This Changes Everything

Text: Philemon 8-22

Focus: The Cost of Discipleship

Function: to help people see and abandon privilege.

Form: Story telling.

Intro:

I suppose that if we could gather Alexander Mack, John Kline, Sarah Major, all early Brethren leaders, and if we could compare their answer to a question I will pose in a second, we would probably get the same answer from this next group of people. That group would be leaders who started this congregation, who started this district, and the leaders who started the churches and districts that many came from across the country as we have moved here, we would also get the same answer to the question.

The question is not so profound, or probably not worth the hype I have already put into it, but here it comes: and I will ask you the same question: What is the most commonly used Brethren cliché when we discuss baptism?

All the Lectionary text for today, and indeed, the back of the bulletin deal with the subject of the cost of discipleship.

The highlighted verse is Luke 14:27: Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

But there are three other texts used to make todays lesson and I want to very briefly look at the other two besides the Philemon passage.

Psalm 1

In a passage with the title added: “The Two Ways” the author of the Psalm contrasts a wicked, or evil person, with a just, or righteous person. The classic verse “Like a Tree planted by the water… ” is in that Psalm.

So, in a lesson about the cost of discipleship, the Lectionary adds a contrast between people who do acts of evil toward others, and the people who live by the principle that good people make sure that everyone gets justice.

The other text is Deuteronomy 30:15-20.

I love the imagery of this passage and I refer to it often. I guess it is because I can picture it and it must have been a sight.

Moses is getting ready to leave the Israelites for good and he is giving them their final lesson. He stands at the base of a valley and divides the congregation in half. One half on one mountainside and the other on the other one.

Then he reads off the blessings if they obey and one side agrees. Then he reads off the punishments if they willfully disobey and the other side consents to the punishments.

And then he asks them all to make their own personal choice. He asks them to choose between being decent, loving, helpful, community minded people who live not only for their own good, but who also believe that they should love their neighbor as much as they love themselves.

It is like his final lesson is him asking them what kind of people they will choose to be.

He emphasizes their choice.

The highlighted verse, take up the cross, the Brethren mantra “Count Well the cost!” all come from these verses asking us to consider beforehand what kind of people we want to be.

And that leads us to the fourth scripture, the story we read, the story of Philemon and Onesimus. The story of power and subjugation. The story of the privileged and powerless and how both of them came to be confronted with the demands of counting the cost. We will look at the cost of discipleship for Onesimus, Paul and Philemon.

The cost for Onesimus: He risks his own life by returning. This is a slave driven economy. His escape threatens the peace in that household. His escape has for punishment at the most the possibility as the law required, his death. In order for him to go home, he has to trust that Philemon is actually a Christian and will actually forgive him.

Now, he has one guarantee, most specifically, verse 22, “by the way, I am coming to check up on you.” The text says he says, “get a room ready for my soon coming visit.” But I think the idea is implied.

That was briefly the cost for Onesimus, and his problem was fear of death or severe punishment. His choice to obey was the step in faith to trust in the power of God’s love moving in the heart of his master.

Now look at the cost for Paul.

It isn’t near as much as Onesimus, or Philemon, but there is quite a bit of risk here. If Paul knew that Philemon was the kind of man who would do the right thing, he would not have had to send a letter. Perhaps Onesimus saw his master do cruel punishment against slaves. He may have had good reason to fear his master, almost every slave did and had related that to Paul.

But Paul first risks his friendship with Philemon. He is asking Philemon for a lot, we will see that in a minute. Philemon may be offended at the request, so Paul reminds him that Jesus is now Lord of his life and that means something in the way he treats everyone, even slaves. Because He is a Christian, it means that God is there to help him react lovingly to everyone.

Second, Paul risks the influence and power that Philemon can give him. He depends on Philemon. Obviously, Philemon is a man of privilege and power. He needs a roof over his head when he is doing his ministry in his town.

In 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:28 and Colossians 3:11, the NT says that the class distinctions between religions and races, listed as “Jew or Greek” and between the classes of humans “slave or free” have been destroyed in the new Heavenly kingdom that transcends the ways that men have learned to oppress others.

And what blesses me about Paul is the way that Paul uses his own privilege, he was born into the ruling class, to give power to the slave to be equal with the man who wields privilege.

The cost of discipleship for Paul, in this story, is to use his privilege to work for the powerless.

It is like the King of Denmark wearing the Star of David during the Nazi occupation. It was like the story of Corrie Ten Boom whose family hid Jews during the Nazi occupation.

I relate to Paul in this story because we are not the uber wealthy, like Philemon, nor are we slaves, but we are people with power just by nature of where we were born.

In a day where more and more people are being marginalized, how do we, with certain privilege give away our power to the powerless? Could we go to France and don a Burka? We did, already, when we did it for the Muhammuds.

And finally, the cost for Philemon.

Although this is about privilege and power, I think the real story here, in the cost of discipleship, is how, in faithfulness to Christ’s teachings, does Philemon follow Christ?

We do not know what Philemon does. I guess when we get to heaven, we can find out. We don;t know if Paul and Onesimus’ bold step in faith worked out well for Onesimus.

I trust that Philemon did the right thing and really have no other way to talk about the cost to him without what the cost of doing it right would have been.

He is not alone in the need to discipline his slave. My understanding of current Roman law at the time was that any escaped slave that was caught was already liable to the death sentence. Anyone could have killed Onesimus already. Many people from the privileged class would gladly administer the punishment because if all the slave owners exercise lethal power over all slaves, then it makes the likelihood of every slave thinking twice before escaping. There is simply no safe place to go.

Of course, Brethren and Mennonites gladly risked everything during the underground railroad because of their Christian convictions. And those people were criticized, jailed and even killed by other Christians who wanted to keep the slavery system in place.

For Philemon to treat Onesimus like a brother in Christ after he escaped would have placed Philemon in a bad place with every other slave owner he knew.

He is at risk of his own privilege. Not only from his colleagues, but also, how will he keep the rest of his slaves in line?

And of course, we ask, well, the fact that he owned slaves as a Christian is a problem and to bad for him.

And because of Christianity’s influence, especially in the political arena, we can now say that.

And I condemn slavery in every form I can imagine. Praise God that God has changed the status quo of the world through the church, even though slavery exists, it is still illegal worldwide.

I say that to qualify the statement that it wasn’t so easy for Philemon. It was a slave economy.

To overcome this barrier, Philemon has to trust that God will provide for his household, his slaves who will now, or could possibly become, his employees. His economic future is at state. The business that he has still needs to succeed against those odds.

And sadly, to many have maintained the status quo rather than ensure that justice happens for everyone.

The cost of discipleship, in this case, was obviously levied the heaviest against Onesimus whose life was at risk. But Philemon has to buck every other system as a Christian.

The cost of discipleship was the loss of his privilege. For him, this changes everything. And so, Jesus’ words, If any person come after me, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.

I love the chance and the hope that this letter worked, that Philemon did the Christian thing, even though it was culturally unacceptable and forced him to choose Christ over his own money.

I love these examples, because they inspire us to continue to count well the cost.