22.09 | His Name Was Useful
Philemon
‘For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.’
Philemon 15-16
His name was Useful.
Useful (or, using the Greek version of his name, Onesimus) had been a slave in the city of Colossae, in the household of a man named Philemon. Philemon was wealthy, and had become a believer, through the church planted in Colossae by Paul. Useful, however, had, at some point in his past, offended his master and fled the city. He had landed as a fugitive in Rome, presumably seeking a new life in the autonomy of a big city.
In Rome, he had met Paul — now a prisoner. And Useful had heard the message of Jesus too, and become a believer.
The letter of Philemon is Paul’s interjection into this story. And it is an interjection that speaks radically into the new kind of community that Jesus initiates.
Let’s pull out two things.
First, Jesus equalises.
When we hear the word ‘slavery’, our minds understandably go to the transatlantic slave trade, resultant racial inequalities in our own society, or human trafficking. In this context, Paul’s words can feel uncharacteristically limp. Our problem here is getting into the headspace of the ancient world, and understanding the nuance and difference of slavery in that environment. We hear slavery and we think injustice. Rightly so. Abolitionists, racial justice movements, and anti-trafficking work is so often deeply inspired by the Way of Jesus, the Old Testament prophets, and the urgent command to usher in the Kingdom of God. But, in the structures of Roman society, justice was not primary in the slavery conversation. Justice builds on another idea. And it builds on an idea that was invisible in the ancient world.
Equality.
We are familiar with a liberal society built upon the Christian ideal of human equality. All are created equal. But so hierarchical was the ancient world, that this basic idea of equality was absent. Every justice movement builds from this foundation.
Paul writes to correct this. And, in a single word he turned a whole Empire of inequality upside down.
Brother.
The Gospel of Jesus has invaded the social hierarchies of the world. And in doing so, it has cut through the social hierarchies — where Master stood higher and slaves stooped lower — bringing these two to the shared experience of standing before God as equals. As family. As brothers. Paul smashes through every societal expectation, every unconscious bias, every structural hierarchy, every degrading ideology, to reorient these two with a totally new relationship. For such is the way of the Kingdom of God.
And, secondly, Jesus reconciles.
For Philemon and Useful had parted ways badly. There was grievance, critique, defensiveness, and entitlement.
And yet, grace is contagious. We receive grace, but as we do so grace itself begins to become our way of being. As we are forgiven and reconciled, so we forgive and reconcile. As our anger and hatred and entitlement and pain is nailed to the cross of Jesus unto reconciliation with the Father, so reconciliation with one another becomes not just plausible but possible under the power of God.
Equality. Reconciliation.
Christian community is built upon such mighty foundations. They transform how we see people—from their usefulness to us to their dignity as a child of the same Father. It transforms how we relate, welcoming home the offender and returning to the one we offended.
For the cross is mighty. It is powerful. It is where our eyes learn to see every human differently. And it is where we find the courage to return, the power to forgive, and the grace to reconcile. For so He did first for us.
Reflect:
Equality and reconciliation.
Which of these is more needed in my interactions right now?
Pray:
Father,
Teach me the higher ways:
Where my eyes become blind
To the empty hierarchies of the world.
Teach me the higher ways:
Where my shame-filled hiding
May be turned to courage,
And the homeward journey.
Teach me the higher ways:
Where anger may soften to gentleness
And grievance to love.
And here,
My Father,
Would you greatly enrich my heart,
That what seems impossible
May come to be,
As grace becomes not just a gift received,
But one given.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
1 Chronicles 13-15 | Psalm 110