What Will He (We) Do?
Philemon had a problem, a big problem. He was probably a wealthy Christian convert of St Paul. He owned a slave, Onesimus who ran away. Somehow, the slave escaped to St Paul, who then converted the fugitive. Then, St Paul sent Onesimus back whence he came.
Philemon’s difficulty was what to do with the returned fugitive, who was now incorporated by baptism into Christ Jesus in the Jesus Movement. (Did they sing Galatians 3.28 at the baptism of each? “In Christ there is no Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. All are one in Christ.” )
If he received the runaway back, according to law, Onesimus could be severely punished as an example of what happens to runaways. But if he did, Philemon would have earned the shame of the house church that met at his own house. (Was Philemon or Apphia, his wife, the presider of the house church? (Cf. Gal 3.28, cited above) ) If he freed Onesimus, as St Paul subtly urged, then other slaves in the household might get the same idea and run away and, if caught, become Christians too! If he freed Onesimus, he would have earned the suspicion of other non-Christian slaveholders, who would wonder whether the liberation of the slave was a subversive action in an empire predicated on domination and force. Philemon was up a tree, with a big socio-economic-political problem!
The theory is that, indeed, Philemon did liberate Onesimus. Otherwise, why bother to preserve the letter?
In the first few hundred years of the Jesus Movement, slavery was such a given in society that few questioned the re-structuring of society that taking St Paul’s words seriously would entail. It was not until the end of the Fourth Century when the incongruity of the meaning of the Gospel was realized by a few.
In Eastern Christianity, St John Chrysostom caught the inconsistency. He stressed St Paul big time and spoke frequently against slavery. He knew that not everyone was pleased. (Are they ever?) He said, “I know that I am annoying you, but what am I to do? For this purpose I am appointed. I will not cease speaking so!” (Needless to say, he got some hatemail, but it went with the job description.)
In Western Christianity, around the same time, it was our patron, Magonus Sucatus Patricius (aka St Patrick) who wrote a letter to Coroticus, a wealthy Christian slaveholder in Wales. Our patron pointed out that somehow slavery is not on Jesus’ agenda.
If such were the case for Philemon and St John Chrysostom and St Patrick, the Christian worldview of Jesus and St Paul was superseded by the prevalent worldview of Conventional Wisdom, viz., there always was slavery, and there is something wrong with you if you think about making any radical, viz. basic changes. (In the Antebellum South, in some states, it was a felony to teach Blacks to read. The fear was that they would read the Book of Exodus and then, read between the lines.) As late as the 19th century, Sen John C Calhoun (D-South Carolina) used that argument for the preservation of slavery in the South.
After the French Revolution, the immorality of slavery was grasped by a critical mass who would ultimately bring about its abolition. The only successful slave uprising in world history was in Haiti (against French imperialism) in 1799. The Quakers in England saw its abolition in the British Empire in 1833. Czarist Russia abolished slavery in 1862. It was only after the War Between the States that slavery was ended here. John Calhoun went down hard!)
As Blessed John XXIII said in his socio-economic-political encyclicals, Mater et Magistra and Pacem in Terris, it was a humble statement that the Church’s consciousness grew on some issues. He said, “We know more now!”
Vatican II endorsed the progress in Catholic consciousness in the Church in the Modern World, which relied heavily on such documents as the UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights in 1948.
As we enter the election season, the Catholic bishops ask us to consider Catholic values in deciding who and what is best for our nation and world. As they recently wrote, “We need more, not less, engagement in political life.” In value formation they ask us to recall 7 basic themes of contemporary Catholic social teaching. 1) Work for the life and dignity of every human person. 2) Support the call to family, community and participation. 3) Remember that our rights bring responsibilities. 4) Make the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable. 5) Protect the dignity of work and workers for all. 6) Strive for a vision of solidarity in a shrinking world. 7) Care for God’s creation, as a stewardship.
More and more, people see that Jesus’ worldview is different from the worldview of Western culture in many respects. Philemon had to decide whose worldview he would follow. Today’s Catholics need to do so also, even if it forces us to ask new questions. “The Gospel will not be stopped”. In the words of Dorothy Day, “what Jesus wants are realists, not religious romantics. Some things in this world need doing now!”
What did Philemon do? What would Glenn Beck do? What will we do? 090510AD jfq
