The word for the day is Phronesis . . . St. Mark's, Berkely Springs

      Good morning.  It is good to be here among you this Sunday morning.  As most of you have already figured out by my last name, I am Nathan’s father and George’s son.  So, before we get started, on behalf of my wife and me, I would like to thank you for your kind acceptance of Nathan among you and your tolerance of his passionate ideas.  We’ve known him his whole life and know firsthand the cross that God has called you to bear inviting him into your worshipping community!  On behalf of professional Christians, though, thank you for not smothering him or treating him like a seal pup among great white sharks.  In tight knit communities such as St. Mark’s, I know how excited people are to have visitors, let alone young visitors.  You seem to walk that line of being attentive but not smothering, inviting but not capturing!  So thank you for that, too.

     By way of introduction to those of you who do not know Nathan or my dad, I am Brian McVey.  I am the rector of the historic Church of the Advent in Nashville.  I am married to Karen.  Together we have seven children, five of whom are worshipping here today.  The advantage of so many kids for a priest is obvious to you this morning.  Nathan is serving as the Chalice Bearer, and Joshua is serving as our acolyte.  We are on our return trip to Nashville after two weeks of vacation on the southern coast of Maine.  Nathan volunteered me to do a Eucharist, since I was going to be in the neighborhood.  You are laughing, but if you know Nathan. . . On a serious note, Nathan also understands I understand how starved people are in our Episcopal communities for the Eucharist.  I have served on the Board of Directors in two different dioceses, and I am often appalled at the infrequency by which we make the Eucharist available in the best of times.  Since much of that work is done by those retired in our dioceses, and they are of a certain maturity, the pandemic has made that feeding even more challenging.  All that is to say that Nathan volunteered me knowing it was not much of an ask.  One cannot gripe about problems and not be willing to be part of the solution, right?

     Of course, with introductions aside and a bit of humor injected to relax us, I have to confess I was not thrilled about the readings this week.  When Michelle checked in on Monday to see if I needed anything, see sounded very relaxed that she would not be preaching.  I know that sigh of relief.  So, I opened the lectionary.  My preference when visiting congregations is to preach the Gospel from the Old Testament.  Most folks never hear sermons on the OT, so they enjoy the newness of such sermons.  It makes people think I am a unique preacher, even though we all know in our heads that the OT served as the preaching and teaching material for Jesus.  For my part, I understand that sermons are meant to be illustrated by experiences and events common to the gathered community.  Since I have not been among you, my concerns might not be your concerns.  My worries, might not be your worries.  But our readings from both Amos and the Psalm were sort of “meh.”  Who would really challenge God for those words?  Plus, Nathan assures me that there are none among you arguing with God’s words that we should be tending the sick, caring for the poor, feeding the hungry, and the like . . .  at least not openly.

     Of course, the Gospel lesson from Luke was about the so-called “Unjust Steward,” which is the real reason Michelle was excited not to preach this week, right?  Michelle is in great company wrestling with this lesson.  Most experts will agree that this is Jesus’ most controversial parable in all the Gospels.  Heck, the name of the parable in most circles is the Unjust Steward.  Jesus seems to be praising a guy for stealing from his employer and commending Christians to do the same.  Many of us get all up in knots trying to worm our way out of a perceived conundrum.  I do not want to encourage my flock to steal or do unjust things, but Jesus seems to make the steward the hero of the story.  In the Episcopal church, where we often do not like to be challenged or educated, there’s only so much that can be done in less than ten minutes of preaching.  As it nears the onset of the Stewardship season in many of our churches, some of our brothers and sisters will be hearing a sermon that says something along the lines of “get wealth however, just make sure to give God His.”  I see some nods.  You have heard that sermon.

     Events in the world, of course, made it plain even to Bartimaeus that this was where we needed to spend our time together today.  But before I comment on the news and social media posts on that event, I need to give a bit more of my background.  I promise you, I am about to offend all of you, no matter your political party affiliation.  While I was serving a small parish in Iowa, I was named an Episcopal Church Fellow for my work fighting human trafficking.  To make a long story very short, back in the days when you thought slavery was something decided in the Civil War, we had discovered an evil in our midst.  Human beings were being sold, at far cheaper prices than in the 19^th century I might add, in our midst.  American human beings as well as foreigners.  So, in our infinite trust in God, we undertook to do what we could.  I was honored as the point man for the work, but the parish was named a Jubilee Parish by the national church.  It was a glorious failure.  As you all know, slavery still has not been eliminated, but now I spend none of my time trying to convince normal people that it still exists among us.

