Sermon text: Philemon
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Our Epistle reading this morning is the entire letter of Paul to Philemon. It is the shortest of Paul’s letters — just 25 verses — and it is one of the most personal. It is a letter about a runaway slave, a master, and an apostle in prison. And it is a letter that shows us, in miniature, what the Gospel does to human relationships.
The story is this. Philemon was a Christian, a member of the church at Colossae, a man in whose house the church met. He owned a slave named Onesimus. And Onesimus ran away — probably stealing from his master on the way out, for Paul says, “If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.”
Onesimus fled to Rome. And there, in the providence of God, he met Paul — Paul the prisoner, Paul the apostle. And Paul preached the Gospel to him. And Onesimus believed. The runaway slave became a Christian. The useless became useful — for that is what the name Onesimus means: “useful.”
And now Paul is sending him back. Back to Philemon. Back to the master he wronged. Back to face whatever justice — or mercy — awaits him.
But Paul does not send him back alone. He sends him back with this letter. And in this letter, Paul does something remarkable. He does not command Philemon — though as an apostle, he could. He appeals to him. “Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you.”
And what is his appeal? “I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.”
Paul asks Philemon to receive Onesimus — not as a slave, but as a brother. “No longer as a bondservant but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother — especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.”
This is what the Gospel does. It transforms relationships. The master and the slave — the owner and the owned, the wronged and the wrongdoer — are now brothers. Brothers in Christ. Brothers in the Lord. The old relationship, defined by law and power and debt, is swallowed up in a new relationship, defined by grace and love and forgiveness.
Paul even offers to pay Onesimus’s debt himself: “If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it.”
Do you see the picture? Paul intercedes for Onesimus with Philemon, offering to pay his debt, asking that he be received as a brother. This is exactly what Christ does for us with the Father. We are the runaway slaves. We have wronged our Master. We owe a debt we cannot pay. And Christ intercedes for us, offers to pay our debt — and does pay it, on the cross — and asks the Father to receive us not as slaves, but as sons. As brothers.
“So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me.”
Receive him as you would receive me. This is the Gospel in a sentence. God receives us as He would receive Christ — because we are in Christ, clothed in His righteousness, brothers of the Son.
And this transforms how we relate to one another. Philemon and Onesimus. Master and slave. Now brothers. The Gospel does not abolish all earthly distinctions — Paul does not tell Philemon to free Onesimus, though he hints at it — but it relativizes them. It puts them in their proper place: under the lordship of Christ, within the brotherhood of the Church.
So it is with us. Whatever our earthly relationships — employer and employee, parent and child, husband and wife, pastor and parishioner, friend and friend — the Gospel transforms them. We are no longer defined by power or debt or status. We are defined by grace. We are brothers and sisters in Christ.
Receive one another as you would receive Christ. For that is how Christ has received you.
May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.