1. Introduction
These Sundays after Trinity,
or Sundays in Ordinary Time, as
they are often called,
are the time of year when we
reflect on how being God’s person works out in practice.
During the first half of the
church year,
which begins in December or the
very end of November,
with Advent Sunday,
we remind ourselves of the reasons
why we are Christians,
of the important events in Jesus’
life;
of the birth of the early church.
Then, after Trinity Sunday,
we start to look at how being a
Christian affects us;
how what we say we believe matches
up with what we really believe,
and how we are going to live if we
truly are God’s people.
We learn from the way God spoke
through his prophets in Old Testament times,
from the stories Jesus told of how
God’s people would act and think,
and, as now, from the letters St
Paul wrote to the early churches and to individuals.
This letter is the only example in
the Bible that we have of how St Paul worked behind the scenes to help people.
He wrote it to help the runaway
slave Onesimus when he went back to his master, Philemon.
So who was Philemon, anyway?
We don’t know very much about him;
he lived in Colossae,
was married to Appia,
and had one son called Archippus.
He was also a friend of Paul’s,
and seems to have had some
position of authority
in the church at Colossae.
Scholars think that the letter to
Philemon was written at the same time as the letter to the Colossians
and the now-vanished letter to the
Laodiceans,
and that Tychicus and Onesimus
took the whole lot with them.
Actually, some scholars think that
the letter to the Laodiceans is what we know as the letter to the Ephesians,
but other scholars aren’t
absolutely sure that Ephesians was written by Paul.
Not that it matters —
they do all think that Philemon,
and Colossians, come to that, was a genuine letter from Paul.
Anyway, Philemon of Colossae was a
rich man,
rich enough to own slaves.
We are disgusted by the very idea
of slavery,
but throughout most of human
history it seems to have been acceptable.
And it still exists in parts of
the world today, unfortunately —
and there are even some slaves
here in London.
I wish it weren’t so, but sadly,
it is.
However, in Philemon’s day, people
thought nothing wrong in owning slaves.
I don’t know whether the slaves
thought so.
If you were Jewish, it was one
thing —
Jewish law required all slaves to
be freed after seven years’ service,
and given capital to start up on
their own, if they wished.
But it was very different to be a
slave to a Roman,
when you were, purely and simply,
property.
I have read that it wasn’t quite
as desperate as being a slave in the USA before the Civil War,
but I don’t think it was much
better.
Although, unlike in the USA, being
a slave didn’t debar you from a good education;
quite the reverse, in fact, since
most teachers were slaves!
We don’t know, though what
Onesimus’ position in the household had been.
But he had obviously been very
unhappy,
unhappy enough that he ran away to
Rome,
where he could be anonymous.
Now, under Jewish law, if a slave
was unhappy enough to run away,
it was your fault,
and nobody was going to make him
or her go back to you,
but the Romans took a very
different view of the matter.
Your slaves were your property,
and must and should be returned to you
— whatever punishment you might
see fit to dole out to them when they did return.
So Onesimus’ life would have been
that of an outlaw,
always fearing discovery,
always terrified of being sent
back.
Of course, we don’t know why he
decided to run away.
But we do know that Philemon and
his family were Christian people —
could it be, do you suppose, that
after Paul’s visit to Colossae,
when Philemon, Appia, Archippus
and all the rest of the family had become Christians, Onesimus had held out?
Perhaps Philemon had said he must
be baptised —
in those days, when the head of
the household was baptised, often everyone was.
Perhaps Onesimus had thought it
was all a load of rubbish, and was desperate not to be baptised.
Or perhaps he couldn’t handle the
way Philemon changed after his conversion.
We aren’t told.
Judging by the fact that his name
means “Useful”,
and Paul made puns about it,
I expect Onesimus had been born
into slavery, and known nothing different.
The changes that took place after
the family’s conversion to Christianity must have been a shock to his system,
whatever.
Or, of course, perhaps he had run
away before the family were converted.
Again, we aren’t told.
But we do know that when he ran
away, he was not yet a Christian.
Well, he may not have been a
Christian,
but that doesn’t mean God didn’t
love him,
didn’t have a hand on him.
