Emancipation Proclamation - September 9, 2007
Philemon 1-21I’ve never actually ever been in jail. I hope that does not come as too big a shock to too many of you, but I thought it might be worth saying. I know a few people who have been in jail—mostly for youthful indiscretions, which have been long since wiped from the records. But I knew someone once who had actually gone far enough through the criminal justice process that part of her formal introduction to the small group in seminary that she was leading was to show us all the business card of her probation officer, along with a photo of the day she was arrested and charged with trespassing and disturbing the peace. She was part of a large group of protestors in the 1980s at a large facility in Livermore California, which produces nuclear weapons for the Department of Defense.
As a result of her arrest, she was charged, booked and found guilty of trespassing. As of 1998 she was still reporting to her PO. She passed around her officer’s card as if it was a badge of honor. It became clear to me as the story unfolded that this was not a youthful indiscretion—she did not get intoxicated one night and go climb the fence at Livermore Labs. It was a statement—a stand that she took that she was more than willing to back up with her theology.
As this happened my very first week of seminary, it was quite a an eye-opener. I had never before known somebody who had used his or her arrest record as a theological statement. I dare say that most arrests and confinements in jail cannot be used that way, although I’m sure some numbskulls try in a fit of desperation: “Really, officer. God told me to steal that watch. I didn’t want to.” “Was I speeding? Really? Oh, well, you see, I’m on my way to church!”
While I say I hadn’t known someone personally who had gone to jail for his or her beliefs, of course, we all know of someone who did this. I’m referring of course to Paul, whose letter we read this morning. Philemon is widely accepted as one of the letters Paul wrote in prison.
This is Paul’s smallest letter, and is one of those that are considered undisputedly his. Only 25 verses long, it tells an incredible story of redemption and of reconciliation—or so we hope. Even if we read to the end of Philemon, we don’t know exactly what happens. We only know the situation that has been set up. There area few assumptions we have to make about the story before we can fully understand it—and we have to take for granted that Paul has a firm grasp of the facts.
First of all, we must assume that Paul and Philemon have some sort of relationship before Paul was imprisoned. Then we have to assume that Onesimus was Philemon’s slave. If Paul is discussing returning Onesimus to Philemon, we must assume that the slave did not have permission to leave Philemon’s household, but ran away and in doing so encountered Paul and his teachings about Jesus. If Paul and Onesimus have a close relationship, we must assume that Paul has converted the slave to Christianity.
Paul is a little less than subtle with some of the details of the story. He points out rather cleverly that Philemon owes Paul something. We don’t know exactly what the debt is, but we know that Paul is using it to leverage something that Paul might give to Philemon. Still with me?
After pointing out exactly who owes whom, Paul makes the offer: Paul will send Onesimus back to his rightful owner—Philemon. All Philemon has to do is treat Onesimus no longer as a slave, but as a brother in Christ. Might not sound like much, but it really is something huge that Paul is asking Philemon to do.
Slavery, both 2,000 years ago and more recently, is a complex issue, cutting across social, economic, legal, moral, and ethical concerns. It is my gut reaction to believe that any kind of slavery, under any circumstances, is wrong, and should be abolished. At the core of this issue for me is the repugnant notion that any person can “own” any other person. But we know that this has not been the case for all cultures in all times. Somewhere in the world right this moment, someone honestly believes that they own someone else. Somewhere in the world there is a person, who truly believes that by right of age, race, gender, wealth, or size, they can control everything the other person does. Somewhere in the world there is someone who considers another living soul to be his or her property. It may not be blatant; we may not see it right in front of us, but it exists. Somewhere.
Slavery in Paul’s time was a social and an economic issue. Slaves then did what electricity, hydraulics, and the combustion engine accomplish today. They made comfortable life for their masters possible—they did the work that made a household run. They enabled there to be a leisure class. It was understood, within the culture, that those who were slaves were not of the leisure class, but part of the mechanism that allowed it to function. It is interesting to note that children of the upper class were also considered slaves until adopted by their fathers and transformed into beloved family members. Until they were welcomed in to the household, they spent their time among the other slaves.
Much biblical and theological debate has taken place over the fact that Paul does not rail against slavery, does not tell Philemon that he should set all his slaves free. What Paul does instead is focus on the relationship of this one slave to this one master, and to Paul himself. Paul does not tell Philemon to set Onesimus free for moral or ethical reasons, but for the sake of Christian fellowship. It is as if Philemon’s standing as a follower of Jesus Christ—and Onesimus’ too—depends on Philemon’s willingness to bear witness to how Onesimus has changed by virtue of his conversion.
The slave will once again have his fate in the hands of the master as soon as Paul sends him back. Anything could happen. Philemon legally can take Onesimus back in to custody and put him right back in the job he was doing before. Or Philemon can rightfully exact punishment from his runaway slave—which in this case would probably mean death. The other choice—the one that Paul hopes Philemon with choose— is that Philemon can welcome back Onesimus as a brother in Christ, a member of the household, just as Paul requested.
Paul, who writes this from prison, seems t understand that there are many different kinds of captivity. There is imprisonment and false imprisonment. There is slavery and there is the bondage of the master, who though he believes, is caught in a system that denies the Christian fellowship of a brother.
Paul is trying to persuade Philemon to accept the former slave into the household by virtue of the common relationship they all have to the gospel, in the hopes that his friend will be open and welcoming as if unto Jesus himself.
What does this story have to do with us? We’re neither slaves nor masters, right? Well, not in the sense of ownership of another human. But what Paul has offered Onesimus and is offering Philemon in this letter is freedom—emancipation.
The emancipation Proclamation of American history did an extraordinary thing. It changed the way the union envisioned the struggle for freedom. The National Archives Administration, in a description of the Emancipation Proclamation says it this way:
“Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately free a single slave, it fundamentally transformed the character of the war. After January 1, 1863, every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom. Moreover, the Proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators.”1
We are the liberated, released from the bondage of sin to become liberators in Jesus Christ. Through the grace of the gospel, God has welcomed us as members of the divine household, even though we were captive to sin and darkness and ultimately, death. Paul’s invitation to Philemon to consider Onesimus’ debt as Paul’s burden in order that both men might be free to live in fellowship in Christ echoes Jesus’ own offering up his life in payment for our debt that we might live into the freedom of adoption into God’s own household. It is an invitation to reconciliation and transformation.
Paul’s letter does not tell us whether Philemon accepts this invitation. Will we accept Christ’s invitation to live in redeemed fellowship? Will we live as the liberated become liberators? Emancipation has been proclaimed in our behalf. It is up to us to live that reality.
Thanks be to God.
1 National Archives Administration, “Featured Documents: Emancipation Proclamation” http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/ (September 7, 2007).
