Since the advent of the newspaper, cartoons have been a way to communicate the political landscape in an exaggerated form. It could be a picture of General Jackson slaying the monster with many heads of his day. It could be a commentary on the British swallowing up other countries like Egypt. Or it could communicate the fear of foreigner immigrants taking over the U.S.A.
These political cartoons are draw in such a way as to distort the look of an individual or idea with the purpose of dramatic commentary. But it’s that purposeful distortion that we’re going to talk about today, as we open up to the letter of Philemon. So if you have you’re Bibles we’re going to open up to the first verse of the letter to Philemon which has only 1 chapter.
As we do, let me give you a little background to it.
The letter to Philemon is the third shortest book in the Bible, clocking in at about 335 words. The letter is written by Paul as he sits in Rome under guard awaiting his trial. It’s a personal and universal letter that was most likely sent at the same time as the letter to the Colossians, because their destinations, and some of the information within both letters, reference the same congregation.
So let’s read the first seven verses of Philemon.
1 Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker 2 and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. 7 For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
v.1-3
From Paul’s opening we can glean a couple of things. First, Philemon is wealthy enough to be able to provide a big enough home for the church in the city meet. Secondly, if we were to read Colossians with this letter, we would see that Archippus is being given a place of honor in the greeting, while in the Colossian letter, he’s being encouraged to fulfill the ministry that God had given him. This overlap shows us that the two letters are connected. Finally, we’re given Paul’s desire for the Church in general: grace and peace.
Over this past summer, we’ve made our way through both 2nd Corinthians and the letter to Titus. We have seen Paul’s desire for grace and peace to be poured out on the Church. In 2nd Corinthians that meant that grace and peace happened when we confront bad situations and move forward in our Christian walk. In Titus we saw that when there are godly elders, and we all strive to have godly character, grace and peace can be experienced in more ways.
Here, as Paul sends this personal letter to Philemon, again, his desire is that through the situation he’s going to address, the grace and peace of God will be experienced.
Now to put the letter in it’s intended context. Picture with me if you will. Tychicus (tick-a-kiss) arrives to the Church gathering in Philemon’s house, holding two letters from Paul. The first is a letter to the whole Church, what we now call the letter to the Colossians. The second is a letter for Philemon himself. However, because the greeting of Philemon’s letter includes “the church in your house” both are going to be read in front of the congregation. The first letter and general letter is written with Paul’s thanksgiving and praise for the Colossians’ Church. Paul gives deep theology about how Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God, and that through Jesus all things were made. Paul calls the Colossians to be rooted and built up by Jesus as they walk with him. They do this by rejecting the philosophy, traditions, and spiritual ideas of the world. He encourages them to not let things like food and drink get in the way of their relationship with Jesus, but instead put on the new self. Reject sexual immorality, impurities, passions, evil desires, and covetousness. And instead walk in kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Paul calls everyone in the Church to be bound together in harmony for the sake of Jesus who dwells within each believer.
Within the Colossians’ letter, at this point, where Paul switches to how that harmony looks in relationships. Wives submitting to their husbands, husbands loving their wives. Children obeying their parents, while fathers are called to not provoke their children. Slaves are to obey their earthy masters and masters to be just and fair. All this is done under the Lordship of Jesus, that all things might be in harmony with the influence of the believers’ life.
Finally, Paul calls the Church to be in prayer and walk in wisdom among those outside the Church. Having their speech be gracious as to give answers to people about the Faith. Then Paul ends his letter as he usually does, with encouragement and calls for helping others.
However as the letter is read, one name stands out among the rest. As the Colossians listened to the reading this is what they would hear. “8 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, 9 and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. (Colossians 4:8-9)”
The Church would have recognized that name, Onesimus. He was the slave of Philemon who stole and ran off, and yet, he’s back, and Paul is calling him “faithful and beloved brother.” What do you think the feeling in the room was?
Then, more than likely, after the first letter’s reading, Tychicus would have taken out the second letter, the one that was written primarily to Philemon, but the whole congregation was about to hear as well.