     In that work, I was tasked in the beginning of convincing people in the pews and world that this problem was real.  I had seen it.  I had met slaves.  I had me slavers.  Of course, others were doing great work elsewhere, but we were nowhere near united in our efforts nor our understandings.  Among those I had to convince of the seriousness of the problem were politicians.  In many cases, I had to convince Senators and members of the House of Delegates, you know—federal politicians, of the existence of the evil and what should be done to fight it.  To free up our time today, let’s just say I was incredibly disappointed to encounter men and women of both parties who expected money in exchange for their willingness to fight the evil of slavery in our midst.  Some might accuse me of cynicism today.  I’m not sure it’s being cynical when the reality of the hands out is so real.  But, to be fair to their concerns, I have adapted that joke that was told three decades ago when my father was in law school in Morgantown.  What do you call a busload of lawyers going off a cliff?  A good start!  Ah, I see some of you have met lawyers.  Did you know that most of our politicians are lawyers?  Yes, yes, I know.  Charles is a member of this parish and my dad’s partner.  I can poke a bit of fun but remind us all of the reality in which we find ourselves.  Few politicians genuinely care about us.  Nearly all care about the next election rather than governing well.

     That point was driven home this week when the planeload of undocumented immigrants arrived in Martha’s Vineyard.  Two governors, both of whom seem to be gunning for the Presidency, seem to be getting the blame or praise, depending upon one’s political affiliation, for sending undocumented immigrants to one of the more privileged enclaves in our country.  Most of us think it a stunt.  If we are closely aligned with the governors’ party, we think it a brilliant move designed to draw attention to failed immigration policies.  If we are more closely aligned to the politics of Martha’s Vineyard, we think it a cynical move and a waste of precious resources.  Too many on both sides have zero regard for the human beings involved.  I know our brothers and sisters at the local Episcopal Church stepped up to feed and provide beds for the pawns of our politicians, and we should pat them on the back for their hard work.  But in those same interviews, people expressed the need to send the immigrants elsewhere to get the services they need, as if Martha’s Vineyard does not have access to whatever the people want there.  Ask yourself now, in light of the reading from Luke, were the governors’ actions shrewd and worthy of Christ’s praise?  And should Christians pawn off their calls to serve on others?  If you are squirming, you know the answer.

     Tough questions, are they not?  No matter our personal politics, we see the difficulty of this parable playing out in the world around us.  Part of our problem is the reality of the problem and the hearts of those involved.  Is our immigration system in need of repair?  You bet!  My father’s mother spent more than a decade fighting through the system, I guess because she was part of some advanced Canadian reconnoiter force for when Canada finally attacks and conquers us?  You are laughing, but have you any experience with our immigration system at all?  To say our system is in need of repair is an understatement, but to say our politicians like it that way is truth.  Both parties have controlled the Executive and Legislative Branches of our Federal government at various times over the last three decades.  What changes did they make when they had pwoer?  What work did they do to align the system more with the values they proclaim?  That squirm you feel, I call it a spiritual wedgie.  It’s like the Holy Spirit gave you an uncomfortable wedgie like you used to get in the halls of school.  When we begin to realize that our own party is more interested in the next election than in governing according to the principles for which we elect them, it makes us uncomfortable.  It makes us realize that maybe Jesus is speaking about us when He instructs His disciples that the children of light, you and me and all the disciples of Christ, are less shrewd in dealing with our generation than the children of the age!

     We should not be too surprised to hear this criticism by Jesus, though.  How many people do we know that are sincerely convinced Jesus would be a Republican or a Democrat, were He walking the earth today?  And do we want to talk about those people who think they are glorifying God when they demand America is the new Israel or that we need a Christian theocracy to fix everything wrong with America?  Know any Christians who think God is capricious and sends evil with good to teach us lessons?  Ever been told while you were mourning the death of a loved one that God needed another angel?  Our list can go on and on because our Lord was absolutely correct!  We are not the most shrewd people ever to walk the earth.  In fact, we seem to tend toward one extreme or another.  We do zero planning or we try to schedule God, as if He needs our help staying on a timeline.  Again, you are laughing, but it is because you know people like both sides.

     The parable today really hinges on a word.  My church is used to me because I have been among them for almost eight years now.  They know my job is to make them better imitators of Christ rather than rabid Democrats or rabid Republicans.  You all will just be forced to play catch up.  The word that Jesus uses in this passage that we often translate as shrewd is phronesis.  Phronesis is a word with some significant cultural history in the Ancient Near East.  As you all know, I was on vacation and did not bring my commentaries or other resources, so this will be more from memory.  Phronesis is a word that best describes the practical experience of applying a goal to reach a defines end.  I was first exposed to it as a freshman in college reading Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics.  Some folks will take away from their reading of the ethics that there is a big difference between theory and practice.  I see agreement, but it does not appear that many of you have read Aristotle.  While it is true that ethics must be applied in real life, there is a correct way to apply those things we have learned.  To do so correctly, one must have a correct goal in mind and an understanding of the principles involved.  That application of principles to reach a particular goal is summed up by the word that Luke puts in the mouth of Jesus.

