In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let us pray, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
“Only the dogs would come and lick his sores.” If this line gives us any kind of a inclination into the life Lazarus is living, then we know Lazarus was a man yearning for something more than a dog’s tongue. He was yearning to eat even the scraps of bread used to clean the grease off of the rich man’s hands, yearning to have a small place at the table, yearning for the care of another human for but only finds the care a few dogs (and I wouldn’t exactly want a dog caring for me).
But what about this rich man? Is he more of a man than Lazarus? I think it is interesting that he has all the money and food he could ever want or need but yet he remains nameless. The guy who, most likely, has power in the community, has so much money that he is able throw bread onto the floor, the guy who walked by Lazarus, the man who walked by the great disparity of Lazarus, a man most likely dressed in purple (only rich and/or roman leaders could even wear purple) while Lazarus wore rags, a man who walked by Lazarus every day and did nothing for him, this rich man, does not have a name. You think a man with this social caliber would have a name but Jesus omits it from the parable.
This makes me scratch my head. Names are important. They identify our familial roots. They hold a history (just look at all the great Matthew’s of history). They hold a personal meaning. Why would Jesus omit such a detail? One commentary suggests that Jesus wants the audience to fill their names and therefore wants us to take a closer at our actions towards the poor. But can it be that simple? The simple truth is never simple. Maybe Jesus uses this as an opportunity to talk about the real measure of a person.
What creates our identity? What makes us identify with each other? Is it our wealth, our house, our cars, our children? Is it something more? Why do we cringe every time we hear about a victim of a shooting? What makes us feel remorse when we hear of a tragedy happen to someone we have never met? What makes us feel sorrow for Lazarus? What makes some of us feel no remorse for the rich man suffering in agony?
It is so easy for some of us to feel little to no remorse for the rich man. He did live in the lap of luxury for his entire life. He did walked by Lazarus every time he left his house and did nothing for him. Now is in agony while Lazarus stands next to Abraham. We even hear the rich man’s smugness when he asks Abraham to send Lazarus down him and serve him some water. The rich man does not get it. It is so easy to think, “Turn the flames up Abraham because I don’t think he gets it.” But is that how God operates?
God does not sit on a throne and casts punishment on those who do not follow God’s ways. God is about grace and love. The kind of judgement God does cast on us is simply the judgement of being God’s own—a child of God. God is not some angry monster set out on a path of war and violence. God loves us because we are God’s own. Even this rich man, as horrible as he was, is still a child of God. He is not being punished for being rich but he is being punished because of his indifference to the whole situation--for ignoring Lazarus and hoarding the gifts God gave him to share.
What is at the heart of this parable is the call to “remember.” Abraham says, “‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things...’” When we zoom out and look at the bigger picture Luke is painting, we see “remember” is used a number of times. An example of this can be found at the cross when the Criminal said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’” There is also the scene at the tomb when a man in dazzling white clothes asked, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ Then they remembered his words...”
The reason the rich man is suffering is not because he is rich but because he did not remember Lazarus during life and all that the prophets have preached about the care of the poor. Brian Stroffgren writes:
“The great chasm between the rich man and Lazarus existed long before their deaths. It would seem that during their lives, the rich man couldn't bridge the "chasm" between his house (and his wealth) and the poor man outside his gate. He couldn't reach across it to give starving Lazarus a bite to eat or medicine for his sores or shelter from the weather.”
Whether we care to admit it or not, we have all created deep chasms between with others. Sometimes it is done on purpose while at other times we do not even realize the great chasms we have created with one another. Whenever we cast judgment on another individual, we create a chasm and we become like this rich man. Whether we judge someone because of their wealth, their house, their family, their skin color, their ethnicity, their religion we create a chasm. These chasms separate us from one another simply because someone is different. Our identity is not found in our earthly possession or our appearance. Our identity is found in God. We are created in God’s image and therefore we are claimed as God’s own. That is how we have already been judged.