Knowing that the public reading of the general letter to the Colossians proceeded the reading of the more personal letter to Philemon, as being the most likely course of events, you can feel the uneasiness in the moment, and the way in which Paul seeks to address the needs of both the congregation as a whole and individuals in particular.
Let’s unpack the first seven verses.
v.5-7
As the letter is read, they hear Paul’s usual greeting to the Church, but then the opening turns very specific. Paul talks about Philemon. Paul thanks God for him, for Paul specifically prays for this wealthy man who allows the Church to meet in his home every week. Paul communicates that he hears great things about Philemon’s love and faithfulness towards Jesus and to the believers.
Paul also hears that Philemon shares his faith with unbelievers, so Paul’s prayer is that that sharing would become effective as Philemon grows into full knowledge of the good things of Jesus. This fuller knowledge is what the rest of the letter is about.
Then Paul gets even more personal. The example of Philemon gives Paul joy and comfort, because through him the other believers are refreshed. Because of this, Paul calls Philemon his brother.
From here, Paul’s going to address the elephant in the room, which is the return of Onesimus. But for now, let’s just understand Paul’s approach to the situation. When dealing with difficult situations, we can have a tendency to create a bad guy. We do this because, it’s easier to deal with someone who had ill intentions, than to deal with someone who’s just like us.
In war, we turn the enemy into caricatures of who they are. We give them exaggerated features, or depict them in dark and non-detailed colors to make them less human. A lot of time when people are leaving each other, they pick a fight to make the parting easier. Then there are those times when people hurt us in some way and we infer bad motivations behind the action.
But going into dealing with a hard situation, Paul recognizes all the good things of Philemon. In a sense, he gives the man the benefit of the doubt. For the most part, this man does all the right things for the Church, and even more so than other believers. Yet, he hasn’t gotten to the full knowledge of Christ in everything, and needs some instruction. Paul is giving the Colossians, and Philemon specifically, an opportunity to put into practice the very words they just heard through the letter addressed to them. But he starts it with a desire for grace and peace to prevail, and recognizing the good that God is doing in their midst at the moment.
God is calling us to the same approach when dealing with people. We are called to look at them as Christ does. People are image bearers of God first and foremost. That image might be marred because of sin, but people, no matter their ethnicity, their social standing, their appearance, their political affiliation, or their past actions, they are a bearer of God’s holy image. We degrade that image by purposely or un-thoughtfully overlooking the good things they do. By doing this, we will hamper the work of Christ in their lives.
This doesn’t mean we gloss over things, and not deal with evil, or bad deeds, but we always remember why we deal with those things. We stand against evil, correct bad conduct, argue for Christ, not because that person is worthless, but because they were worth enough to God for him come down from his throne and die upon a cross for them.
We are called to speak to goodness, though we might have to search far and wide to find something worth speaking good about. We must recognize when things are in a position that God wants them, so that we might have an opportunity to call out to the evil of this world, and actually be heard.
We see this in Jesus’ words to the seven churches of Revelation, where he speaks kindness to the majority before addressing their issue. Paul told the Colossians this when we wrote, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt…(4:6)”
As we step into this letter that addresses the topics of slavery and reconciliation, let us first realize, that we are to treat people as image bears of God. That at the bare minimum Christ’s loves them and desires for them to know him as Savior. Our words and actions need to reflect that reality as we deal with the evil of this world. For Paul would write to the Ephesians, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (6:12)” Out battle is not against the image bears of God who are lost to sin, so let us not treat them in such a way that would hamper our opportunities to speak the life giving message of Christ.
My challenge for you this week, is to find someone that you don’t really care for; who’s mere presence infuriates you. First, begin to pray for your heart to be soften to them. Then, write a list of things that they do well. Finally, seek God to give you an opportunity to do something kind for them.
Whatever they have done, if they were to turn to Jesus, he would forgive them. We need to come to a fuller knowledge of Christ that if they were to ask for the forgiveness of God, we would be ecstatic that we get to praise Jesus alongside them in eternity. That’s Jesus’ righteous desire, and since we are his people, it should be our desire as well. Amen.
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