     I see I have confused some of you.  Let’s try this.  What is our primary goal as imitators of Christ?  To glorify God in our lives, right?  How do we best do that?  We apply the instructions and commandments He gave us and we inwardly digest from the Scriptures, to use one Collect you will hear in a couple months.  We use Jesus as a pattern of holy living, to use the words of a Collect you heard a few weeks ago.  Applying the principles properly in service of a goal is phronesis.  So, when we live according to God’s teachings or examples, and we glorify Him in our lives, we are living shrewdly, or according to phronesis.  I’ll give you two good examples as a counterpoint to our Martha’s Vineyard example.  As part of my work educating the world about and fighting human trafficking, I was named to the Rome Consultation by the Holy Father and the Archbishop of Canterbury.  You will get to see Justin preaching tomorrow at the queen’s funeral, if you do not know much about him.  Most of you think you know who Francis is.  You don’t.  Francis is far more able to apply principles in the accomplishment of a goal than most of us, which is a long was of saying he is shrewd.

     A few years ago, there appeared in the newspaper in Rome an interview with a cardinal.  The reporter was interviewing the cardinal about the new Pope.  The cardinal complained that the Holy Father expected the princes of the Church to give up their castles and fancy cars and to eat with the homeless.  This latter exhortation particularly disturbed the cardinal in question.  He passed off the trappings of wealth and power and prestige as Francis’ Franciscan views, easily understood and dismissed.  But expecting the cardinals and bishops to eat with the homeless?  That was crazy!  On top of everything else, they smell bad because they cannot bathe.

     Shortly after that interview in the paper, the reporter was invited to interview the Holy Father.  Naturally, the reporter showed up to ask questions of the Pope about settling into his new role.  During the course of the interview, the reporter asked the Pope about the public showers being constructed in St. Peter’s Square.  The Pope, for his part, said he had read with interest the complaint of his brother bishop in the earlier article.  It dawned on him, as he read the article, that his brother bishop had a point.  He imagined that the homeless people were declining the dinner invitations of his brother bishops because they knew they smelled bad.  He was certain the homeless did not want to offend his brother bishops’ sensibilities with bad smells.  I mean, Jesus clearly cleaned everyone before He fed them in the Gospels, right?

     Do you see what Francis did there?  In modern parlance we would say the Pope pawned the cardinal.  Unlike the governors, though, the Pope’s primary goal was to glorify God.  Could he have called the cardinal names?  Sure.  Could he have retired him?  Of course.  But look at what Francis did.  He used the Roman Church’s resource to provide more basic services to those on the margins of society.  Now, there are public showers available to those who would like to be clean.  St. Mark’s serves those food insecure in her midst her in Morgan County.  Have you served anyone whom you know needs more than food?  Good, you know.  By framing it the way he did, Pope Francis accomplished a couple things.  He reminded the princes of the Roman Church that they are called to the very ministry of Jesus.  Of all imitators of Christ, they should be among the best in the world.  We would say Francis pastored or discipled his cardinals and bishops.  He reminded them of their responsibility to be a servant among the people.  But he also disciplined a cardinal in need of accounting.  In eschewing Christ’s ministry in the world, the cardinal was dishonoring God.  Much as our US Senators each think they can be the next President, Roman cardinals think they can be the next Pope.  By disciplining this cardinal in this way, the Pope has forced one of two things.  Either the cardinal would start inviting and dining with the homeless, or he would prove himself to his brother cardinals that he was unfit to lead the Roman church upon the untimely death of Francis.  That, my friends, is phronesis.  Pope Francis applied many principles of discipleship to glorify God in his midst and did so rather spectacularly!

     One closer to home to you will be my own modest efforts these last couple weeks.  I will start by declaring I am a miserable sinner.  I get it.  But, I married into Maine.  My wife and her family have been going to the southern coast of Maine for generations.  You live close enough to Baltimore and other Atlantic locations to think seafood is normal.  Let’s just say that in the western part of the state where I grew up, seafood was not something frequently on our diet.  My wife introduced me to clam chowder and fried clam strips!  Her father showed me how to crack and pick a lobster, which is, as I learned, basically a butter delivery device.  All that is to say I enjoy Maine for the food.  Give me clam strips and chowder and chuckerberry chip ice cream, and I am tasting the appetizers of our Lord’s Great Marriage Feast!

