Collateral Bloggage

As one of the shortest books in the New Testament, and as it’s a personal correspondence between two Christians, Philemon doesn’t tend to be a book that provides a lot of practical Christian application.  But I actually found something!

First, though, something a bit lighter: a bit of trivia. If you’ve read the book, you’ll know it’s a letter from Paul to Philemon, asking him to accept back his escaped servant, Onesimus. Paul makes a wordplay on Onesimus’ name, which means “useful.”

I thought that was cool. Something new I picked up on this read-through. Now, for the heavier stuff.

Here’s the passage I find interesting:

Paul expresses that he’d like to keep Onesimus around to help in his ministry.  But he elects to send him back to his owner, giving Philemon the opportunity to do something good.  I’m not sure what, exactly, Paul expected the “good deed” would be.  Maybe Philemon would send him right back to Paul, or at least have him ready to go with Paul when he arrived (Paul anticipated a trip to Colossae in his near future).  Or maybe he simply wanted Philemon to free Onesimus and let him choose what to do.

The really fascinating thing to me is that Paul has a good sense of the justice of the matter before him, apart from the rank injustice of Roman Slavery. Certainly, it would seem to be a matter of justice for Paul to simply say to Philemon, “Look, it’s not right that you own this man. I’m keeping him.”

Or would that be just? I submit that it would be merciful (to Onesimus), but not just. Under the law of Rome, Onesimus belonged to Philemon.  For Paul to keep him (and possibly prevent his harsh punishment) would be merciful, but not just.  Depriving Philemon of his servant wouldn’t be justice (although it would feel like the right thing to do).  In fact, it would take from Philemon the chance to show mercy himself.

How does this have application?  Well, I think the church needs to do better at showing mercy and seeking justice.  We all need to do better.  Instead, there’s a tendency to take the other tack.  To use the State to enforce an idea of justice.  But depriving people of what is theirs in order to help others is not justice.  It is a form of mercy, but not the mercy we’re called to exercise.

As Greg Boyd pointed out in a recent blog/essay, we in the Church, recognizing the pathetic state of affairs here, have decided to try to change Caesar.  To use the State to enforce our values, rather than showing those values ourselves.  Showing mercy.  Seeking justice.  Making the Church back into a vehicle for working those things that Jesus called “the weightier issues” (Matthew 23:23).

When I first came up with the idea for this post, I was mainly thinking about the political leaning that seeks redistribution of wealth, but I think the application of true justice and mercy cuts both ways. We mustn’t defraud others of what is theirs, and we mustn’t consider what we have as being truly ours.