God makes that which is worthless, priceless!

      I wish I had greater clarity about what to preach this week.  I settled on Philemon because people have been asking questions or commenting on trafficking and modern slavery, and it is an important teaching in our own parish history.  But I could have been easily swayed to preach on the dangers our Christian Nationalist friends should see in Jeremiah’s warning this morning.  And the Gospel lesson might need a reminder that the word translated as hate by our translators today should be more or first understood comparatively.  When clarity is not present, blame the preacher; but do feel free to grab me this week if I did not choose what you needed.

     Today is the only time in the three-year cycle of the lectionary that we read from Paul’s letter to Philemon.  So, if you do not know it or remember it, that can be a large part of why.  Those who like to tease their friends can tell them I preached such a great sermon on the letter today that you felt called by God to read the whole book.  Before you groan, we read all but 4 verses of the book.  So, if someone is impressed that you ran home and read the whole book of Philemon, you know they do not know their Bible that well.  Philemon is actually the third shortest book, when it comes to word count.  I will leave it to you to figure those out for your studying pleasure!

     The entire subject of Paul’s letter is slavery, which is why it has been important in our past as a parish and as those who live in the South.  Of course, the slavery of Rome was different than the slavery of the South in the lead up to the Civil War.  But, as one survivor once reminded me, slavery and oppression are all the same.  Once you lose control of your life, there’s no good.

     To put the letter in context, though, we need to remember that when this letter was written, likely around AD 60, there were maybe 300,000 citizens like Paul and maybe as many as 10 million slaves.  Historians like to argue over the numbers, so you may read there were as few as a 100,000 citizens and 5 million slaves; and you may read higher numbers.  What is important to us is the response to runaway slaves.  Rome was constantly on guard about the numbers game between the upper class and the lower classes.  There was often a genuine worry that the slaves could overwhelm the upper class by sheer numbers.  So, when a slave escaped, it was an event.  Everybody in the community was on the lookout for the runaway slave.  Punishment for capture depended a bit on how the slave had worked prior to running away, any crimes they committed while free, and the on the temperament of the slave owner.  Those that got off the easiest just had to do the most menial jobs after their punishment.  Some returned slaves were beaten and/or branded with an F for fugitive on the forehead.  Some were maimed to prevent future flight.  Some were sold into an Ergastulum, think the worst prison imaginable, or even to gladiator schools.  The perceived worst were killed in tortuous ways, often by crucifixion.

     I assume everyone has seen the movie Spartacus with Kirk Douglass.  That rebellion was the fear of every community in Rome.  Though Crassus eventually defeated the army of freed slaves, and crucified them along the way back to Rome as a warning to others who shared their thoughts, communities were ravaged by the slave army before their defeat.  No one wanted a repeat of that!  That’s the context of our letter today.

     A slave deemed worthless by a man named Philemon, whom we think lived in Colossae and certainly Asia Minor, has run away.  For reasons known only to the slave, he has made his way to Rome, where he has encountered the Apostle Paul, who is imprisoned – we read about that at the end of Acts, for those who want more details.  Paul writes the letter, telling the recipients that Timothy is with them.  That greeting is likely important for two reasons: to let them know that Timothy sends greetings and that Paul’s decision to write this letter is VERY intentional.

     Paul greets Philemon, Apphia, Archippus, and others in this house church hosted by Philemon.  This will be important in a few minutes.

     Paul shares that he prays for them always and hopes that they may perceive all the good that they may do for Christ, and he tells Philemon and the others that the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through them.  All that serves as the leadup to Paul’s purpose in writing the letter.

     Paul states that he could command Philemon to do what he is about to ask, but he wants Philemon to choose to do the right thing on the basis of love.  Yes, Paul plays on Philemon’s sympathies by reminding Philemon he is old and now a prisoner, but Paul really wants Philemon to make the right choice here.  Think weird Barbie and Stereotypical Barbie in the movie last year.  Weird Barbie offers Stereotypical Barbie the opportunity to discover the reason for the portal and to close it or to stay in Barbieland.  Stereotypical Barbie choose to stay.  Weird Barbie offers the choice again.  Stereotypical Barbie again chooses wrong.  Weird Barbie tells her she has to go to the real world or learn to live with cellulite, she just wanted to give her the opportunity to think she was in charge of her own fate.  It’s kinda like that, except Paul really wants Philemon to choose based on love.