     Anyway, there is a seasonal parish on Cape Neddick outside York, Maine called St. Peter’s by the Sea.  Guess why it is called that?  Anyway, they are open for services only during the vacation season.  I have been trying for sixteen years to be able to serve there during the summer.  In exchange for sacramental work, the priest and family get to live in the beautiful NE rectory for free!  You see where this is going, right?  Year in and year out, we go to church there.  My first bishop required that we wear collars when we are in church as a way to identify us to other clergy and the people among us.  That’s how I have ended up celebrating a lot of unexpected Eucharists.  But, no luck.

     This year, though, I took a different approach.  My bishop had been encouraging me, all of the clergy really, to take some serious sabbath time.  I am bad about time off.  My parish probably owes me 26 weeks or so of vacation after only seven years among them.  But, the pandemic has worn me out, as it has most clergy.  So I was just going to worship among the people anonymously.  That’s not to say, though, that I still was not hoping and praying.  When I found out that Bishop Gary, the retired bishop of W TX was going to be there during my time, I asked my bishop for good blackmail.  Bishop Gary manages the parish on behalf of the Maine diocesan.  My thought was that blackmail might work better than praying for the death of a colleague – once you get these gigs, it’s only death that separates one from them!  Lol  Yes, my bishop properly chastised me that neither praying for death or blackmailing a respected colleague was a good solution.  He told me to go and enjoy the break with my family.  Which I did.

     Of course, we serve a God who does His own thing in His own time, right?  Wouldn’t you know it, but Bishop Gary met Nathan at the early service that first Sunday.  Nathan needed his Rite 1 fix, as so many of his age seem to need.  When we showed up at the second service, Bishop Gary already knew a bit about us.  Before the coffee hour was over, Joshua had volunteered to acolyte the next week.  Much as you appreciate acolytes, so do they!  Last week, all the members kept thanking Joshua for his work.  For his part, Joshua kept telling them he was willing even to bring robes, if they would let his dad celebrate four weeks in the summer!  Before last Sunday was over, we had name tags!  All of us.  Even Nathan and Amanda and Robbie, none of who were with us that second week!  Now, you are likely to join my family in that prayer, right?  I mean, his son goes here, and he has to pass through town to go to Maine to see George.  If Brian gets that gig, we get two more Eucharists!  See, I hear the gears in your head spinning.  I and you learned another valuable lesson about phronesis.  If we trust God and trust His willingness to do what’s best for us, He usually does.  And in the end, He always does.  Maybe He knows my need for vacation better than I?  Maybe the timing just was not right?  But imitators of Christ know to trust in their Father in heaven, who can do all things, even arrange for cool vacations for so large a family or to feed, by means of His Body and Blood, a remote outpost in His Church!

     Back to our Martha’s Vineyard example, and pretty much any political example we might choose—were the politicians in questions motivated to glorify God in their midst?  Really, only they can answer that question truthfully.  But we can observe.  Are they known for glorifying God in all that they do, including governing?  Maybe the phronesis that they applied was good politics, but it was not at all in imitation of our Lord.  What of those called to serve the immigrants where ever they ended up?  Again, only they can truly answer their heart attitude to God, but we can observe.  Do they seem really to want what is best for those placed among them?  Or do they want “those people” to be the problem for those on the border because we like margins more than we like to admit?  And what of us?  What is our heart attitude to God?  Do we really trust Him?  Do we really believe that He wants us to glorify Him in our midst?  Or do we, instead, think He is lucky we chose to serve Him, that we are THAT important to the working out of His plan of salvation in our midst?

     The wonderful thing about serving God is His desire, His longing really, for us to glorify Him in our midst.  So much does He desire that that He has promised to redeem even our mistakes.  What others mean for evil, He can redeem?  What others used in order to depend upon our willingness to dehumanize, He can use to remind us of the image in which they and we stamped.  And what we try to apply properly, even if errantly, He can use not just to glorify Himself in the world around us, but in our own hearts and in our own minds.  When we begin to internalize the understanding that all He truly requires is an obedient heart, then we are on the path to true service and true imitation!  It is a life that is challenging, to be sure.  It is a life that requires cross-bearing.  But in the end, my brothers and sisters, it is the only life that matters.  You and I are called by our Lord to die to self and seek Him in all that we do.  We are called to apply that understanding and goal in all that we do, that the world might know and come to understand that we are not gullible, we are not foolish, that we are the ones who have inwardly digested shrewdness, phronesis, that we are the ones trying to live as He calls each one of us, that the world around us might be drawn into His saving embrace!