What if God acted like this rich man? What if God turned God’s back on us? God should have just walked away from us but that is not how our God operates. Our God likes to build bridges. We have Jesus Christ who comes into the great chasm of our sin and lives with us. He suffered on the cross, died, and was buried. But on that third day, the thing that Moses and the prophets foretold came to fruition. Jesus finished the bridge. Christ Jesus built the bridge to connect us back to God and, being set free, we now can begin to build bridges for the other chasms we have created.
We are convinced of God’s love for us because we see Jesus Christ crucified and risen. Everything Moses and prophets foretold makes sense, and only makes sense, because of Jesus and the cross. The prophets called for the people to live a new lifestyle—to care for the poor Lazarus’s in this world just as Jesus cared for the outcasts. We are called to not act like the rich man but to act like Jesus. We are called to love someone simply because we all need love. We are called to remember what has been taught for centuries--to care for the abused, beaten, hungry, tortured people.
It is not fair that Lazarus lived his life in agony and only felt relief in death especially when it could have been prevented. Yes, one day we will all see God face to face. All of our pain and our burdens will be relieved in the resurrection but until then, we have many Lazarus(es) in our world and in our community who need more than a dog’s tongue.
In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Proper 19 Sermon
In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let us pray, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
There is a speech that I had to memorize in middle school. It was written by a famous Civil Rights activist, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His legacy has touched the lives of many Americans and his witness has opened the door for many Americans oppressed simply because of the color of their skin. Listen to part of speech:
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
...
This is our hope...1”
This is our hope. It is our hope that one day, that one day, our social distinctions and classifications will not matter. It is our hope that our “children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” It is our hope that one’s identity will not be found in the human things of this world but in the love for one another.
But right now it is only hope and not reality. For thousands upon thousands of years humanity has oppressed a group (or groups of people) simply because of a human classification. These classifications range from cultural identity, money, race, sinner...
Sinner. Now that is a strange classification. What is even stranger is to think about oppressing Sinners. It doesn’t make much sense in our Christian mindset when we think about it today (because our concept of a sinner is that we all sin and therefore we are all sinners by its definition) but what did it mean to oppress a sinner in Jesus’ day?
Throughout the scriptures we hear about this dualism of Righteous and Unrighteous/Sinner. A biblical definition of Righteous is someone who fears and loves God; who follows God’s commands; who places God above all things. We know there were “righteous people” or so called “righteous people.” However, it is still unclear how righteous an individual had to be in order to be consider righteous. Did someone only need a drop of righteousness to make he or she righteous or was there more too it? Did one drop of sin make someone a sinner?
How one determined their status of righteousness was through the law. An individual was deemed righteous by obeying all the laws. A truly righteous person kept the law of God and an unrighteous person, a sinner, was someone who did not keep the law (whether was on purpose or not on purpose). The law does guide us into God’s will but it also shows us that we cannot follow it all the time. We have a bondage to the ways of sin and not the way of God. The overall intent of the law is to assist us in following God but it gives us ammunition to oppress those who are not following the law--who are not one us. In Jesus’ day, if the law was misinterpreted, it can forbid God’s grace to be shown because only a strict adherence to the law was acceptable.
This is the situation Jesus has been placed in. He was eating a meal with sinners (tax collectors, prostitutes, the poor, the sick, the blind, the lame) instead of with the great leaders of the synagogue and temple--not with the elite of the community. Sound familiar? “Mommy, Jesus isn’t playing with me. He is playing with THOSE people.” It sounds very childish but this was (and maybe even remains) the mindset of us all. These leaders felt as they were more privileged than the sinners--than the outcasts of the society.
The leaders described in this passage felt as though they deserved God more than the sinners. The leaders believed they were the only ones privileged to God’s love. If Jesus was the messiah, than they should have their needs cared for first because they were the best. But Jesus does not do this. Jesus does not go to the leaders but to the people forgotten by the world and cares for them.