     It turns out that Philemon’s runaway slave has made his way to Rome and met Paul, who has shared the Gospel with the slave.  In fact, Paul has so discipled Onesimus that he will be the one returning the letter and risking his life or well-being!  Paul tells Philemon he preferred to keep the slave, but he wanted Philemon’s consent.  And Paul writes that maybe this is why Onesimus was separated from Philemon for a while, so that Philemon might have him back for ever.

     Then comes the big ask: If you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would me.  Charge his debts to my account.  Understand, the who community would be in an uproar over the runaway slave.  Bounty hunters have likely been employed.  Philemon will be taking a real risk, if he does not severely punish Onesimus and make a public spectacle of his return.  That’s likely the reason Paul does not command Philemon but rather prays he makes the right decision out of love.

     Paul is, of course, not done.  Paul tells everyone in attendance he is writing this letter in his own hand.  We have a lot of doctors in this congregation, so we have a lot of illegible handwriting in this congregation.  Paul does not see well.  He always has someone like Timothy or Luke write the letters he dictates.  I have seen his writing on the walls of that prison.  Imagine a doctor’s writing but with peaks and valleys.  You read it going up and down and complain that he cannot write in a straight line.  That’s what Paul’s writing was like.  It was expensive, too.  Papyrus cost money.  Meandering writing wasted papyrus.  This is so important to Paul, though, he writes it himself, aware of the challenge and the expense to drive the point home to Philemon.  Paul knows what he is asking.

     Paul, of course, writes that he will say nothing about what Philemon owes him.  By writing that, he is of course reminding Philemon what Philemon owes him, namely the sharing of and hope found in the Gospel of Christ Jesus!  Like Onesimus, Philemon was persuaded by Paul’s arguments that Jesus was the Messiah of God.  Is it passive aggressive?  Maybe?  I think it aggressive.  Paul has given this letter to be read to the congregation meeting at Philemon’s house.  The leaders have been praised by Paul, as has Philemon, and now Philemon must make a decision in front of them.  Reject Paul and reject the Lord, or do the right thing for the right reason knowing the risks and potential cost.  Paul has set the table to make sure Philemon does the right thing, as many of us often do with our children or valued employees.

     The letter is important in our history in that it was one of the ways in which our predecessors made the courageous decision to allow their slaves to worship at Advent.  Others read, and still read, this letter and, because Paul does not condemn slavery outright, decided God thought slaves the natural order of things.  Quintard and our predecessors read it to understand that a slave cannot truly be a brother in Christ or adopted son of God.  For their understanding and decision, they were labelled Yankee Sympathizers.  They were mocked and shunned.  Initially, they were not even allowed to join the Confederate Army.  But they were correct.  God wants all people to come to Him, of their own free will.  More wondrously, He entrusts that invitation to men and women like Paul or Apphia or Philemon or you or me.  He trusts us to make the right decision based on our understandings of what He has done for us, just like Paul trusts Philemon.

     It is a good story for us individually and corporately.  Like the house church at Philemon’s, our ancestors made good and bad decisions.  Through it all, God was at work, discipling, maturing, and transforming.  It would be a good story if I ended there, but there is a Paul Harvey more to this story as there often is in the Gospel.

     Some in the modern world and Church condemn Paul for not outright condemning slavery, as if he was not a someone in his own context.  We are able to evaluate such things because our context is very different.  Such people like to fuss about Paul in this letter because we do not know how Philemon chose.  Since it was not commanded by Paul, Philemon might have continued to enslave Onesimus and punished him accordingly.

     For the most part, Philemon disappears from history.  He appears in one sentence in the letter to the Colossians, where Paul dictates he is sending Onesimus back.  But that is it.  Except for some other extent writings.  They are not Scriptural so we must acknowledge that we cannot accept them with the same certainty or trust.  But Philemon is listed in early Church writings as one of those killed in the mid-60’s in the great persecution of Nero.  The early Church considered Philemon one of those who was willing to die and eventually did die for his faith.  How do we think such a man would have responded to that letter we just read?  Would he respond out of fear, or would he have responded out of love, trusting God to keep His promises to Him?

     Onesimus’ story is also pretty cool.  Some extant literature has him dying as a martyr with his former master in Colossae.  But other literature speaks of Bishop Onesimus.  On the one hand, we can accept that God was so at work in the life of a useless slave that He transformed that worthless slave into a worthless bishop!  I know, I know, the real play on words is a worthless slave into a useful bishop, but I could not help myself at the joke, and, as one of our 8 o’clockers asked between the services: Can there be a truly useful bishop?  There can, with God’s help and God’s grace!

