Philemon

A number of years ago a mentor, Bob Montgomery, mentioned something about that smallest of Paul's letters that stuck with me. What he said was that Philemon and the personal endings of the Paul are similar in type. They are the messy details of ministry, the stuff of personal relationships that is the actual work of ministry.

It is easy to skip past these bits of personal conversations long past, but as it turns out we keep on having these conversations... the exact names and details change but its pretty much the same conversations about the same issues. And the same issues of obedience that make up the majority of how we live.

The letter to Philemon is an appeal of a Christian leader imprisoned for his faith to a wealthy church leader to show mercy to a new Christian for the wrongs of his unbelieving life and free him up to ministry.

there are lots of big issues involved in this letter, slavery, the change in what it means to be human after salvation, leadership authority in the church. But instead of developing a deep and philosophical treatise on redeemed anthropology (like Romans 6-8) or referencing the convicting social messages of Micah, Paul steps into the details and the people's lives. Not as a theologian but as a pastor.

So Paul does what every pastor should and all are afraid to do. He asks people to do what is right and gives them the freedom to do what is right and loving, or not. Paul sends one person who is very helpful to him on a very unhelpful journey to seek reconciliation with someone who has all the power to make his life miserable, opportunity-less, and even short. And Paul has no power to make sure that things go right, he can only pray and exhort. He does this because the repairing of the church family is more important than the immediate opportunity for a visibly dynamic and exciting ministry.

Paul doesn't say to Philemon that slavery is wrong, he doesn't say that Onesimus can't be held responsible for his criminal behavior because he is a new Christian, what he says is that he hopes Philemon will continue to do what he does so well, refresh the hearts of the saints. Paul asks Philemon to refresh his heart by showing mercy and grace to this new brother despite this brother being undeserving. He prays that God would help Philemon to know (and by inference to act upon the knowledge) of everything that is in him for Christ's sake. To see this messiness as an opportunity to show love and grace not just a situation in which he was wronged.

It is this perspective that is the Christian perspective. The recognition that situations marred by simply bad choices can become a complex good. God's glory shown in its full power in our weakness like fiery torches in humble clay pots bursting with light and goodness when brokenness is embraced.