This makes no sense to the Pharisees and even to us today. Why would the Messiah, the anointed one, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the one foretold by prophets for centuries would choose to eat not with the elite--not with the ones who have power to convince the masses--but with the sinners? Why would God care about the sinners? Why not go to powerful and proclaim “Ta da I’m here?”
But God has always cared about the sinners. God has always cared more about God’s people, particularly the outcasts--the last, lost, lost, least, lifeless--than about laws. Actually, the law of God was originally intended to ensure the well being of all God’s people--not just the elite and powerful.
The parables Jesus told to the crowd reminds us that God is the one who would leave behind the large group of sheep to go out and find the one sheep who went a strayed. That God is the one who throw a party after God finds a single coin--a party that cost more than what the coin was ever worth. These parables reveal that God has always done the unthinkable. God always goes after the one lost soul, God always throws the biggest parties. God choose to die on a cross so that we might live.
The elite feel that they deserve God more than the rest of the world but Jesus says no. Robert Jensen, retired professor at LTSG writes, “Whenever you want to draw a line to mark who is outside the kingdom and who is inside, always remember: Jesus is on the other side of the line. Jesus is always with the outsiders." This particular group of Pharisees questioning Jesus’ actions were denying the kingdom of God to a group of people simply because they could not obey the law. They wanted to deny God’s kingdom, God’s love, to a group of people because they are not good enough, because they are not rich enough, because they are not the right color. But Jesus came to reveal what God has always been about--grace and love for all people. Jesus came to reveal the great joy God still has and has always had for us.
What does it mean to have a sinner repent and all of heaven rejoice but the rest of world stays silent? Will we be able to look past someone’s status and simply love them as God loves that person? Will we be able love simply out of love with no strings attached as God loves us? Will we be able to rejoice when just one repents? Will we be able to look past someone’s skin color, religion, economic status, job status, someone’s social identity and see them for who they really are? When we follow in Jesus’ example and love one another, yes even those who are not like us, we will experience this great joy God has over one sinner who repents. Maybe when we let this happen, “when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, [black and white], Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics,” (Muslims and Christians, Northern and Southern, rich and poor, Democrats and Republicans, Europeans and Americans, the entire world, all of us) “we will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old [African American] spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”2
In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Endnotes
1 http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
2 http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
Let us pray, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
There is a speech that I had to memorize in middle school. It was written by a famous Civil Rights activist, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His legacy has touched the lives of many Americans and his witness has opened the door for many Americans oppressed simply because of the color of their skin. Listen to part of speech:
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
...
This is our hope...1”
This is our hope. It is our hope that one day, that one day, our social distinctions and classifications will not matter. It is our hope that our “children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” It is our hope that one’s identity will not be found in the human things of this world but in the love for one another.
But right now it is only hope and not reality. For thousands upon thousands of years humanity has oppressed a group (or groups of people) simply because of a human classification. These classifications range from cultural identity, money, race, sinner...
Sinner. Now that is a strange classification. What is even stranger is to think about oppressing Sinners. It doesn’t make much sense in our Christian mindset when we think about it today (because our concept of a sinner is that we all sin and therefore we are all sinners by its definition) but what did it mean to oppress a sinner in Jesus’ day?
Throughout the scriptures we hear about this dualism of Righteous and Unrighteous/Sinner. A biblical definition of Righteous is someone who fears and loves God; who follows God’s commands; who places God above all things. We know there were “righteous people” or so called “righteous people.” However, it is still unclear how righteous an individual had to be in order to be consider righteous. Did someone only need a drop of righteousness to make he or she righteous or was there more too it? Did one drop of sin make someone a sinner?
How one determined their status of righteousness was through the law. An individual was deemed righteous by obeying all the laws. A truly righteous person kept the law of God and an unrighteous person, a sinner, was someone who did not keep the law (whether was on purpose or not on purpose). The law does guide us into God’s will but it also shows us that we cannot follow it all the time. We have a bondage to the ways of sin and not the way of God. The overall intent of the law is to assist us in following God but it gives us ammunition to oppress those who are not following the law--who are not one us. In Jesus’ day, if the law was misinterpreted, it can forbid God’s grace to be shown because only a strict adherence to the law was acceptable.