 

In His Peace,

Brian†

God doing more than we can ask or imagine in spite of the world and our failures . . .

      It would no doubt be disappointing to some if I did not use this occasion to speak a bit about slavery.  I know a number of you love for me to share stories from Rome, in particular, but even other stories from the fight against human trafficking.  I get it.  For the part of others, there is a bit of ambiguity in God’s teaching on the subject of slavery.  People will argue with me that God seems double-minded on the subject of slavery.  At times, God seems to commend slavery; at other times, God seems violently opposed to slavery.  I think our time together has helped some of you understand that God does treat slavery as a reality of the world, and a sinful one at that, but that God calls humanity not to oppress one another.  God, I see the nods.

     For Her part, the Church has been double-minded in Her attitudes toward slavery.  We can each go through the history of the Church in the United States in the 19^th Century and find churches and Christians who opposed slavery as well as those who used Scripture to justify their support of slavery.  But to be an equal opportunity offender, we should not be surprised.  How many “Christians” use the Scripture to justify any number of behaviors that are anything but Christ-like?  “Christian” business owners are often loathe to pay living wages.  “Christian” consumers care only about cost and access, not the well-being of the business employees.  “Christian” politicians develop platforms and policies which oppress the people they are meant to serve.  Ouch!  Too much?

     Thankfully, we at Advent have some spiritual forebears who wrestled with slavery.  This week, we were reminded of some of our history on Friday as the Church celebrated the life and witness of Constance and her Companions.  It hits closer to home because many of the sisters came from the former bishopric of our second rector, Charles Todd Quintard.  For his part, Quintard is celebrated by the wider Episcopal Church for his work as bishop of Tennessee and rector of this parish, though there is an effort in some corners to remove him from the calendar.  Then rector Quintard was such a “known Yankee sympathizer” that he was denied enlistment as the Chaplain and Surgeon of the 1^st Regiment of Nashville at the beginning of the Civil War.  For her part, Advent was known as a place that opposed slavery in the midst of the South.  In the 1850’s, then rector Quintard and the Vestry voted to allow their own slaves to worship with them on Sunday morning.  It was a huge and courageous and costly decision.  Almost a decade later, when the fighting started, it was assumed that our men would sabotage the fight.  And although Quintard was both a clergyman and a former surgeon, the officers of the 1^st Regiment declined his offer to serve.

     To be fair, and to remind us a bit about our proper perspective on saints, Advent was not the paragon of virtue that we might want in the 1850’s, even on the issue of slavery.  Though the Vestry was willing to allow their own slaves to worship God with them, the Vestry was unwilling to allow slaves not owned by Adventers to worship with them.  I can well imagine, given the blowback for the first decision, why the Vestry chose to make the second decision.  I can also well understand why then rector Quintard chose not to push them further.  We all get enough stress in life.  Who needs more from our place of worship, right?  I can well imagine that some Adventers were adept at defending the decision to let their own slaves worship with them but were unwilling to put up with more of the social stigma that came from other decisions.  And, saints are not super heroes of the faith, in the sense that Marvel or DC has come to define for the culture around us.  Saints have sins and flaws.  They also obey God and trust in Him.  So they often conquer in spite of themselves because of Him, right?  We celebrate God in the life of our saints, His willingness and desire to redeem and glorify sinners, not their particular maturity or depth of their faith.  Think Abraham and Sarah or Jacob or any other saint in the OT; think Peter or any of the Apostles in the NT.  Seeing God’s grace in their lives gives up hope and encouragement that He can overcome our own sins and unbelief!

     But back to the issue of slavery and to our letter from Paul to Philemon.  This letter was used by some in the church to defend the practice of slavery.  You only read the introduction, but you should be able to see how the buffet approach to Scripture might be used to make some who do not read Scripture that Paul supported slavery.  Does Paul explicitly command Philemon to free Onesimus in our passage today?  And if Paul does not explicitly command it, doesn’t that mean he supports the status quo?  See how that argument goes?  And if I know you have read the Scriptures enough to remind you that Paul calls himself a slave of Christ, but you do not know the context nor the seeming paradoxical freedom that comes from choosing to be a slave to Christ, you can see how some could effectively use the Scripture to champion slavery, to convince the masses, that God is ok with the injustice of slavery.