     If Onesimus died in the Nero persecution, the story is no less amazing.  Within a few short years of our letter, in a world where cell phones, e-mails, texting, and other forms of instantaneous communication did not exist, somehow this story was known.  This letter and its results traveled throughout the Church, and three men took the name Onesimus at their consecration, indicating they wanted to be a useful bishop to God.  Or, given the fact that Onesimus is not exactly a common name, our Onesimus survived, was eventually consecrated a bishop, and served three dioceses.  In either case, it worth remembering and sharing.

     And reminding.  The same God who worked in and through people like Paul, Apphia, Onesimus, Quintard, and all our predecessors at Advent, wants to work through us.  That same transformative grace that made them all worth remembering and considering makes the same possible for you and for me.  Reminded of that truth, and nourished by His Body and Blood, we are sent out into the world to be those clay vessels which He shapes and finishes, and leaves as His marker of salvation in the world around us!

 

In His Peace,
Brian+

On rest and liberation . . .

      It might have been fun to preach on Hebrews like a commercial opportunity, since we are starting Hebrews on Tuesday evenings sometime next month.  I think it was Greg Platt who joked last Tuesday night we could speed up the end of Acts by saying Paul takes a cruise, gets shipwrecked, makes his way finally to Rome, and is acquitted.  There’s a lot in that, obviously, but we are nearing the end.  And Hebrews gives us the two mountains passage this week, which is always good for discussion.  Part of Jeremiah’s passage today is famous, and a few of us might be learning it occurs in the context of God reminding Jeremiah and us that, when He gives us work to do, we would do well not to downplay any thoughts of ourselves.  Though Jeremiah has no real idea how to speak and what to say at the beginning, He is instructed by God that he will be appointed of nations and kingdoms and prophesying destruction and overthrow as well a building and planting.  It will be a heady responsibility, like many assignments God gives His people.

     I was drawn, though, to Luke’s passage for a number of reasons.  I have had an increased share of conversations about miracles at the Y the last couple weeks.  None of them differ from my discussions with Jim Martin over the years, except in terms of obstinacy or perseverance.  For those of you who did not know Jim, he loved to argue that the miracles of Scripture were unbelievable and unnecessary.  For my part, I thought it an act of sorts or a personal ministry.  He would say stuff others were thinking or reading online, especially in Wrestling with Faith.  Our passage from Luke today, though, addresses a number of issues that touch on Jesus’ identity, the teachings of the Church, a lot on the Sabbath, and a commentary on the human will.  I will not be doing a deep dive on all of it, but feel free to ask one of the Tuesday night Bible Study group.  We covered this at length before we read Acts!

     One of the literary devices that Luke is utilizing today is the repeating pattern of a story.  Luke tells similar stories near the beginning and near the end of Jesus’ Ministry in order, among some other reasons, to show us that the human responses we see or experience when telling the stories of the Gospel are no different than those of Jesus’ experience.  They also help remind us that human hearts are human hearts.  Way back in chapter 4, Jesus heals a man in the synagogue who is possessed by unclean spirits.  After that miracle, reports go out among the countryside.  But it is not attractive as we might believe or hope.  People note Jesus’ authoritative teaching and, of course, His authority over the demons, and the fact that He exercises this authority in the synagogue.  That last bit is far more important to Jesus’ audience than to us.  We live in cultures that equate belief in God with superstition.  The ANE culture held as axiomatic the certainty that gods and goddesses had to protect their temples and other worship spaces absolutely!  Were a god to allow anything untoward to happen in his or her worship spaces, they would lose strength needed for the cosmic battles.  Many of those who saw the power over the supernatural and heard the authority in Jesus’ instruction would know for certain that Jesus, at worst, was blessed or commissioned or working for God.  Were Jesus not working for Yahweh, Yahweh would have smited Him there to protect His turf.  Despite the location of the miracle and Jesus’ authority, those who witnessed the event do not begin to follow Him in mass.

     Today, you may be sitting there wondering how people could see such a miracle, hear such authority in His voice, and NOT believe in Jesus.  But such is ever the case.  Human beings are uncomfortable with miracles.  They do not provoke the “deep faith” we like to think they should.  In fact, over time, people tend to convince themselves the miracle was not really what they thought it was.

     Jesus is now nearly three years into His ministry.  The Cross is not too far off.  Once again, Jesus is in a synagogue on the sabbath.  Luke, a physician—in case we have forgotten, blames the woman’s crippled condition on a spiritual attack, just as He blamed unclean spirits on the first miracle of Jesus in a synagogue.  Jesus calls her over and tells her she is set free.  There’s no struggle.  There’s no sweat.  There’s no mumbo jumbo incantation nonsense.  Jesus tells her she is free and lays hands on her.  Immediately she is freed and gives thanks to God!

