The Advent of our God: Onesimus and Philemon – Dawid Kuyler

I am earning a living by being a chaplain in a Maximum Security Correctional Centre in South Africa.  Crime does pay!  What message has the Advent of our Lord for people who have harmed themselves, their families, their victims and their victims´ families?

Christ has taught us to be compassionate because it was through the compassion of God that Christ came to our world to change loveless and selfish people into caring and compassionate people. Christ’s whole ministry was a compassionate ministry who gave a new life to those who were rejected by society and the faith community.  Even when Christ was on the cross his compassion was seen towards those who were crucified with Him.

Paul, who himself was involved in crime by being a accomplice in the stoning of Stephen and later prosecuting Christians, was turned around after his Damascus experience.  In God´s eyes Paul found compassion and he began to spread the Good News about Christ.  This he did also when he was in prison.  The letter Paul wrote from the prison to Philemon about Onesimus addresses the issue of compassion towards a law offender.

Many questions can be asked about Onesimus being a slave.  Is slavery not also a crime against humanity?  How is it possible that people could own other people and do with them as they wish?  Was what Onesimus did really a crime?  The letter does not tell us what wrong Onesimus did.  However according to the laws of his time what he did was regarded as a crime and so he ended up in prison.  Maybe he did what Black people did in South Africa when they rebelled against Apartheid, and were imprisoned according to the law.  The Advent of our Lord brings us to ask questions about what a crime is, and who defines crime.  Or should we as Paul just accept slavery as a given?  I do not think Paul just accepted slavery because his letter is challenging the core of slavery.

Through the work of Paul, Onesimus (whose name means “useful”) became “useless” to Philemon and then became useful again.  Onesimus got more than monetary value when he became a Christian.  In Christ he became a child of God and with that a brother to other children of God.  The normal relationship of slave owner and slave has changed forever.  In Christ a new relationship was established that challenged the current relationship.  Onesimus had to come to terms with this new relationship but Philemon now also had to face this new relationship.  In his letter, Paul explained to Philemon about this new relationship.  The Advent of our Lord redefines relationships.  How Philemon reacted to this letter we do not know.

The Advent of our Lord challenges the people and relationships of those who committed crimes, but also those affected by these crimes.

Some people who commit crimes do not end in prison.  Zacchaeus was part of an oppressive system which extorted money from people.  This is also true in our own times.  The economic meltdown in 2008 reminds us of people who got away just because they were powerful and were protected by other powerful people.  In our day many “legal” criminals walk free.  What would be the message of the Advent of our Lord be to them?  The prophet Isaiah reminds us:

Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.            Isaiah 10:1-2

The prophet Micah wrote:

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

When Christ came to this world, Matthew reminded us about who Jesus was:

Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.  Matthew 12:18

Crime and injustice will not get their way.  With the Advent of our Lord we are again reminded that Christ will come to judge by Him who rose from the dead.

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”  Acts 17:30-32

The Advent of our Lord has much to say to us, not the least of which is: Repent.This could make the world a better place to live.

The Rev. Dr Dawid Kuyler  has served as Scribe (Stated Clerk) of the General Synod of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa since 2008. Serving in ministry for 30 years, he has enjoyed diverse roles and contexts for service. A church historian, he became a practical theologian, and in this role he has taught pastoral counseling.  Dawid enjoys the challenges of ministry.