The more I read the scriptures, the more I think we too easily misunderstand them. Or, maybe it’s not that we entirely misunderstand them, but that, because we mostly engage the scriptures superficially, so very often we miss the point.
Take St. Paul’s Epistle to Philemon. Any synopsis of the letter will explain that it amounts to an appeal from St. Paul, directed to a man named Philemon to free a slave named Onesimus. As such, it is a useful letter, challenging the ancient, awful, and unholy institution of slavery; and entirely in line with St. Paul’s teaching that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Slaves were part and parcel of the Roman Empire, so this challenge to slavery is no small thing. And, of course, slavery and its legacy have been part and parcel of our own nation for four hundred years. As far as I know, there is no place left in the world where slavery is still legal. Despite the fact that many millions of people across the globe still live their lives in bondage, effectively held as slaves, you won’t find anyone defending slavery, that I know of. And despite the fact that the legacy of American slavery continues to inflict on this nation and its people deep wounds on top of deep wounds, we can at least recount a shared narrative that includes emancipation. We can at least point to the Thirteenth Amendment.
Although it is not crystal-clear in the text itself, most readers of the Epistle to Philemon assume that Onesimus, the slave, had escaped: he was a run-away slave. Why else would St. Paul have to negotiate his return to Philemon so carefully? So it would seem that the issue that St. Paul must address is this: What’s to be done, seeing as Onesimus is a run-away slave? A shorter version of the same question also works: What’s to be done, seeing as Onesimus is a slave?
An epistle about the need to protect run-away slaves resonates with the better angels of the American narrative too, and it would also provide a biblical antecedent to the Underground Railroad. So reading the letter as though this is the question it addresses feels kind of right to us.
Listen to St. Paul writing to Philemon, the slave owner: “Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me…. Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, 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.”
“Formerly he was useless to you.” This assertion must have come as news to Philemon, who, we can assume, found a certain usefulness in the slaves he owned. “Perhaps… he was separated from you … so that you might have him back… no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother.”
My gambit at the start of this sermon was that we are prone to miss the point of the scriptures. And the more I read this letter, the more convinced I am that if we think it is a letter advancing an argument against slavery, we are missing the point. Maybe the question isn’t really: what’s to be done, seeing as Onesimus is a slave?
I have to ask myself, who stands to learn a lesson from this letter? And the truth is, it’s not really Onesimus. The only person, really, who has something to learn from this letter; the person who stands to grow and to change as a result of this letter, the one for whom real transformation is both intended and possible is Philemon. And when the hearts of the likes of Philemon are changed, then there is a chance to dismantle unjust institutions like slavery.
Yes, there is something at stake for Onesimus, who stands to benefit if he is forgiven for his escape and freed from his captivity. But I think that the real point of this letter - the point that is easy to miss - isn’t the question of what’s to be done with Onesimus, seeing as he’s a run-away slave. No, the real point of the letter is the question of what’s to be done with Philemon, seeing as he’s a Christian? What’s to be done with this slave-owner, seeing as he’s a follower of Jesus Christ? Yes, Onesimus stands to be freed, but he already knows that he deserves to be free. It’s Philemon who has a profound lesson to learn about the freedom that his slave deserves, and it’s Philemon who stands to be transformed by the way he responds to this letter from St. Paul.
St. Paul knows what’s at stake. He knows that in the case of a run-away slave, everyone is likely to assume that the problem that needs solving is the problem of the run-away slave. But the burden of his letter is to say that problem is not really Onesimus, the problem is not the run-away slave. In a real sense, from St. Paul’s perspective, the problem is not even the institution of slavery, problematic though it might be. But St. Paul does not write this letter to address the problem of the institution of slavery. No, St. Paul knows that it’s actually quite important that Philemon should understand that the real problem is him. And if the problem of Philemon can be fixed, then the problem of the institution of slavery can be fixed.
If this situation were a scene in a musical, the song that would be sung is not, “How do you solve a problem like Onesimus?” The song to be sung is, “How do you solve a problem like Philemon?” It has a ring to it, does it not? So, the problem is not the slave, the problem is the slave-owner, the slave-holder, the enslaver. The problem is the one who says he’s following Jesus, on the one hand. But look, just look, what he is doing with the other hand.
Although the letter itself does not tell us what Philemon decided to do about his run-away slave, New Testament scholars tell us that most likely reason this letter was preserved over time was because Philemon did, indeed, free Onesimus; the outcome was, in fact, what St. Paul had urged Philemon to do. If this is so, it suggests that Philemon, himself, understood what the real point of the letter was. And he knew that the solution to the problem required him to do something, and be changed. It was never really a question of what to do about slavery or run-away slaves. But, in a society in which slavery was simply accepted - which is to say, a society in which gross injustice was accepted - the real question was: what to do about being a Christian; how to change and grow one’s self, in the midst of an unjust society; how to be transformed by your commitment to Christ and to his church?
The fact of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution might lead us to think that there’s nothing left for us to learn from St. Paul’s Epistle to Philemon. Been there; done that, we might say, as though we weren’t still living with the ugly legacy of gross injustice caused by American slavery, among other injustices. But the letter was never really addressing the question of slavery, anyway. The letter was addressing the question of what it means to be a Christian. And today, the letter is asking us to consider what’s required of followers of Christ in the midst of an unjust society this very day. And the answer is: to do something about it! Find the place and the manner in which you can effect some change, and do the thing that must be done, and then see that we ourselves are the ones who need change!
In this parish, we find ourselves returning again and again to the Food Cupboard, and the Saturday Soup Bowl, and to St. James School, where, in tangible ways that affect people’s lives, we are trying to answer the question of what it means to be a Christian in an unjust society. It’s why these ministries are indispensable for the church - because without them we are failing to answer the pressing question of what it means to be Christians in an unjust world. And we could and should find more and other ways to address that important question.
So, for encouragement, I’ll conclude, not with the way the Epistle to Philemon ends, but with the words of encouragement that St. Paul himself wrote near the beginning of his letter, words that he might as well have been writing to you and to me:
“When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother[s and sisters].”
Yes, I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ… all the good that we may do for Christ…
… as long as we are careful not to miss the point… and we see that the thing that really needs changing is you and me.
Preached by Fr. Sean Mullen
4 September 2022
Saint Mark’s Church, Locust Street, Philadelphia
