LAKE JAMES

NORTH CAROLINA

Proper 18 C + Sept. 9, 2007 + Saint Paul’s Church, Lake James

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

One of the most intensely personal texts in all of the Bible is the reading we heard as our Epistle this morning – the Letter from Saint Paul to Philemon. In many ways, it is truly unique. All of Saint Paul’s other letters were written to local churches, but this one is to a particular individual. Most of Saint Paul’s letters are not only long, they ramble. This one is short, barely more than a single page. Saint Paul’s other letters are either primarily concerned with teaching the faith, or are attempts to cope with problems in particular churches. This letter talks about what one person, Philemon should do in a specific situation. Scripture scholars agree that today’s Epistle was actually written by Saint Paul. From earliest times, it has been included in the Christian Bible and regularly read in the Church’s liturgies. Here’s why Saint Paul wrote that letter.

A young man named Onesimus was a slave, the property of a man named Philemon. Onesimus had escaped and made his way to Rome where he came under the influence of Saint Paul, eventually received holy Baptism, and became a kind of assistant to Paul who was then in prison. Onesimus served as the contact between Paul and the outside world. It’s interesting that, although Philemon was not only the “owner” of Onesimus, he was a leader of the Colossian Church yet never seems to have thought it important enough, or worth his time and energy to share the Christian Faith with his slave. It’s likely that Phileomon considered Onesimus to be simply a piece of property, rather than a person created in the Image of God.

In his letter to Philemon, Saint Paul calls Onesimus his “beloved son in the Faith,” and most probably, Onesimus would have considered the great Apostle to be his “father in God.” Let me ask you, what do those titles suggest to you: “beloved son in the Faith” and “father in God.”

When I was studying for the priesthood, the Bishop of Long Island was not only my bishop, but was also the founder and president of the diocesan seminary where I was a student. Despite his busy schedule as bishop of one of the largest dioceses in the American Church, he took the time each week to teach a class to the seminarians. We learned a lot from him, but much more, we developed a close relationship with him. He knew each of us by name, and referred to us (as he did to all his priests) as “my sons in the Faith.” (There were no women priests or seminarians in those long-ago days.) To this day, one of my most cherished possessions is a portrait of the bishop with a lovely personal message he inscribed on it. It hangs in my study at home as a reminder of a great and beloved mentor.

Now it is certainly true that titles can be mere, even empty formalities, but it is also possible for them to be accurate descriptions of reality. It was so in my relationship with Bishop DeWolfe, and I rather think it was true for Onesimus and Saint Paul. Imagine the long talks the two of them would have had, especially about what Onesimus should do about his obligation to Philemon. As hard as it is for us 21^st century American Christians to understand, given our thoughts and feelings about human slavery, it seems that both Saint Paul and Onesimus came to the conclusion that, being a slave, Onesimus had a duty to return to his owner. Saint Paul, being in prison and so unable to accompany his disciple in person, decided to plead the young man’s case in writing, thanks to which we have the poignant letter we heard as the Epistle this morning.

Consider that, although in his letter Paul refers to Philemon as “a beloved fellow worker” and, at the end of the epistle, as “a partner,” the fact is that Saint Paul was an Apostle, that is a top leader of the Church, while Philemon was on a much lower level. An analogy would be if Father Fitzgerald and I were to receive a letter sent jointly by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Pope, and the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, calling us their partners and fellow servants of Jesus. It would be clear, I think, that such generous words would be expressive of great generosity by those prelates and not a notice that your priests had suddenly been elevated to a new and exalted status in the Church!

In his letter, Saint Paul did not command Philemon to do anything. He didn’t even assert his authority as an Apostle (something he was quite willing to do in other situations). Instead, he appealed in love to a brother in Christ, a fellow Christian, giving us a model of how God intends the Church to function, that is as a community of faith rather than as an organization of bosses and inferiors. Paul closes his letter by asking Philemon to receive his former slave as if Onesimus was the great Apostle himself! In other words, St. Paul was saying “Here, take this troublemaker back, and not only respect but love him as a brother.” (Paul was never lacking in nerve – the Yiddish word “chutzpah” would be an even better description!) But consider this: isn’t what Saint Paul asked of Philemon the very same thing you and I ask God every time we mess up, every time we sin, and then, repentant, ask God to forgive us and take us back? In fact, isn’t that what loving people do when loved ones or friends wrong us and then ask our forgiveness? That’s the way love works! It’s the basis for God’s acceptance of us and the model God gives us for our acceptance of others.

We have no record of what Philemon said or did about Onesimus when that young man finally returned, but based on the fact that Saint Paul’s letter was not only saved, but circulated to be read in all the churches, it seems likely that the Apostle’s appeal was heeded and Christian love won out. There is a curious and wonderful footnote to this story. In a letter written toward the end of the first century by Saint Ignatius of Antioch, there is mention of a man who became Bishop of Ephesus – a man with an uncommon name – Onesimus. All this is part of our family history as Christians – a spiritual ancestry of which we may justly be proud, but also one from which we do well to learn. Might there be someone in your life right now toward whom forgiveness and love would be closer to God’s will than retaining anger or hurt? In some way, might Saint Paul’s letter be meant not only for Philemon, but for you?

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The Reverend Alfred T. K. Zadig, Sr.

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