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Sermon
15 Pentecost Proper 18C
St.
Christopher’s in the West
Valley
Anyone
who has ever preached
knows that the person
who most needs to hear their sermon
is often themselves.
It
isn’t that we are any better or worse
than anyone else.
It
is just that
when you immerse yourself
in the Word,
you find it hits close to home
all too often.
I
think that is what happened to St. Paul
when he wrote his letter to Philemon.
It
is important to know
that
none of the letters in the Bible
were intended to be
or thought by their authors
or original recipients
to be scripture.
They
were simply letters
from
a leader of the church
to the people of a church
he had planted or visited
with words of advice or counsel
about a specific situation
in
a specific community,
often in response
to their request for advice.
So
here is Paul, the great evangelist,
writing from prison,
or more likely, house arrest in Rome
to Philemon, a friend and colleague
in Colossae, a city in what is now Turkey.
Paul
reminds Philemon
of their past relationship –
how proud he is of the work Philemon has done,
the ministry they have shared together,
and his faith in Jesus Christ.
Paul
is, in effect, a father in faith to Philemon,
and he reminds him of that fact.
He
then shows Philemon
that he now has the same relationship
with Philemon’s slave, Onesimus.
Now
we don’t know,
but
it sounds
as if Onesimus ran away
from his master, Philemon
and
somehow ended up in Rome,
where
Paul was under house arrest.
Onesimus
was drawn to Paul.
Perhaps
he had seen or heard him speak
in Philemon’s house church in Colossae.
At
any rate, he found Paul,
and heard him speak about God’s love
and how it sets us free.
Perhaps he heard him preach once in Colossae
saying “there is no longer Greek and Jew,
circumcised and uncircumcised,
barbarian, Scythian, slave and free;
but Christ is all and in all!” (Col. 3:11)
Who knows, maybe it was those words
that
had set him out on his odyssey
that had taken him from his master’s house
all the way around the Eastern rim of the Mediterranean
searching for that freedom of spirit
that
Paul had spoken so passionately about.
When he reached Rome,
Onesimus
was welcomed
simply
as a member
of
the community of faith.
Hearing Paul tell those who worshipped with him
that all who were led by the spirit
were
children of God,
adopted
into God’s family
did
set Onesimus free.
That slave or free,
rich or poor,
old or young,
Jew or Gentile
God hears and answers our prayers
because
there are no outsiders to God,
only beloved children
meant
everything to this
lonely
and searching young man.
Onesimus heard those words
and
believed them
and he became a Christian.
And Paul became a father
in
the faith to him,
just
as he had been to Philemon.
But he had a problem.
His relationship with Philemon
meant that he couldn’t simply continue
to
harbor his runaway slave.
I think that Paul sat down
to write Philemon and tell him
that
as a Christian
he
must release Onesimus.
But it isn’t that simple.
Paul had seen
that
God in Christ
calls
us to a radical redefinition
of
our relationships.
When we become Christians,
that essential relationship with Christ
redefines
all of our other relationships,
so that all people
become our brothers and sisters.
That they are fellow children of God
becomes more important
than
any other thing about them.
It was and is
more important than their social status,
more than whether they are rich or poor,
more than whether they are free born
or slaves,
more
than whether they are old and wise
or young and foolish,
more
than whether they are “one of us”,
or “outsiders”.
Paul was calling his brother Philemon
to see his slave Onesimus
as
a man,
a
fellow child of God
and not just as property.
And this was right and a natural outgrowth
of
Philemon’s faith
and
of his teaching.
But in the process of writing to Philemon,
Paul realized that he couldn’t just
command
Philemon to set Onesimus free.
If Philemon was to truly see Onesimus
as
a man and a child of God,
Paul was going to have to treat Philemon
as
a brother as well.
Of course, the Roman authorities felt threatened
by this kind of reasoning.
Class lines in Roman society
were very rigid.
Masters were masters
and
slaves were slaves.
Wealthy land owners didn’t mix
with
poor laborers.
But Christianity changed everything!
Christians came together to worship
across
lines of class and culture.
It is the way in which Christianity
most
profoundly changed the Roman culture.
Paul was in the process of working that out.
And we continue in that process today.
Frankly, it is part of what
has made this country what it is,
a
land in which
anyone with a good mind and hard work
can
do great things -
own
their own business,
or
become a great artist
if
they have the talent,
or
even president,
and it doesn’t matter
who
their parents were
or whether they were rich or poor
or where they came from.
I believe that that essential understanding
that we are all brothers and sisters
that
is at the heart of Christianity
is at the heart
of
what makes this country great.
We haven’t always lived up
to our core values
but
like our faith,
we always call ourselves
back
to them.
Paul asked Philemon
to see Onesimus as his brother
and then do those things
that a brother would do
for
another brother.
Pastors in the sixties
asked white Americans
to see black Americans
as
brothers and sisters
and then do those things
that brothers and sisters
do
for one another.
Pastors in the eighties and nineties
asked straight people
to see gay people
as
brothers and sisters
and then do those things
that brothers and sisters
do
for one another.
And today, pastors in Arizona
are asking native born Americans
to see immigrants,
the
vast majority of whom
are
fellow Christians
as brothers and sisters.
and then do those things
that brothers and sisters
do
for one another.
We are asking in Christ’s name
on this Labor Day weekend,
when
we honor those
who
labor with us and among us
in our homes,
and in businesses
around
our communities,
that you talk
to
each other,
that you listen
to
each other,
that you get to know the immigrants
who
live among us
not as threatening strangers
but
as neighbors,
as
brothers and sisters in Christ,
for that is what they are.
"Salt
is good;
but if salt has lost its taste,
how can its saltiness be restored?
It
is fit neither for the soil
nor for the manure pile;
they throw it away.
Let
anyone with ears to hear listen!" (Luke 14:34-35)
My brothers and sisters,
be salt for the world.
Amen.