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Letters Twenty-Third
Sunday in Ordinary Time |
The Catholic Telegraph
September 7, 2001The letter to Philemon reflects a complicated and touchy situation in Paul’s life. Onesimus, a slave, had run away from his master Philemon, a Christian of Colossae. He may have stolen some money from his master in the process. Somehow Onesimus has attached himself to Paul (who is now in prison) and has become a Christian. Paul is sending him back to his master in Colossae. Onesimus had every right to be apprehensive, because a slave owner was permitted to inflict any punishment he wished on a runaway slave. The purpose of this brief letter from Paul is to get Philemon to treat Onesimus kindly. (It is probable that this letter was sent to Philemon at Colossae at the same time that the much larger Letter to the Colossians was sent.)
Just before the verses selected for this Sunday’s reading, Paul had told Philemon that he (Paul) had every right as an apostle to give orders to Philemon about what to do with Onesimus. Instead of that he says, at the beginning of our reading, that he prefers to plead with him, to appeal to his kindness in view of Paul’s old age and his situation in prison, and in view of the relationship that has now grown up between Paul and Onesimus. Paul looks on Onesimus as his own son in the faith. Sending Onesimus back is like sending his own heart.
Paul says that he had thought about keeping Onesimus with himself. He might have been of assistance to Paul in his imprisonment, perhaps to take care of Paul’s personal needs, perhaps becoming involved in some aspect of ministry. He could have been a sort of representative of Philemon. But Paul decided not to do that because he didn’t want to do anything that Philemon might not want. (There was also the fact that harboring a fugitive slave was strictly against the law.)
So now Paul invites Philemon to put the best possible face on what Onesimus had done. Maybe it was all part of God’s providence to make Onesimus precious to Philemon in a new way, even as he was now dear to Paul
At the end of our reading comes the punch line: "If I am of any significance to you," Paul says, "welcome back Onesimus as you would welcome me."
The Letter to Philemon is more than a historical curiosity, more than a personal appeal between acquaintances. It is a practical application of a fundamental and repeated teaching of Paul’s: among those who share the life of Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew, neither slave nor free. Philemon would hear these words when the Letter to the Colossians was read out in the liturgical assembly. Paul had told the same thing to the Corinthians and the Galatians. What did that mean in practice? It meant that Philemon was expected to treat Onesimus, who, legally speaking, was property and a lawbreaker, as a brother. He was to receive him kindly and forgive him whatever harm he might have suffered from him. Paul doesn’t go into detail about how Philemon was to do this. He didn’t tell him to set Onesimus free or to send him back to Paul to help him in prison. Philemon is merely to welcome him as he would welcome Paul. The particulars are up to him.
There is one more detail that is important. This letter is not just addressed to Philemon and his wife. It’s also addressed to "the church at your house." This wasn’t something that Philemon was to deal with in the privacy of his office. It was to be read out to the whole liturgical assembly, just as the more official Letter to the Colossians would be. The reason for this semi-public status of Paul’s letter to Philemon was not just to put a little more pressure on him to comply. It was also to teach the members of the Colossian church that the way they treated each other, treated even the least deserving, was a matter of concern for the whole community.
Each of us could probably make our own list of people who have treated us badly and people we don’t particularly want to be nice to. The list might include a difficult spouse, an unfair employer, an irritating colleague. There are some people who get on our nerves just by being around. There are thoughtless people who rub us the wrong way without even realizing it. There may be people in our lives who have done us deep, long lasting harm. There are others that we don’t like because they are different, because they don’t act or talk or live like we do, because they don’t really "belong." And in that context, there is the teaching of Paul, that, compared with our togetherness in Christ, everything else that might divide us, however understandable the division might be in human terms, is really irrelevant and doesn’t deserve our attention.
In this briefest of the Pauline letters, God’s word speaks to Philemon and to us. "Love your neighbor," it says. "Here is your neighbor, not particularly virtuous, not particularly attractive, not particularly loveable. How are you going to react?"
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Conversation Questions
What kinds of people do I find it hard to respect?
To whom do I owe forgiveness? From whom should I ask forgiveness?
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