This is the situation Jesus has been placed in. He was eating a meal with sinners (tax collectors, prostitutes, the poor, the sick, the blind, the lame) instead of with the great leaders of the synagogue and temple--not with the elite of the community. Sound familiar? “Mommy, Jesus isn’t playing with me. He is playing with THOSE people.” It sounds very childish but this was (and maybe even remains) the mindset of us all. These leaders felt as they were more privileged than the sinners--than the outcasts of the society.
The leaders described in this passage felt as though they deserved God more than the sinners. The leaders believed they were the only ones privileged to God’s love. If Jesus was the messiah, than they should have their needs cared for first because they were the best. But Jesus does not do this. Jesus does not go to the leaders but to the people forgotten by the world and cares for them.
This makes no sense to the Pharisees and even to us today. Why would the Messiah, the anointed one, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings, the one foretold by prophets for centuries would choose to eat not with the elite--not with the ones who have power to convince the masses--but with the sinners? Why would God care about the sinners? Why not go to powerful and proclaim “Ta da I’m here?”
But God has always cared about the sinners. God has always cared more about God’s people, particularly the outcasts--the last, lost, lost, least, lifeless--than about laws. Actually, the law of God was originally intended to ensure the well being of all God’s people--not just the elite and powerful.
The parables Jesus told to the crowd reminds us that God is the one who would leave behind the large group of sheep to go out and find the one sheep who went a strayed. That God is the one who throw a party after God finds a single coin--a party that cost more than what the coin was ever worth. These parables reveal that God has always done the unthinkable. God always goes after the one lost soul, God always throws the biggest parties. God choose to die on a cross so that we might live.
The elite feel that they deserve God more than the rest of the world but Jesus says no. Robert Jensen, retired professor at LTSG writes, “Whenever you want to draw a line to mark who is outside the kingdom and who is inside, always remember: Jesus is on the other side of the line. Jesus is always with the outsiders." This particular group of Pharisees questioning Jesus’ actions were denying the kingdom of God to a group of people simply because they could not obey the law. They wanted to deny God’s kingdom, God’s love, to a group of people because they are not good enough, because they are not rich enough, because they are not the right color. But Jesus came to reveal what God has always been about--grace and love for all people. Jesus came to reveal the great joy God still has and has always had for us.
What does it mean to have a sinner repent and all of heaven rejoice but the rest of world stays silent? Will we be able to look past someone’s status and simply love them as God loves that person? Will we be able love simply out of love with no strings attached as God loves us? Will we be able to rejoice when just one repents? Will we be able to look past someone’s skin color, religion, economic status, job status, someone’s social identity and see them for who they really are? When we follow in Jesus’ example and love one another, yes even those who are not like us, we will experience this great joy God has over one sinner who repents. Maybe when we let this happen, “when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, [black and white], Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics,” (Muslims and Christians, Northern and Southern, rich and poor, Democrats and Republicans, Europeans and Americans, the entire world, all of us) “we will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old [African American] spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”2
In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Endnotes
1 http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
2 http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm
Sermon for Proper 18
In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let us pray, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
Amazing Grace is a favorite hymn of mine to both play and sing. I love the message it carries--of God’s amazing grace looking past all my faults, all of my failures, and hearing God still loves me. The words are very touching and speak well of our faith but how the song was written is just as equally touching. The song was written by man named John Newton. He was the captain of a slave ship in England. One night his ship was caught in a horrible storm. Many of the men on his ship were killed. As the waves were crashing over the ship, Newton knelt down and prayed for help. Newton made it through the night and his ship safely arrived in port. After this experience, Newton promised to changed his life. He eventually left the slave trade industry to pursue the life of an ordained pastor. He later teamed up William Wilberforce, who was a member of the British Parliament and who lead the fight to end slavery in Great Britain. Newton experienced the Grace of God first hand. Newton felt the strong and comforting touch of God’s grace. In a way, we saw the light and left the safety of the darkness to find something better--God’s love.
