Text: Philemon 1:1-25
“Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.” —Philemon 1:11
Last week at our summer camp for at-risk kids in East Tennessee, I was asked by a visitor what some of our greatest needs are in working with such children impacted by trauma and hardship. That’s a softball question for a person who has spent my entire adult life working with young people coming from hard places. The answer remains the same after 30 plus years of ministry:
Getting the Church to see the hidden potential and the God-given worth that is lying dormant in broken young people and to be committed to walking alongside of them for the long haul even if the desired spiritual results are not immediately evident. Young people need to know that mentors are not just in their corner for the sprint, but for the marathon.
The entire course of my life was changed when a pastor visited a Florida juvenile detention center and led me to Jesus when I was incarcerated as a teenager, which began a long-term mentoring relationship that was essential to my spiritual formation and discipleship journey. I’m convinced I would not have been serving in ministry all these years apart from that man’s influence on my life.
One of the most overlooked books in the Bible is the story of a broken and incarcerated youth who didn’t realize his God-given potential until a mentor invested in his life.
The book is about a young person named Onesimus who was the fugitive slave of Philemon and may have grown up subjugated to slavery his entire young life. From the text, we see that Onesimus had robbed his master Philemon and fled to Rome, a large city where he could easily hide. Undoubtedly, it was divine orchestration that Onesimus ended up in the same prison as Paul, where the latter had been jailed for preaching the gospel. It was here that Paul presumably leads this young man to saving faith in Jesus (Philemon 1:10), then has the boldness to write to Philemon and urge him to take Onesimus back, no longer as a slave, but as a dear brother in Christ. Paul uses a play on words in verse 11 that suggests Onesimus’ value has been underestimated, as the name Onesimus means “useful.”
This was a risky move of advocacy on Paul’s part, and perhaps an even greater risk for Philemon. Around this same time, all of Rome was shocked when a prefect of the city, Pedanius Secundus, was murdered by one of his slaves. Consequently, the Roman senate enforced a law already on the books and put to death 400 of the murderer’s fellow slaves—men, women, and children, even though they were innocent. Given the social and political climate, this was no time to be advocating for runaway, criminal slaves. Paul did it anyway and risked his own reputation on a young fugitive “thief.”
Paul urged Philemon to drop all charges, asked that he be exonerated of slave status, and much more significantly, esteemed as an “equal” brother in the faith. This request was unheard of in first-century Rome. What if Onesimus re-offended? What if he didn’t check all the “merit” boxes for church membership criteria? What if it took years to be rehabilitated from habits and manipulative survival schemes that he was forced to learn growing up in slavery? Was a runaway slave worth such a risk?
Did Paul’s risk pay off? Whatever became of Onesimus? The Bible doesn’t say. But Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, wrote a letter some fifty years later about a man who seems to fit the description of this runaway slave. Ignatius referred to him as Onesimus, Bishop of Ephesus! It sounds as if Philemon regarded the instruction of Paul and took a risk himself. What happened was even more unlikely than a slave becoming a citizen, apparently that slave went on to lead the church in all of Ephesus.
We have all in one manner or other been fugitive sinners in need of grace, forgiveness, and the freedom that is found only in Jesus Christ. We have all failed God, and at times fled from His presence, but aren’t you glad that God is willing to take a risk on you even when nobody else will?
It’s been noted that the story of Onesimus and Philemon is a beautiful picture of the distinction between law and grace. Both Roman law and the Mosaic Law of the Old Testament gave Philemon the right to punish a runaway slave. But the covenant of grace through the Lord Jesus allowed both master and slave to fellowship in love on an equal basis in the body of Christ. Paul’s payment of all of Onesimus’s debts parallels Christ’s payment for our sins. Philemon’s acceptance of Onesimus as a brother in Christ helped lay the foundation for the abolitionist movement centuries later.
PRAYER
God, thank you for loving me when I was a fugitive running from your love. You captured my heart at a time when my heart was wayward and bitter. You transformed that heart and made me a new creation in Christ. Help me to never take for granted the price that was paid to set me free from the law of sin and death. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion:
- Who has been in your corner at a time when you desperately needed them?
- How does this story resonate with your life right now? How might it apply to the sociopolitical climate of our time?
- Is there a person God wants you to take a risk on—investing in them even if nobody else sees the value or worth in that person?
- What parallels does this story have with the Good News of Jesus and the merciful salvation He offers every one of us?
- Are there any spaces in your life right now that may be in a “fugitive” state with God? Is there a sin that needs to be confessed, a wound that needs healing, or a relationship that needs to be reconciled?
