Ordinary 23

The Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wisdom 9:13-18b; Psalm 90; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14:25-33

Paul’s letter to Philemon is intimate, personal and complicated. Philemon is a Christian who heard and accepted the gospel message through Paul. And now Philemon’s slave Onesimus ran away from him after possibly stealing from his master. Somehow Onesimus has made his way to Paul who is imprisoned and has now also been converted to Christ.

With this letter Paul is sending Onesimus back to Philemon. It brings to mind the nations who send back refugees and illegal immigrants to their home nations, leave them stranded in political limbos or simply floating in overcrowded boats on the sea. Have we ever thought about what these families, and children in particular, are being sent back to?

Can we begin to appreciate the apprehensions and feelings of betrayal experienced by Onesimus? I expect he sought safety and protection from Paul and now Paul is sending him back to his master who has every right to inflict whatever punishment he wishes on a runaway slave. What were the punishments by plantation owner’s in our country for a runaway, sub-human, disposable slave?

Paul has been criticized for not condemning slavery and recognizing Philemon’s rights within the practice. How hypocritical is it for any generation – our generation – to criticize Paul when we turn a blind eye to human trafficking, the forced labor of people in the pornography industry, boys forced into children’s armies, and unjust wages and living conditions for migrant workers that pick our fruits and vegetables?  Practices which primarily affect women and children.

The Gospel calls us to be salt and light, to flavour life with a challenging bitterness while we guide people to the possibility of new pathways. And so Paul does. Criticism of Paul is not only hypocritical but would also be untrue for Paul in a very subtle way does subvert slavery. Philemon is a Christian but now so is Onesimus. Their relationship is still master and slave but in Christ they are brothers. How will Philemon treat Onesimus as we watch two sets of values collide?

Paul has every right to command Philemon to take Onesimus back but he chooses instead the path of persuasion: “although I have the full right in Christ to order you to do what is proper, I rather urge you out of love…but I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.” [Philemon 8-9, 14]

Is a forced good, really a good? Does not a forced good result in resentment rather than a mutual sense of hope and joy?

Persuasion is the path that was urged by Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. Catholics were to enter into dialogue with the world, science, technology, separated Christians, and other religious traditions. For what reason? Persuasion is not compromise but a path in which parties seek the truth together. It is the path set on by Pope Francis. It is the path that the Church needs to use in a world in which more and more people find the Christian Church irrelevant.

The drawback to the path of persuasion is that there can be no force or pressure, or sense of obligation placed on a person, “so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.” The short of it is, are we persuasive by not only what we say about Christ but more importantly by how we live our Christian lives?

This past week on the sitcom, Young Sheldon, the unmarried son George and an acquaintance get pregnant. The quandary? How will George’s mother, the ultra-Baptist, perfect Christian respond? All you need to know is that George was conceived before his parents were married. Ultra-Baptist, perfect Christian mother was not so perfect herself. Life is complicated. For Christians to be persuasive about the Gospel we need to first reflect on our own lives and be open to the truth found in another person’s experience. That’s where the common ground arises from which to move forward together will be found. And if not, can we respect and have a relationship with a person we strongly disagree with on an issue? In our present divisive atmosphere, regrettably, I think not. We are playing a zero-sum game in all aspects of society and relationships. Winner takes all! Without understanding and compassion, can we be living the way of Christ?

Paul did not overturn the slavery system of the Greco-Roman Empire. It still exists in many forms throughout the world and in our country. Was Paul persuasive with Philemon? We will never know. How persuasive are we in living and dialoguing about the life we call Christian?