People would undoubtedly have been
praying for Onesimus’ safety,
and for his conversion,
and God answered those prayers in
a wonderful way,
by causing Onesimus, once again,
to come into contact with Paul.
And so, eventually, Onesimus comes
to faith.
But coming to faith, although we
often call it being born again,
doesn’t mean you leave your
problems totally behind you.
You may be a new creation,
but there are remnants of your
past life to come and haunt you.
There are people you must
apologise to, if necessary;
you might have committed crimes,
even, which have to be put right.
Not a few conversions happen in
prisons, of course.
I wonder, actually, if Onesimus
might not have been in prison when Paul met him;
we know that Paul was imprisoned
in Rome.
But then, Onesimus seems to be
free to go off with Tychicus,
so perhaps not.
Because Onesimus had to go back.
However difficult it would be,
however awful going back to the
slavery he loathed and dreaded,
he belongs to Philemon and must
go back to him.
But he doesn’t go alone.
For a start, now that he is a
Christian he knows that Jesus is with him,
and that he will be serving the
same God as his master.
But, more immediately important,
Paul sends a letter to Philemon
with him.
And in that letter, Paul pleads
for Onesimus:
“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.”
And again:
“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.”
Paul is desperate for Philemon to
be good to Onesimus, and reminds him that they are both Christians now:
“Perhaps this is the reason he was
separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back for ever,
no longer as a slave but as more
than a slave, a beloved brother ‑ especially to me but how much more to
you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.”
We aren’t, sadly, told what
happened when Onesimus got home.
We know he went off to Colossae
with Tychicus, and presumably he arrived there, since the letter has survived.
I hope Philemon welcomed him with
the love due to a brother in Christ.
I hope, very much, that Philemon
did, as Paul hints he should,
free Onesimus, and treat him as an
equal.
But the thing was, Onesimus had to
go home anyway.
Even if Philemon hadn’t been a
Christian,
even if he had been a cruel master
and Onesimus had been facing a
certain flogging, and possible execution.
Onesimus had to go home.
Because, as a Christian, it was his
duty to do so.
He couldn’t leave unfinished
business hanging about.
He had to wipe the slate clean.
He had to put things right.
That, I think, is one of the
things the letter to Philemon tells us.
That we do need to put things
right.
Our dear Lord, you may remember,
told us that
“when you are offering your gift
at the altar,
if you remember that your brother
or sister has something against you,
leave your gift there before the
altar and go;
first be reconciled to your
brother or sister,
and then come and offer your
gift.”
Onesimus had to go and be
reconciled with Philemon.
He had to make the effort
even if Philemon treated him as he
had every right to do.
And we, too, must always be the
first to be reconciled.
If someone has anything, anything
at all, to reproach us with,
then we must go and do what we can
to put things right.
First, before we do anything else.
Onesimus did, and so must we.
But the other thing to remember is
there were two people involved.
Onesimus had to go back to
Philemon,
but Philemon’s duty was also plain
—
to forgive Onesimus,
to welcome him back to his
rightful place as one of the family,
and, perhaps, to grant him his
freedom.
That was probably not easy for
him.
Although mind you, if Onesimus had
been missing for some years,
it was probably far easier to
welcome him back
than if he’d only been missing a
couple of weeks.
But you know what it’s like.
If someone comes to you and says
they are sorry,
it’s not always easy to accept
their apology and forgive them.
And it’s even worse when they don’t
apologise,
or do so in such a way that it’s
quite clear they don’t really mean it.
Our instinct is to go on being
livid, and not to forgive them.
But Jesus reminds us, on several
occasions,
that we must forgive if we
are, ourselves, to receive forgiveness:
“For if you forgive others their
trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;
but if you do not forgive others,
neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
The letter to Philemon is, of all
the letters in the Bible, the one that has the most to teach us about
forgiveness.
Onesimus had to come back to put
things right with his master,
and Philemon had to forgive
Onesimus and help him make a fresh start.
And we, too, need to put things
right with one another,
and with God.
All of us do.
So if you know that someone has
something against you,
as the Scripture says,
do go and put things right with
them as soon as you leave here,
won’t you?
Or if someone has offended you, do
forgive them.
It isn’t easy, but we must do it,
if we bear the name of Christ.
Amen.