Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost ---- 8 September 2019

Philemon 1:1-21

1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker, 2 to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God 5 because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. 6 I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. 7 I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother. 8 For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, 9 yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. 10 I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me. 12 I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. 13 I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel; 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced. 15 Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, 16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 17 So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. 20 Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

{I had written a sermon based on the Gospel of the day - Luke 14:25-33 "So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions." However, when the congregation member reading the Letter to Philemon was speaking, I realized that so little is known about this letter and it speaks to our present so much, I decided to throw out my original sermon and speak "off-the-cuff" on Philemon. I asked the people which they wanted to hear and those who expressed an opinion said "Philemon!" I have no notes so I'm doing bullet points as much as I can remember.}

• Paul is writing to a Christian named Philemon, a man of some means who appears to have a Christian congregation meeting at his house. Paul has something that "belongs" to Philemon - his run-away slave, Onesimus. Paul make a play on words, calling Onesimus "useful" after being "useless", because the word for 'useful' in the Greek of the time is "Onesimus."
•  Slavery at the time was not what we conceive of slavery in our time. Slaves then could make money, buy their freedom, and even own slaves while being slaves themselves. Paul is sending Onesimus back to Philemon with the hope that Philemon will welcome him back into his household. It appears that Paul is not questioning the existence of slavery, something we can't really understand in our time. Yet there it is.
• Paul puts a sort of guilt trip on Philemon - "If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self." (Paul often wrote a 'post-script' to his letters in his own hand, the rest of it being written by another.)
• Paul insists that Philemon no longer treat Onesimus as merely a slave, a tool, a thing, but treat him as a brother in Christ. He is not a tool or an object for Philemon's comfort or profit; he is a human being and now a brother in Jesus Christ. Their whole relationship has changed! We don't know what became of either Philemon or Onesimus, but we can hope that things changed for both of them.
• We know of slavery from our history studies. We know that many enslaved people from the United States made their way to Canada by way of what was called "the Underground Railroad." A slave could still be hunted down in the non-slave states in the north of the USA, but once they reached Canada, a part of the British Empire, they were free. Britain had outlawed slavery and those folks were beyond the legal reach of the slave hunters. 
• Sad to say, many believe that there are more slaves living in the world now than there has ever been in history. Many places in Asia and Africa have slave populations, no matter what they might be called.
• North America and Canada are not exempt. There are slaves here, especially here in south-western Ontario. The "401 Corridor" from Windsor to Toronto is know as a hot-bed of human trafficking - young women and young men trapped into lives of prostitution. Slavery is very much alive.
• Paul asked Philemon to see Onesimus as a brother. In that, he asked Philemon to see his slave as a human being, not an animal, not a tool, not a source of income or comfort or work, but a human being, like him. Their common faith would draw them closer still.
• So it is in our day. Even though we might not make a dent in the human trafficking that is taking place, if we treat everyone around us as a human being, no matter what their religion, race, or whatever, we are fighting the attitudes that lead to the horrors of slavery.
• Many among you here today may have worked in almost slavery conditions; you know all about this. There are only humans around us and Jesus died (and rose) for each and every one of them.