Now If we were keeping score it would be God:Infinity and humanity:negative infinity. It is quiet a large debt we owe God. Newton, who sold God’s creation--God’s own children--into slavery felt forgiveness. Newton felt grace. Newton had a debt he could never repay, just as we all have a debt we cannot pay, but that did not stop God from turning leaving Newton behind.
We don’t always have a perfect storm experience like Newton felt in order to feel God’s grace. We all have felt God’s grace in one form or another. For most of us. We experience God’s grace every time we hold out our hands and receive the bread at communion or when we open our mouths to receive the wine. You see that is grace. In the words, “The body of Christ, given for you” or the “the blood of Christ shed for your sins” we hear how unworthy we are to receive Christ Jesus. But yet, we still receive him. We are still able to hold out our hands or open our mouth and have them filled. That, my friends, is grace. It is because of God’s Grace alone we are able to reap the rewards of God’s love. Nothing else but simply God’s grace.
It is this grace that Paul is reminding Philemon about today. Philemon is an interesting fellow. We do not know to much about him. He is not mentioned anywhere else in scripture. According to the letter, Paul and Philemon are friends--close friends. It is probably safe to assume that Paul convert Philemon to Christianity. What we do know comes from a sociological study of the letter. We know Philemon owned a house--a house big enough to hold a church. Owning a house conveys a certain economic level--the bigger the house the better off you are. Owning slaves also conveys an even high economic level and we know he did own at least one slave name Onesimus.
Here in lies the problem. Onesimus is a slave of Philemon. More importantly, Onesimus is a runaway slave of Philemon. This is a problem. For Philemon, it is like his car ran away. Roman cultural saw a slave as property--not a person. Not the flesh and blood that Onesimus was. Onesimus set off running for freedom only to find Paul--A friend of his former owner. And you thought you had bad luck.
Onesimus becomes a convert of Christianity all while Paul is in prison. But then Paul tells Onesimus he has to go back to Philemon. Imagine the look on his face. I call it, “What ya talking about Willis?” It is crazy for a runaway slave to go back to his master but Paul tells Oneismus to trust him because Paul has a unique
In the introduction of Paul’s Letter, Paul reminds Philemon of their relationship. Particularly, the Christian Relationship they have. Paul and Philemon are on the same level not because both are wealthy (and Paul was not wealthy. Remember, he sold tents for a living and moved from city to city. That is how Paul was able to turn down financial support from the congregations he served). Rather Paul and Philemon are equal because they are both Christian.
It all goes back to baptism. Baptism is how we become a part of the community. In Baptism, we are literally clothed with Christ so that we are all the same. When we look in the mirror we do not see different faces or different races or different size bank accounts but rather, we see simply Christ.
Oneismus was changed in his baptism the same way we were all changed in our baptism. We are literally clothed, change with Christ--Change by Christ out of love.
This is what Paul is appealing to. Paul knows Philemon is mad with Oneismus but Paul appeals to Philemon out of love. It is this Agape love, the sacrificial love that all Christians share with each other, that Paul is appealing to Philemon with. Philemon had the law on his side. Onesimus is a runaway slave, property of Philemon, and therefore could be killed for running away. But Paul is appealing to Philemon to forget the law of Rome and find the law of God. Onesimus is now a Christian, one of us, and therefore equal to Philemon just as Paul and Philemon are equals. “I am appealing to you for my Child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment” I appeal to you, Philemon, out of love for my son--your brother. Love him as I have loved him and as I have loved you. Paul is appealing on the bases of the relationship he has established with Onesimus. Paul calls Onesimus a son.