     Two things, before we go on:  (1) As Larry is fond of saying on Sunday mornings, be a Berean!  When somebody claims anything is of God, go read the Bible and test it.  Do not let them proof text you into dishonoring God.  Read the Scriptures.  Study them.  Inwardly digest them.  Yes, that is a Collect we pray twice a year!  That tells you how important it is that we be Bereans.  (2) When anybody claims God accepts an injustice, they are wrong.  You can discern if they are intentionally misleading you and others or if they are, themselves misled.  But they are wrong.  We like to think that God is love, right?  It’s on our bumper stickers and our social media posts.  Don’t forget, as much as God is love, He has also revealed to us that He is just.  And, just in case we forget that, we have the Cross to remind us!

     Back to our letter.  One of the challenges that we face as Christians is our relationship with the culture around us.  I mention that because I want us to understand that some things do not change.  We love to look down on those who are not as holy as we are, as God’s people have often done.  We also like to make allowances for behavior because we are always afraid of being those people.  Sitting in 21^st Century Nashville, with our 86 different people groups living among us, we think we are smarter and better than our predecessors.  We might be better on slavery, from we have our own issues with those on the margins around us.  If you believed that the food pantry would be unnecessary and only support those who are lazy among us, you are not unlike our predecessors at Advent.  If you believe that Medicare should not be expanded in the state with the dollars made available to us because “God helps those who help themselves,” you are not unlike our predecessors at Advent.  Heck, if you buy into the myth that young folk are lazy and want ridiculous pay for jobs, you are just like those who came before us and will likely follow in our footsteps.  When things seem to be going ok to good for us, we assume God is with us or for our behavior.  It’s human or sin nature.

     Go back in your mind to 1850’s Nashville.  What did people think of slaves?  They were property.  Some could be educated and work in the plantation or the back rooms of businesses, but none were fully human.  They had no inalienable rights.  What would it mean to decide to worship with them?  People around us would think us nuts!  Everyone knows they are beneath us.  Everyone knows they are beneath God.  Like the American South, Rome depended upon slavery for its very existence.  At its heights, maybe 100,000 individuals were citizens of Rome.  The good news is that most citizens were brown.  Those of Mediterranean heritage are not known to resemble Scandinavian or Celtic or Germanic people.  The bad news is that that about 1/3 of people within its boundaries were enslaved by the Empire.  The empire depended upon slavery for cheap labor, for transportation, and for the maintenance of the palatial villas.  How does one undo that attitude?  If you believe that God hates slavery and oppression, but your culture depends upon it for its very function and existence, what does it mean to represent God well in that circumstance?  Ah, see, now you understand one of the issues.  Our brothers and sisters at Advent faced much the same pastoral problem as our Saint Paul faced in the course of his life.

     Paul, for his part, has an interesting opportunity.  He has been imprisoned with a slave Onesimus, who is the slave of Philemon, a master whom Paul has led to the Gospel of Christ!  Could Paul make Philemon free Onesimus?  Spiritually, very likely.  Legally?  No way.  No one but the emperor could make a slave free in ancient Rome.  Were Philemon to accept Paul’s claims, Philemon would be limited in what he could do.  Because Onesimus had run away, Philemon would be bound even more stringently by the culture around him.  When one is outnumbered, one must often govern by threat of force and fear.  When slaves revolted or ran away in ancient Rome, they had to be tortured and killed to keep the other slaves in line.  Those of you who know the story of Spartacus know that outcome, right?  The Legion crucified every single gladiator who rebelled on the road to Rome.  And to make it perfectly clear how powerful the state was, none were allowed to be buried after their deaths.  Scavengers were responsible for taking down the bodies of the deceased.  Rome wanted and needed to demonstrate to everyone its absolute authority and power. 

     Paul, a citizen of Rome and one of the few-in-number beneficiaries of all that is Rome, knows all this.  He knows he can compel Philemon, but he tells Philemon and us he wants Philemon to act out of love of God, not duty toward God.  We would say that Paul wants Philemon to act as if his heart has truly been circumcised by the risen Christ.  How does one go about accomplishing such behavior given the cultural norms and the human propensity to try and fit in and reject God?  Now you understand part of my challenge.  How do I help you grow in your faith in Christ?  Notice I said help and not make.  I cannot make you do anything.  I can teach you about holy and righteous activity and expectations, but you have to choose to embrace my instruction.  Complicating things a bit more, most of us embrace the understanding that we are miserable or wretched sinners.  We know what God wants or expects most of the time; how often, though, do we choose our own way?

