Philemon, Onesimus, and Myself.

In the Bible, there are many great books, lessons, and quotations to draw from. Many are long, full of heraldry, chronicle, symbolism, and metaphor.

But there is one single chapter, one simple epistle of Paul, that has recently caught my attention. It is a letter, sending a man named Onesimus back to a man named Philemon.

Paul begins with a simple encouragement, praising Philemon and his family for their acts of charity and faith, which he often did when sending letters to churches. But far more than this, Paul does something in this letter that is an extraordinary reflection of Christ in the church.

In this simple chapter, Paul not only returns a servant to his master, but he takes on that servants debts, and begs Philemon to treat him not only as a brother, but as he would treat Paul himself.

And there’s so much happening in this verse. Paul makes it very clear he feels comfortable commanding Philemon to do a great many things, but instead, he adopts a posture of humility, and begs Philemon to do these things for the sake of Christ.

He also points out that while at one point Onesimus was useless, he is now useful to both Philemon and Paul, and that he would have much rather kept Onesimus with him.

In finality, Paul states that he knows Philemon will do this, and more, and asks also that a place be prepared for him, in hopes that he would be able to meet with them again.

What a rare and beautiful demonstration of love. This great love that would bring itself to beg a man for the freedom of his servant, and would willingly take on his debts as his own. He doesn’t even ask the debt be forgiven, which he most assuredly could have. He simply says, if anything is owed, I will give it.

It is a story of true brotherhood, a story where I can imagine Paul in tears, sitting in his cell, either writing the letter himself or dictating it to one of his companions outside his cell. He doesn’t know the future of his friend. He only knows he’s saying goodbye to a person he loves like his own family.

I long to love like that. To sacrifice someone I care for so deeply, so that he can be free.

We know of several characters in history after this writing by the name Onesimus. While history is not a science, and thus cannot provide us with the exact truth of Onesimus’ end, tradition in the Catholic Church holds that he became the bishop of Ephesus, and was ultimately martyred.

If tradition is to be believed, Philemon must have been just as moved by this letter as I was. Moved enough to let his servant or his slave come home, and to grant him his freedom.