Thursday in the 32nd Week of Ordinary Time, November 14, 2024

Philemon 7-20

Beloved: I have experienced much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the holy ones have been refreshed by you, brother. Therefore, although I have the full right in Christ to order you to do what is proper, I rather urge you out of love, being as I am, Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus. I urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment, who was once useless to you but is now useful to both you and me. I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. I should have liked to retain him for myself, so that he might serve me on your behalf in my imprisonment for the Gospel, but I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary. Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man and in the Lord. So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me. And if he has done you any injustice or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, write this in my own hand: I will pay. May I not tell you that you owe me your very self. Yes, brother, may I profit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.

Various strategies may be used in making changes in society or even in another person’s life.  A ruler may use blunt force: Do this or face arrest.  Or, he may attempt to persuade his people to reap the benefits of a change in behavior.  Parents or superiors can use these as well.  With very small children, the parent simply says Yes or No.  With older children, persuasion works more effectively.

In his Letter to Philemon, St. Paul describes how a man named Onesimus, a slave belonging to Paul’s disciple, Philemon, escaped and assisted Paul while he was imprisoned.  After some time had passed, either Paul received news that Philemon wanted his slave returned to him or Paul decided on his own to resolve the situation.  To do this, Paul needed to send Onesimus back to Philemon.  But Paul saw that slavery, an institution nearly as old as the human race, contradicted the teachings of the Lord Jesus.  He wrote, then, this Letter.  And rather than command his disciple, who owed his gift of faith to Paul’s preaching and prayers, Paul sought to persuade him to see Onesimus not as his property, but as his brother.  The command would have set Philemon as an antagonist and the matter would have devolved to a question of ownership.  The persuasion shows Philemon the reality: that in Christ we are all equal, we are brothers and sisters: “For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ.There is neither Jew nor Greek: there is neither slave nor free . . . for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3, 27-28).

“I have experienced much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the holy ones have been refreshed by you, brother.”  Paul prudently begins by praising Philemon for his charity towards his fellow believers.  This also introduces Paul’s main theme.  “Therefore, although I have the full right in Christ to order you to do what is proper, I rather urge you out of love, being as I am, Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus.”  He calls on Philemon to receive Onesimus as a brother and not as his slave, saying that this is “what is proper”, even though this is extraordinary for the place and the time.  Paul reminds Philemon that he could order him to do so as he is an Apostle but also as one who was enduring imprisonment for the sake of Christ.  

“I urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment, who was once useless to you but is now useful to both you and me.”  Paul calls Onesimus his “child”, that is, his disciple.  This makes Onesimus an equal to Philemon, who is also Paul’s “child”.  “I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.”  He is useful to Paul for carrying out errands and providing other services for him.  In this way he acts in service to the Gospel, which benefits Philemon too, for the slave came to Paul through the master.  Paul calls him his “heart”, elevating him from slave to disciple to beloved son, making it now virtually impossible for Philemon to take Onesimus back as a slave.

“I should have liked to retain him for myself, so that he might serve me on your behalf in my imprisonment for the Gospel, but I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.”  Paul now elicits Philemon’s consent for Onesimus to return to serve him.  We should notice Paul’s shrewdness: he sends Onesimus back and also requests that Philemon free him so that he could return to Paul.  The Apostle presents Philemon with the appearance of a choice while making it very difficult for Philemon to do other than what Paul wants.  “Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man and in the Lord.”  Paul now proposes that God had willed for Onesimus to leave Philemon so that he might teach Philemon the equality of all believers in Christ.  “So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.”  Paul elevates Onesimus one step further: as though he were Paul himself.

“And if he has done you any injustice or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, write this in my own hand: I will pay. May I not tell you that you owe me your very self.”  See what Paul does here: he makes an offer to Philemon and then makes it impossible for Philemon to take it up.  “Yes, brother, may I profit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.”  Paul now says that Philemon’s consent to his request — to set Onesimus free to return to Paul — will profit him, implying that Philemon will profit spiritually through this action.  He asks him to “refresh” his heart in Christ, reminding him again of his current imprisonment, where he suffers from hunger and thirst, for the sake of the Lord Jesus.  

Sometimes the best way to preach is indirectly through our everyday actions, through asking questions rooted in genuine curiosity, and by assisting others in their need.  In a world that flares with hostility towards religion, this may be the best way to make inroads.  As pertinent now as ever are the words of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 10, 16: “Behold I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore crafty as serpents and innocent as doves.”