Essentially, he raises Onesimus status. Peter T. O’Brien writes,”this was the first news Philemon had of his slave since he ran away and he might be expected to react negatively to the mention of his name. So with delicate tact, Paul first establishes the central fact that Onesimus has become a Christian, converted during Paul’s imprisonment.” Paul is making his appeal out of love and not out of law. Verse 16 tells it all. Oneismus is “no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, as a dear brother. He is especially so to me, and even more so to you now, both humanly speaking and in the Lord. (Phm 1:16 NET)” Think about what Paul is doing. He is challenging “a Christian slave owner to defy the conventions: to forgive and receive back into the household a runaway slave’ to refuse financial reparation when it is offered, mindful of what one owe to christ as proclaimed by Paul’ to go father in generosity by freeing the servant’ and most important of all from a theological view point to recognize in Onesimus a beloved brother and thus acknowledge his Christian transformation.” Paul is not looking to impose his will or ideas onto Philemon but is looking for Philemon to do the right thing.
Paul is asking him to receive Onesimus as he would receive Paul--as a dear brother (FAMILY).By saying charge everything to him, Paul cancels out Onesimus’ debts to Philemon because Philemon owes Paul his life. We all have a debt that can never be paid. We all owe God more than we can ever afford. But Jesus paid this debt and revealed to us God’s love and grace for the world. The cross revealed to us God’s grace and God’s love for the world--the same love that Philemon has shared with his congregation. This love changed the people of Philemon’s church. This love continues to change us. It changed a slave owner so that a runaway slave could return home and not suffer the consequences. It changed a Slave Ship Captain and Abolitionists to see how wrong slavery was. Love changes people because in Love we see God’s grace. Go, therefore, and share it.
In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let us pray, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
Amazing Grace is a favorite hymn of mine to both play and sing. I love the message it carries--of God’s amazing grace looking past all my faults, all of my failures, and hearing God still loves me. The words are very touching and speak well of our faith but how the song was written is just as equally touching. The song was written by man named John Newton. He was the captain of a slave ship in England. One night his ship was caught in a horrible storm. Many of the men on his ship were killed. As the waves were crashing over the ship, Newton knelt down and prayed for help. Newton made it through the night and his ship safely arrived in port. After this experience, Newton promised to changed his life. He eventually left the slave trade industry to pursue the life of an ordained pastor. He later teamed up William Wilberforce, who was a member of the British Parliament and who lead the fight to end slavery in Great Britain. Newton experienced the Grace of God first hand. Newton felt the strong and comforting touch of God’s grace. In a way, we saw the light and left the safety of the darkness to find something better--God’s love.
Now If we were keeping score it would be God:Infinity and humanity:negative infinity. It is quiet a large debt we owe God. Newton, who sold God’s creation--God’s own children--into slavery felt forgiveness. Newton felt grace. Newton had a debt he could never repay, just as we all have a debt we cannot pay, but that did not stop God from turning leaving Newton behind.
We don’t always have a perfect storm experience like Newton felt in order to feel God’s grace. We all have felt God’s grace in one form or another. For most of us. We experience God’s grace every time we hold out our hands and receive the bread at communion or when we open our mouths to receive the wine. You see that is grace. In the words, “The body of Christ, given for you” or the “the blood of Christ shed for your sins” we hear how unworthy we are to receive Christ Jesus. But yet, we still receive him. We are still able to hold out our hands or open our mouth and have them filled. That, my friends, is grace. It is because of God’s Grace alone we are able to reap the rewards of God’s love. Nothing else but simply God’s grace.
It is this grace that Paul is reminding Philemon about today. Philemon is an interesting fellow. We do not know to much about him. He is not mentioned anywhere else in scripture. According to the letter, Paul and Philemon are friends--close friends. It is probably safe to assume that Paul convert Philemon to Christianity. What we do know comes from a sociological study of the letter. We know Philemon owned a house--a house big enough to hold a church. Owning a house conveys a certain economic level--the bigger the house the better off you are. Owning slaves also conveys an even high economic level and we know he did own at least one slave name Onesimus.
