and slave become Christian, owner welcomes back slave and all is forgiven.

2. The easy answer is that this passage is all contextual and that Paul was was actually being pretty radical for his time. Not only was he asking Philemon to make a huge economic shift, but he was also asking him to fundamentally alter the ways in which he understood his relationship with another human being who was once a slave, but now a mutual member of the body of Christ.

3. Onesimus even has a name. Give props to Paul for acknowledging that a slave has a name.

b. All that may be true, but it still leaves us with Onesimus enslaved with no voice.

1. In fact, this passage was one of the slave owners favorite passages as they argued for slavery.
   
   
2. “Paul's mandate,” they sometimes called it. Using this letter of Paul's to defend slavery.

3. At a minimum, the argument went something like this: do not upset the apple cart. Slaves should stay slave because it is on the inside where God sets you free. You can be free in Christ and still enslaved.

  3. Or, better yet. They would refer to this letter and argue that Paul supported slavery. Our Christian calling is to have slave owners and slaves. If not, Paul would have argued for the abolishment of slavery instead of sending Onesimus back to Philemon. To remove slavery would be to go against God's ordering of the world.

c. How do we interpret the text to reveal God's grace?

1. Questions Bruce Reyes-Chowe asks questions:

Why does Paul not challenge Philemon to not only give up slavery, but seek forgiveness for slavery in the first place?

Why should Paul expect Onesimus to go back and trust Philemon based on a letter from Paul?

The Hardest Question

The real question is that when dealing with this passage: Are we willing to challenge how Philemon has been used historically to justify slavery and putting the impetus for reconciliation on those who have been enslaved? http://thq.wearesparkhouse.org/featured/lect23cepistl/ Bruce Reyes-Chow, September 8, 2013:

     2.  Are we working to free those enslaved to poverty?

   3.  Or those involved in human trafficking?
 
    4. How do we end slavery in our context?

Move 2: How might we give voice to Onesimus.

a. Let Onesimus speak to us.

1. Tell his story

2. in Christ, he has a new life

3. In Christ, he is bound together with others who are in Christ.

4. In Christ, Onesimus isset free; others are free; and with 
that freedom comes responsibility.

3. AS martin Luther describes this freedom: In In Freedom of a Christian,: 'A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, but subject to none. A Christian a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”

b. 4th of July – celebrate freedom.

1. A lot of what we hear about freedom these days is about how freedom removes us from responsibility to others.

2.  “I am free, so I can do anything I want.” 

3. “I am free, so don't tell me what I should do.”  

        B. listen to how the hymn writer described freedom in “O Beautiful for Spacious Skies.”

1.  “confirm thy soul in self-control”
2. “who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life”.
3. America, America, may God they gold refine
4. freedom that brings it obligation to care for others; freedom that recognizes that God still has a claim on us; and, in fact, that God is still working to refine us.

C. how do we live that freedom in our lives?

1. In part, by pushing back at Paul as we wonder why he did not free Onesiums.
2. And in doing so, perhaps we hear Onesimus and Paul ask us how what we are doing for those people who are enslaved in our world.

3. how are we living out our freedom in Christ by caring for others and freeing others to know the new life we have in Christ?

Move 3: A final thought. Paul's letter reminds us that God works in the particular.

a. We know that Paul writes to churches and cares about Christians in a broad sense.

1. In fact, this letter is written not just to Philemon, but to others in the larger church.

2. . Paul also cares about Onesimus in the particular.

3. This letter is not just about the God who changes lives, but the God who specifically changes Onesimus' life, the God who specifically changes your life.

4. This letter is not just about the God who sends Christ to invite all of us into new life marked by freedom, but the God who specifically invites Onesimus into new life marked by freedom, the God who specifically invites you into new life marked by freedom.

5. We know that the early church had a bishop named Onesimus. No one really knows if this is the same Onesimus about whom Paul writes. But, that would be a pretty good story – the God who changes Onesimus life, invites Onesimus into new life, and Onesimus is freed and one day becomes a bishop in the church.

100. martin Luther

1. However, in July 1505, Luther had a life-changing experience that set him on a new course. Caught in a horrific thunderstorm where he feared for his life, Luther cried out to St. Anne, the patron saint of miners, “Save me, St. Anne, and I’ll become a monk!” The storm subsided and he was saved.
2. The God who spoke to Martin Luther in the particular in that storm.
3. The God whose call of Luther freed him to hear God's grace in new ways that led to the Reformation.

d. the God of the particular lays claim on your life.

1. We live out our faith in community.

2. But God knows you.

Conclusion: Onesimus means “useful” – he had been useless to his master, now he is useful to Paul after becoming a Christian.

The God who knows you in the particular, calls you to be useful as you live out your freedom in Christ.