Seeing Through
Faith-tinted Glasses
Thirty-Second Week of Year II Thursday November 10, 2016
(The letter to Philemon. Today only.)
The Responsorial Psalm tells us “Blest are those whose help is the God of Jacob” (Psalm 105).
In
Philemon, verses 7-20, Philemon
thinks he owns his slave Onesimus and has the right to tell him what to do.
Paul
starts by establishing identities and relationships. Surprises all around! The
Romans think Paul is just their prisoner. Paul says he is a “prisoner for
Christ.” Philemon thinks Onesimus is his slave. Paul calls him “my child.”
(Paul brought him to life through Baptism. See Galatians 4: 19; 1Corinthians
4:15). Paul tells Philemon that when it comes to giving orders, “I have
every right to command you,” because the issue at hand is “what ought to be
done,” and Paul speaks for Jesus in this. But Paul prefers to “appeal in the
name of love.”
Here
Paul goes to what should be the core of all Christian relationships — with
others and with God. Ultimately the only relationship that counts for anything
is the relationship of love. All others are just ways of living it out.
Paul
calls Philemon to rethink his perceptions; to see reality, not through the eyes
of human culture and legal bonds (e.g. master and slave), but in the light of
our faith. He suggests that perhaps God let Onesimus escape “for this reason: that
you might possess him forever, no longer as a slave, but as more than a slave,
a beloved brother.”
He
adds, “Now you will know him both as a man and in the Lord.” The phrase “in
Christ” is Paul’s theme-song. The Jesus Paul met on the road to Damascus (Acts 9: 1-5) revealed himself as
identified with the members of his body on earth. We see Christ in others. In
others we see Christ.
This
is stewardship. Paul is trying to change Philemon’s whole perception of human
society, of relationships and identities. When Christians succeed in making
this perception universal, we will have “renewed the face of the earth.” That
is the Kingdom of God.
When
will this happen? Jesus, when questioned about it in Luke 17: 20-25 replied, “Don’t ask!” The kingdom of God is not
something you can see coming like a social trend. You can’t measure its
progress or predict its arrival through statistical analysis. The “reign of
God” exists in the measure that each human heart is surrendered to God’s will
as revealed through the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit. Try to get statistics
on that!
Our
job as stewards of Christ’s kingship is
not to make surveys of our success, but just to keep persevering in faith and
fidelity until Christ comes again.
And
to trust in God: “Blest are those whose
help is the God of Jacob.”
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