RESTORATION

Reading: Philemon

This is the shortest letter of Paul in the New Testament. It is the only personal, private letter in the collection. It’s not referred to very often but yet, in terms of content and its reference to a real life or death situation, it is highly significant and immensely important. Apart from the Gospels it probably tells us more about forgiveness and reconciliation than any other piece of writing in the Bible. Forgiveness and reconciliation are not two different words describing the same process. It is important for me to forgive whether or not the relationship between myself and the one who has injured me is ever restored. Ideally restoration is what we would hope for, but it is not always, or even often the case. Reconciliation involves two. It has something to do with giving us back to each other or maybe recognising for the first time the gift that we are to each other. It means walking together again. It is a huge challenge and requires a great generosity of spirit from both parties.

This was the challenge posed to Philemon in a letter from his dear friend and brother in the faith, Paul. Paul was in prison in Rome. Although at the end of this letter he expressed the wish that he might yet visit Philemon again and asked him to keep a guest room ready, it was not likely that he would ever now be released, except by death. To Rome came a runaway slave, Onesimus. Somehow he encountered Paul and became a follower of the Way. Onesimus had been a slave in Philemon’s household. Perhaps it was there he had heard about Paul. Whatever his crime was that had made him flee, it was no coincidence that he ended up where he did. Slavery was an ingrained institution in the ancient world, part of the very fabric of society. The punishment for runaway slaves was very severe. At very least they would be branded across the forehead with the word fugitivus, but often they would be crucified. Knowing this, recognising the risk, Paul still urged him to go back, at the same time writing a letter to Philemon asking him, as a Christian, to welcome Onesimus back, to forgive him, to show the generous heart that he, Paul, knew he had. In fact Paul used all his persuasive powers, his faith, his mighty intellect and his friendship in Christ with this man to persuade him to see Onesimus differently – not to negate what he had done but to see him as a brother in the faith who wasn’t very much use to him in the past but who now would be invaluable to both of them. Onesimus means ‘useful’. Paul here was making a play on the word. “Onesimus hasn’t been of much use to you in the past but now he is very useful to both of us.” Onesimus would have found it much easier to have remained in Rome with Paul, but to have done so would have meant that there would always have been a huge shadow over his life. In order for his faith to be nurtured, in order for him to be stretched and grow into all that God had for him, Onesimus needed to go back to the place and the people from whom he had run away, face up to what he had done and ask forgiveness. Philemon, in turn, needed to be confronted with the crisis of forgiveness, to have his kindness and generosity stretched further than it had ever been before in order that he and Onesimus might walk together again, or maybe truly for the first time. Each needed to see the other in a new way and they would be able to do so only because both were now ‘in Christ.’

Paul really did pull out all the stops. He told Philemon that he knew he could command him to do this in the name of Christ because it was the right thing to do, but instead he requested it as a favour from an old friend. He didn’t want him to do it because he felt pressurized to do so but because he wanted to do it. As they took the risk and began to walk together again they would discover what Paul already knew, namely that they were members of the one family. Onesimus was still a slave, Philemon still a master but both were also brothers.

This letter of Paul’s is timeless in its relevance. Wherever there is discord, conflict, estrangement or injury, its message needs to be taken on board. It would pay to take the time to simply read this letter through again and again. There are so many insights, so many treasures, so many clues to journeying the road of restoration hidden in this private letter from one old man in prison to a friend whose generosity he trusts, whose faith and kindness he is sure will overrule his inherent prejudices and his cultural conditioning and programming.

It’s almost as if Jesus himself is speaking through this letter. Whoever we are estranged from, be it another individual, group or nation, he is sending us back to one another and with us comes his own heart. He asks us to do so, not because we are being pressurized or because we know it’s the ‘Christian’ thing to do, but simply because we want to do it, because it is the desire of our hearts, a desire that mirrors that of his. As Paul draws his letter to a close, the words of entreaty that he uses could equally be the words of Jesus to us. (cf. vv 17-20.) They would go something like this: “If you consider me your partner, give one another the same welcome you would give me if I were coming. If you have harmed each other in any way, charge it to my account. I, Jesus, have already repaid it. I don’t need to add that you owe me your very souls. So give me this encouragement. I am confident that you will do what I ask and even more.”

The restoration of right relationships is at the heart of the Gospel. May grace, mercy and peace accompany you as you walk this road.

 

 

Reflections in this series