SUNDAY SERMON
AN INVITATION ON THE BASIS OF LOVE
Pentecost 18, Proper 11, Yr C
September 5, 2004
Epistle: Philemon 1-25
At the heart of the gospel is a voice. A call. A whisper. Over the years it says many things to our ears-at times my ears are open; at others they are stopped up. The voice says,
Follow me
I love you
I forgive you.Carry the cross
Hate father and mother
Say farewell to all you own.Fear not
Come home
Welcome home.Love one another.
I say that the heart of the gospel is a voice not because I've heard one; I haven't. I say a "voice" because that very word implies a person, a relationship and the promise of conversation. Our task, I believe, as disciples or seekers or preachers even, is to be as open as we can, listening, "all ears" for God's voice.
By now most of you know the love
I have for the Bible; you know how sincerely I try to open up the meaning of a
story of Jesus or Moses or a teaching of Paul. And as long as I have my wits about
me…I hope to be a student of scripture and a teacher and preacher.
But
when all is said and done, I believe the heart of the gospel is a voice. The voice
calls me and calls you and says my name or your name, "Blair, beloved of
God; I am with you."
Late in the week it finally dawned on me why I was preaching from Philemon today. Quite apart from the radical and relevant message of this post-card sized letter, I discovered that I needed Paul's words to say some personal things to you at Church of the Holy Communion, Memphis, Tennessee. Beginning with the name: Philemon. Philemon means loving. And you have been that to me. I frankly didn't know it was possible at my age to fall in love with a parish so rapidly. And yet, I did. In a real sense many of you have served as God's voice, reminding me again and again that I am beloved of God. That is such a gift; thank you. I am grateful beyond words. To you I would offer Paul's words:
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 brothers and sisters. [Philemon, 4-7]
And my heart is refreshed as I go forth from our season of life together in this place.
Let me turn to the story of Paul, his friend Philemon and Philemon's slave, Onesimus. This is Paul's only personal letter addressed to an individual. It's our one chance in the cycle of lectionary readings to hear an entire book of the Bible.
Paul has an agenda-that Philemon the master will give Onesimus the slave, his freedom. As an apostle Paul had the authority to command Philemon to free this slave. Instead he approaches his friend "on the basis of love."
…though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love… [vv 8-9]
Paul invites Philemon to do the right thing. We will see in a moment why the distinction between "invites" and "commands" is so crucial to the heart and meaning of this letter for us today.
Philemon was a Christian businessman in the town of Colossae; a very successful businessman. He and his wife, Apphia, had been converted through Paul's ministry. Now they were leaders in the church which met in their home. Like most wealthy people of that time, Philemon had slaves. As a Christian, let us assume, that he treated his slaves well. So he would have felt deeply disappointed when one of them, Onesimus, ran away to Rome.
But you cannot run away from God's love. In Rome, a slave named Onesimus meets a prisoner named Paul. Through Paul Onesimus becomes a follower of Jesus. Paul wants his friend Philemon to share in this exciting news. So Paul writes a letter asking him to forgive Onesimus for running away and to take him back as a family member, a brother in Christ. Paul is torn about sending him back; he has obviously grown close to Onesimus.
It is true that Paul does not attack the social evil of slavery as such in this letter. But he undermines slavery by making slaves and masters equals in the family of Christ. The heart of the letter (vv. 15-16) makes this crystal clear. Paul says to Philemon, now you will have him back
…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.
Onesimus is to be received back "no longer as a slave." His former status is obliterated by his new status in Christ. Now, master and slave are beloved brothers. Furthermore, this new status is not only "in the Lord", signifying the spiritual affairs of the congregation meeting at Philemon and Apphia's house. It also applies "in the flesh", meaning the everyday affairs of work and business. This is radical freedom touching every area of life.
Let me emphasize how big a deal this was. When a slave ran away in that culture, the punishment was death. Picture Paul handing this letter to Onesimus to deliver to his master. Don't you think Onesimus was nervous? What if Paul had not written persuasively enough about his conversion? I can imagine Paul reading the letter aloud to Onesimus before he left on the long journey home. When Paul got to the part near the end, Onesimus must have breathed a huge sigh of relief when he heard: (vv. 17-18, 21):
So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has wronged you in any way…charge that to my account…Confident in your obedience, I am writing you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.
I have no doubt that Philemon did just that-welcomed Onesimus back and more so. And I have no doubt the church which met in his and Apphia's home was strengthened by the whole event.
But what makes this letter provocative and relevant for us today is not the specific contents. Rather, it is Paul's approach, Paul's appeal to Philemon; we might even call it Paul's tactics. He appeals to his friend Philemon on the basis of love.
Instead of commanding Philemon to give Onesimus his freedom, Paul invites him to do so. To do the very thing which will increase Philemon's own freedom in Christ, his own basis of love.
Paul's commitment to Philemon is so great that he trusts him; he never threatens to walk away from their friendship. He will entreat him with love but not resort to force.
What a model this gives us for how Christians should behave; especially Christians who struggle with sharply divergent views on warfare and conflicts abroad as well as conflicts at home about marriage, sexuality or stem cell research. Paul's approach is unfailingly invitational, dependent on the power of love, not force and not walking away from each other.
Here lies the connection to the heart of the gospel. At its core it is invitational, not commanded.
The invitation comes to us from God supremely in Jesus Christ. In Jesus we see the one who invites people, never coerces them, into following, into freedom, into risky but rich life.
A friend of min preaching on Philemon helped me see how deeply invitational the gospel is. He writes, "Christ himself embodies the love and power of God, who even at the dawn of the world did not force the creation into being, but beckoned and invited it with his Word. Never did God command, 'Light, be created.' Instead God invited, 'Let there be light,' offering order to chaos and grace to all creation."
At the heart of the gospel is a voice-a voice which invites response, conversation and a journey of conversion. And the reason we can respond, however imperfectly, is that we first hear the voice calling us by name,
Blair, beloved of God
Gary, beloved of God
Alice, beloved of God
John, beloved of God
Graham, beloved of God…
Sermon preached September 5, 2004, at Church of the Holy Communion , by the Rev. Blair Both.