     It is very much like parenting, if we think about it.  In the beginning, when the kids are infants and toddlers, there mostly just a list of do’s and don’t’s, right?  Ever laugh at a new parent trying to explain to a toddler why they cannot have that toy in the store or the cookie right before supper?  How well does it go for the parent and for the child?  Ever have a child tell you you do not love them because you did not give into their demand immediately?  Ever tell your own parent, perhaps?  But as children age, good parents begin to teach the children about the why’s of behavior.  Age appropriately, we teach children the why’s of why do or do not do things.  How we do that may differ, but most parents recognize they are trying to teach the youth how to function in society and why we value or not value the principles or understandings we do.  Good.  I see nods.

     I’ll give you an example that most of you know, even though you may not know that you know it.  Know anybody who was forced by family to go through Confirmation?  We understand Confirmation to be the adult assent to the teaching of our faith.  The former child accepts the vows that were made on his or her behalf by parents and godparents.  But how many families force their youth to undergo the rite/sacrament either overtly or covertly?  Sometimes, the rationale is simply “this is what I did at your age and what your grandparents did at your age and you will do it, too.”  Oooh, I hope those squirms do not mean you had that fight with your own kids.  My job as a priest is to make sure that the youth wants to undertake Confirmation of their own free will, right?  It’s my job to step into that mess, earn the youth’s confidence, and do what is right for the youth and for the family.  It means I get to play the bad guy.  I take the barbs on behalf of the youth.  I do not think the youth is ready.  There’s so much discipling to do that we may have to wait a year.  I’m sorry but they failed the (imaginary) Confirmation test.  My goal is usually to get the family fussing at me so that the youth is left alone.  I prepare the youth and tell them I understand their loved ones will be speaking harshly behind my back.  They will likely be asked to join in and do.  As the youth comes to understand I have various crosses to bear, some even on their behalf, as part of my vocation, my hope is that the youth will examine the faith of the family and make the decision to make the public proclamation for themselves.  If they do not, of course, that gives me insight about the family.

     Paul, for his part, is doing a similar thing with respect to slavery.  Paul is using all the tools a student of rhetoric would use to get another person, one under their instruction especially, to embrace the correct behavior for the right reason.  Paul begins the letter by stating who is present and who he is writing.  Philemon is praised as a beloved coworker by Paul.  Would that Paul called every one of us Adventers beloved coworkers!  Can you imagine how that would encourage and exhort you?!  Paul called ME a beloved coworker!  ME!  We laugh, but we understand why Paul does this.  Paul is elevating the disciple under his tutelage in the same way Jesus elevated the Apostles when He named them friends.  It is not flattery in the way we understand such things.  It is a subconscious reminder that God calls us to grow, to mature in our faith and our understanding.  In the beginning, we do the things He commands because we are convinced He knows what is best for us and able to redeem our mistakes.  Over time, though, we experience His redemptive power and begin to internally digest His teachings as we become more familiar with His heart.  For his part, Paul is reminding Philemon that that Philemon is a coworker with Paul.  Both serve the same master, Jesus.  Both are about His work.

     Paul does use some humor to lighten the mood.  Your Bibles at home will have notes explaining the name of the slave, Onesimus, as meaning useful.  There is an obvious play on words.  Before, Philemon, you thought Onesimus as worthless slave, but now he truly is useful.  In other words, Paul is, through humor, teaching the slave’s master that the slave is living into his name.

     Again, we get this.  Jesus reminds us not to disparage those in the world around us.  When we begin to think of them as the idiot or moron or whatever names we use, we dehumanize them.  We begin to forget that they are created in the image of the Son, just as we are.  Think of the war in Ukraine.  Ukraine calls the Russian soldiers orcs.  Why?  It is so they and we will not feel bad about their slaughter on the battlefield.  Most of us understand that Russians had no desire to fight Ukraine before the war started.  It would be like us invading Canada.  But Ukraine has turned to dehumanizing the soldiers they fight, even though they know those soldiers did not want to be there, so that Ukrainians and others would not feel sorry for the deaths about the Russian soldiers.

     Now, Philemon is being challenged by the Apostle Paul, the man responsible for discipling him in the teachings of Jesus Christ and of God in the torah, declares his worthless slave is truly valuable, useful.

     Paul gives the credit of Onesimus’ service to Philemon.  Paul writes that Onesimus has served Paul and Timothy and Luke and others there well in Philemon’s stead.  And just as Paul gives the credit of Onesimus’ work to Philemon, Paul asks Philemon to charge Paul for any debts, be they physical, emotional, or other.  If Philemon wants the credit of having ministered to Paul and the other saints, he will have to charge them the debts rather than the slave.  Paul tells Philemon openly what he is doing.  He could command Philemon, but he would rather Philemon choose to act this way, to glorify God in this.