Here in lies the problem. Onesimus is a slave of Philemon. More importantly, Onesimus is a runaway slave of Philemon. This is a problem. For Philemon, it is like his car ran away. Roman cultural saw a slave as property--not a person. Not the flesh and blood that Onesimus was. Onesimus set off running for freedom only to find Paul--A friend of his former owner. And you thought you had bad luck.
Onesimus becomes a convert of Christianity all while Paul is in prison. But then Paul tells Onesimus he has to go back to Philemon. Imagine the look on his face. I call it, “What ya talking about Willis?” It is crazy for a runaway slave to go back to his master but Paul tells Oneismus to trust him because Paul has a unique
In the introduction of Paul’s Letter, Paul reminds Philemon of their relationship. Particularly, the Christian Relationship they have. Paul and Philemon are on the same level not because both are wealthy (and Paul was not wealthy. Remember, he sold tents for a living and moved from city to city. That is how Paul was able to turn down financial support from the congregations he served). Rather Paul and Philemon are equal because they are both Christian.
It all goes back to baptism. Baptism is how we become a part of the community. In Baptism, we are literally clothed with Christ so that we are all the same. When we look in the mirror we do not see different faces or different races or different size bank accounts but rather, we see simply Christ.
Oneismus was changed in his baptism the same way we were all changed in our baptism. We are literally clothed, change with Christ--Change by Christ out of love.
This is what Paul is appealing to. Paul knows Philemon is mad with Oneismus but Paul appeals to Philemon out of love. It is this Agape love, the sacrificial love that all Christians share with each other, that Paul is appealing to Philemon with. Philemon had the law on his side. Onesimus is a runaway slave, property of Philemon, and therefore could be killed for running away. But Paul is appealing to Philemon to forget the law of Rome and find the law of God. Onesimus is now a Christian, one of us, and therefore equal to Philemon just as Paul and Philemon are equals. “I am appealing to you for my Child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment” I appeal to you, Philemon, out of love for my son--your brother. Love him as I have loved him and as I have loved you. Paul is appealing on the bases of the relationship he has established with Onesimus. Paul calls Onesimus a son.
Essentially, he raises Onesimus status. Peter T. O’Brien writes,”this was the first news Philemon had of his slave since he ran away and he might be expected to react negatively to the mention of his name. So with delicate tact, Paul first establishes the central fact that Onesimus has become a Christian, converted during Paul’s imprisonment.” Paul is making his appeal out of love and not out of law. Verse 16 tells it all. Oneismus is “no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, as a dear brother. He is especially so to me, and even more so to you now, both humanly speaking and in the Lord. (Phm 1:16 NET)” Think about what Paul is doing. He is challenging “a Christian slave owner to defy the conventions: to forgive and receive back into the household a runaway slave’ to refuse financial reparation when it is offered, mindful of what one owe to christ as proclaimed by Paul’ to go father in generosity by freeing the servant’ and most important of all from a theological view point to recognize in Onesimus a beloved brother and thus acknowledge his Christian transformation.” Paul is not looking to impose his will or ideas onto Philemon but is looking for Philemon to do the right thing.
Paul is asking him to receive Onesimus as he would receive Paul--as a dear brother (FAMILY).By saying charge everything to him, Paul cancels out Onesimus’ debts to Philemon because Philemon owes Paul his life. We all have a debt that can never be paid. We all owe God more than we can ever afford. But Jesus paid this debt and revealed to us God’s love and grace for the world. The cross revealed to us God’s grace and God’s love for the world--the same love that Philemon has shared with his congregation. This love changed the people of Philemon’s church. This love continues to change us. It changed a slave owner so that a runaway slave could return home and not suffer the consequences. It changed a Slave Ship Captain and Abolitionists to see how wrong slavery was. Love changes people because in Love we see God’s grace. Go, therefore, and share it.
In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)