Easter Devotional - Day 37
"If you consider me a friend because of Christ, then welcome Onesimus as you would welcome me. If he has cheated you or owes you anything, charge it to my account. With my own hand I write: I, PAUL, WILL PAY YOU BACK. But don't forget that you owe me your life. My dear friend and follower of Christ our Lord, please cheer me up by doing this for me." Philemon 17-20
While Paul does not condemn slavery outright, this letter is the closest to a condemnation of the excesses and abuses associated with the institution. He condemns the patterns of injustice and mistreatment of others through illegal or legal means. What is legitimate from the standpoint of law, may not measure up to the ethical standards of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Philemon had every legal right to punish, abuse, and even put Onesimus to death for his escape as a slave. Rather than help Onesimus remain escaped as we might wish Paul to have done, Paul sent him back to his condition as a slave with this letter demanding grace. The institution of slavery, after all, was not the problem to face. The real issue was the mistreatment and abuse of those whose lives legally hung in dependence upon the goodwill of their masters. It was the attitudes associated with the institution that demeaned the slave as a life of lesser value.
If we look around in our own society, there are plenty of evidences of the abuses inherent to an institution of slavery under a different legal guise. There is obviously an ongoing illegal slavery trade in human and sex trafficking in our nation, for sure. While we grant bailouts to firms mismanaging billions in assets, we uphold laws that make public requests for economic aid by the poor violations of the legal code. There has ever been prevalence for mistreating the poor, and especially immigrant populations. At times, economic subjugation works on two groups of people at once.
I spoke with an African-American man recently laid off from his job along with a host of other employees. They were let go in order to hire an immigrant labor force at cheaper wage rates. One minority lost income, the other was given work at a lower pay scale and moved into very rustic factory-owned living conditions across from the warehouse. While perhaps not precisely illegal, it is in effect the same kind of abuse through economic means that we decry in the institution of slavery in our past.
Paul did not condemn slavery outright as an institution. He did, however, call for a higher ethical treatment of those dependent upon others in power. He also reminded Philemon of a greater priority than economics—that of spiritual issues and living with a perspective on eternity. His concern was not over what was legal, but what flowed from grace, mercy, and love.
Perhaps it is time we reviewed once again the effects the institution of slavery in our past holds over the attitudes we bring to business and economics today. Abolishing the institution of slavery did not abolish its attitudes. World War II did not abolish attitudes of Aryan supremacy. The Civil Rights Movement of my childhood did not overcome the disparities of valuation according to race and social class. The issues before Paul and Philemon are alive and raging before us. What responsibility will we assume to right the attitudes of abuse and oppression still prevalent in our midst?
Evaluate how you can be an agent for justice, grace, mercy, and peace among all.
"Lord, help me see how my actions impact the lives of others, that I might love as did Christ."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
My latest books can be found here on amazon
While Paul does not condemn slavery outright, this letter is the closest to a condemnation of the excesses and abuses associated with the institution. He condemns the patterns of injustice and mistreatment of others through illegal or legal means. What is legitimate from the standpoint of law, may not measure up to the ethical standards of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Philemon had every legal right to punish, abuse, and even put Onesimus to death for his escape as a slave. Rather than help Onesimus remain escaped as we might wish Paul to have done, Paul sent him back to his condition as a slave with this letter demanding grace. The institution of slavery, after all, was not the problem to face. The real issue was the mistreatment and abuse of those whose lives legally hung in dependence upon the goodwill of their masters. It was the attitudes associated with the institution that demeaned the slave as a life of lesser value.
If we look around in our own society, there are plenty of evidences of the abuses inherent to an institution of slavery under a different legal guise. There is obviously an ongoing illegal slavery trade in human and sex trafficking in our nation, for sure. While we grant bailouts to firms mismanaging billions in assets, we uphold laws that make public requests for economic aid by the poor violations of the legal code. There has ever been prevalence for mistreating the poor, and especially immigrant populations. At times, economic subjugation works on two groups of people at once.
I spoke with an African-American man recently laid off from his job along with a host of other employees. They were let go in order to hire an immigrant labor force at cheaper wage rates. One minority lost income, the other was given work at a lower pay scale and moved into very rustic factory-owned living conditions across from the warehouse. While perhaps not precisely illegal, it is in effect the same kind of abuse through economic means that we decry in the institution of slavery in our past.
Paul did not condemn slavery outright as an institution. He did, however, call for a higher ethical treatment of those dependent upon others in power. He also reminded Philemon of a greater priority than economics—that of spiritual issues and living with a perspective on eternity. His concern was not over what was legal, but what flowed from grace, mercy, and love.
Perhaps it is time we reviewed once again the effects the institution of slavery in our past holds over the attitudes we bring to business and economics today. Abolishing the institution of slavery did not abolish its attitudes. World War II did not abolish attitudes of Aryan supremacy. The Civil Rights Movement of my childhood did not overcome the disparities of valuation according to race and social class. The issues before Paul and Philemon are alive and raging before us. What responsibility will we assume to right the attitudes of abuse and oppression still prevalent in our midst?
Evaluate how you can be an agent for justice, grace, mercy, and peace among all.
"Lord, help me see how my actions impact the lives of others, that I might love as did Christ."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
My latest books can be found here on amazon
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