     Knowing his audience well, Paul goes one more step.  He assumes the close, to use sales lingo.  Paul writes that he is certain that Philemon will do even more than he asks.

     Critics in the world today love to complain about this letter as not being overtly critical of slavery.  In such minds, Paul fails Onesimus because he does not command Philemon to reject slavery.  I have had people engage me unironically that Paul failed when given the chance to speak against slavery.  But understand the context and then look at Paul’s words.  Will Philemon or Paul be able to eliminate slavery in the Roman Empire? Of course not!  But can the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus be reconciled and redeemed, thanks to the saving work of Christ and the faithful ministering of Paul?  You better believe it.  Paul instructs Philemon that Onesimus is now a brother in Christ.  Can one treat a brother or sister as piece of property?  Can one truly claim to be a disciple of Christ, an imitator of Jesus, and dehumanize or devalue another human being, let alone another who confesses faith in the Risen Christ?  No!  As I am traveling and you are all doing Morning Prayer, you have been reminded in the closing prayer about how God does more than we can ask or imagine.  Think of Onesimus’ experience in all this.  When he fled his master Philemon, he knew the likely outcome.  At best he would be beaten; at worst he would be tortured and killed.  But Onesimus met this man named Paul, who taught him about this Man named Jesus.  So convinced was Onesimus of Paul’s teachings that he was willing to go back and face the wrath of his owner, who happened also to be a believer in Christ and similarly discipled by this Paul.  He left expecting to be hunted as a fugitive and beaten or killed.  Now he is being sent back to his master and being called a brother.

     Better still, as Paul Harvey use to say, there’s more!  We do not know the outcome of this letter for sure.  Imagine how hard it would be for you to reject a direct instruction from Paul, and you owe him nothing in your mind and heart.  But imagine how hard that would be.  We can well imagine what Philemon likely did.  But can we?  A first century bishop named Ignatius wrote a letter to Ephesus that survives to this day.  In the beginning of the letter, he commends the Ephesians for their new bishop.  Ignatius remarks on the challenges and strengths of the Ephesians, but also on the excellence of their new bishop, Bishop Onesimus.  Do we know it to be the same man?  No.  Is it a matter important to our salvation?  Again, no.  But it is a bit of a unique name, is it not?  Could it be that same man somehow eventually became the bishop of the church in Ephesus?  Sure.  It is also possible that someone who heard the story of the slave Onesimus and the master Philemon and chose the name to remind himself that he was called to be a bishop useful to the Ephesians.  Better still and in any event, you and I remember today the name of a nameless slave in Rome, thanks to the mercy and faithfulness of God!  You and I are reminded of God’s call on humanity to choose to serve Him, that in service of Him do we find true freedom and true meaning.  We find that we are reminded by the story of Onesimus that no one in our midst should ever be dehumanized, that everyone we meet was stamped in the same image of God as were we, and that nothing causes a celebration like the one when another chooses to serve the Father who created them!

     The story is clear that slaver is a worldly evil.  Slavery exists because we are sinners and constantly choose darkness over the light, to serve idols of our own creation in lieu of the One who created each one of us, to trust in our own wisdom and strength rather than the One who created all things, who raised Jesus from the dead, and who promises one glorious Day to recreate all!  But in that lesson on God’s hatred of slavery, you and I are given more understanding.  We recognize in our own patterns how we reject others in His Name, how we treat “undesireables” in His Name, reflects on our relationship with and understanding of His heart.  And reminded, we repent.  We are absolved because of His mercy and love of us.  And we are sent back out into the world to try again, to go forth as heralds of His saving grace, to fight evil in His Name, confident that, in the end, He will overcome and redeem.  And though the world might see us laboring as failures, we know better.  In truth, we know Him better.  In the end, He and His servants will be vindicated for having chosen to serve Him.  In the end, His servants will know true freedom and what it means to be truly human, because in the end, only the Creator can make it possible for us to be who and what He created us to be!

     This short letter tells a glorious story!  The story tells an incredible God-incident.  A slave runs away from a master and meets the same imitator/teacher of Christ.  What are the odds in so big a world?  But in this story we realize a master, who claimed to know Christ, was not living as if he truly understood the Gospel.  But Philemon was, apparently trying.  Philemon, by Paul’s writing and God’s preservation of this letter, was struggling to live as if he believed in what Paul had taught him.  Now, against all expectation a slave returns to face the consequences of his failure.  Now, against all expectation, he and his new brother can experience a relationship that God desires all human beings to share.  And in that redemption, you and I are given hope.  The same God who redeemed Philemon’s treatment of his useless slave promises to redeem all that we do.  Can you truly imagine?

 

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†