     One might expect everyone would be amazed or excited by the healing, right?  Once again, though, they are more like us than we would like to believe, especially the leader.  The leader, according to Luke, is indignant and fusses at Jesus for healing the woman on the sabbath.  Jesus reminds the audience and the leader that they are all hypocrites.  I won’t bore you too much, but the Jews had a large number of writings about what work is permissible on the sabbath.  A lengthy discussion in prior generations about agrarian necessities had resulted finally in the ability to walk about 3000 feet on the sabbath.  That discussion and decision, though, had taken place in light of God’s instruction on the sabbath both in creation and in the Exodus.  Sabbath, as far as God was concerned was a reminder of day of rest and of a day of liberation. Mark recounts Jesus’ teaching to that effect, but Luke shares the stories of a man and a woman being freed from supernatural oppression to get the point across to his audience, which includes us.

     I just buried Ellen last week and was reminded of our discussions on the sabbath and her ministry among her friends in the wider Church around us.  Waiters and waitresses, and pretty much any service personnel, hate when Christians enter their doors after church on Sunday.  Many will tell you there is no stingier group of people or people more self-entitled or people more hypocritical than Christians who have just been to church.  They are “enjoying their sabbath,” but that means others are working.  The less than 5% tips are bad enough, but the non-monetary “get a better job,” “if you find Jesus, you won’t have to do this,” “you should get an education,” and other such “helpful” advice was far worse and more dishonoring to God.  One of Ellen’s personal ministries was to get her friends from other denominations to see how that attitude dishonored God and to see how God saw those service personnel, as men and women created in His image.

     Jesus drives His point home by asking, rhetorically, should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, oppressed for eighteen years, be freed on a sabbath.  It is a short, but effective way of reminding the crowd and us that God uses His power to free those oppressed.  The leader and those who agreed with him, we are told, are put to shame.  But the crowd rejoices at all the wonderful things He was doing.  Just to remind ourselves, though, who puts Jesus to death in a few chapters?  That’s right, the crowd.

     One of the great lessons of this story is the instruction we receive on the sabbath.  The sabbath was made, by God, for all humanity; humanity was not made for the sabbath.  It was commanded because He knew the ways in which we would all be oppressed, socially, economically, militaristically, and a host of others.  His people in particular were meant to rest and remind themselves both of God’s past work to liberate them and His future promises regarding freedom.  How many of us forget this during the week?  How many of us, in this country aflush with Protestant work ethic, enjoy our time away from work or productivity?  How many of us use that time to re-ground ourselves in God and remind ourselves of the promises of rest He has made to those who claim Him Lord?  How many of us drag ourselves to church as if it is “just another obligation” or “thing I have to do,” forgetting how God has freed us from the oppression of our sins, how God has given us eyes to see how the oppressions of the world do not have the final word, how we, among all people, should be the most joyful and most thankful because we understand what God has done in Christ Jesus and has promised to do One glorious Day in the future?

     My friends, you and I live and work and exist in a world that is oppressed, in a world where people choose oppression and darkness, where even those who claim to be Christians choose to oppress others, despite God’s instructions to the contrary.  One of the great ways we honor God for the freedom He has given us is to live as He has called us to live, as if we truly believe we have been set free.  The great oppressor, death, has been conquered in Christ’s Resurrection, but so have the innumerable other oppressors of the world.  We serve people in the church oppressed by hunger or by economic circumstance through Body & Soul, we serve people oppressed by homelessness through Room in the Inn, we serve people oppressed by mental illness, we serve any number of people oppressed in ways we may never know or understand.  Through it all, though, you and I are instructed, commanded even, to take a day and give intentional thanks for the freedom for which God has set us free and to remind ourselves as wonderful as that reminder is, it pales in comparison to the sabbath He intends to offer us on the glorious Day when He returns in triumph!  Make no mistake, it is a lesson that gets ignored by His people throughout time and location, but that forgetfulness is no excuse.  We know the freedom that He has offered us in Christ; we know the freedom we have because we need not fear the oppression of our sins.  Better still, we know that He has chosen us, those whom He has freed, to head back out into that world as a joyful people who understand what God has done for them and who know, in the end, that what He intends for our eternal futures will be far beyond our asking and our imagining!

 

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian+