Coming Home: A Story for Homecoming
Colossians 1:1-4; 4:2-9
Philemon

 

It's Homecoming Sunday. But what does it mean to "come home"? Is coming home to this place on this day, or any day, an easy, joyous event ... or is it difficult to come home? We sing the hymn with the chorus:

Come home, come home, Ye who are weary, come home;
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, Calling, "O sinner, come home!" (1)

But the question that must confront the church, every church, is this: Is this a place of welcome for those who would hear the call of Jesus and come home?

For those returning on Homecoming Sunday, it is not a place to which they return ... it is people. When you stop to think about it, home is, above all else, the people who are there - people who accept you, with all your flaws and frayed ends and rough edges. Home is really home when you can go there and know they'll be glad to see you. (2)

It's fine to quote Edgar Guest who wrote, "It takes a heap of livin' to make a house a home," if you realize that a home doesn't just happen by people living together. It takes effort on everyone's part - to be kind, to be honest, to be loving, to be responsible. Home, Jesus teaches us, is not the place but the people - people committed to each other through good times and bad times. Coming home is returning to people with whom we share a commitment - we to them and they to us.

Robert Frost wrote a poem in which a husband and wife, living on a New England farm, came home to discover a former hired hand in their house. Obviously exhausted and ill, the old hired man is given a meal. Leaving him to get some rest, Mary and Warren discuss what to do about their guest. They recall that the hired man has an older brother who lives just a few miles down the road.

"His brother's rich -
A somebody - director in the bank."

"I think his brother ought to help."

They soon realize that the hired man did not go to his brother's place because he would not have felt welcome there. Instead, he had found his way to this farm because in some way he regarded it as home. And Mary says,

"Warren, he has come home to die."

"Home?"

"Yes, what else but home? It all depends on what you mean by home."

"Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."

Tucked away in the New Testament among the Letters of Paul is a Story of Homecoming. The Letter to Philemon has only one chapter of 25 verses. It is different from all of Paul's other letters because it is a very personal letter to a Christian who was a prominent member of the Colossian Church. Not only is this letter different from Paul's other letters, it has a fascinating story behind it which seems most appropriate for this Homecoming Sunday.

The story begins with a slave named Onesimus who ran away from his Christian master, a man named Philemon. Philemon was a wealthy man with vast holdings, including a large home which also served as the meeting place for the Colossian Church.

One day Onesimus ran away, having first stolen from Philemon. It should not surprise us that Onesimus should want to run away from slavery to gain freedom, or that he should steal from his master in order to survive. He ran away, perhaps to Rome or to Ephesus, to find freedom in the big city.

Somehow Onesimus met the Apostle Paul. We know that Paul was a prisoner and it may be that Onesimus had been arrested as well, or it may be that Onesimus had found a job working at the prison. Whatever the circumstances, a relationship developed between Paul and Onesimus that led Onesimus to be baptized as a Christian. Soon it appears that Onesimus is a partner with Paul in ministry. Paul's Letter to the Colossian Church [4:9] speaks of Onesimus as "the faithful and beloved brother."

Then a crisis developed. A man named Epaphras, who apparently was pastor of the Colossian Church, visited Paul in prison and saw Onesimus. Now the runaway slave's whereabouts was no longer a secret. Word could get back to Philemon who could send men to drag him back home. Paul and Onesimus discuss the situation. Paul persuades Onesimus to go home to face Philemon. Paul also writes this letter for Onesimus to take with him for Philemon. Most scholars also believe that Paul also wrote and sent the Letter to the Colossian Church at the same time to be delivered by Tychicus who accompanied Onesimus on the journey home.

Try to picture in your mind this scene as Onesimus arrives at the home of Philemon. The runaway slave knocks on the door. Philemon opens the door and sees Onesimus standing there. [All Philemon knows at this moment is that this is his slave who has stolen from him and run away.] Philemon is about to order him chained and thrown into the dungeon when Onesimus hands him this letter from Paul.

Listen now to what Philemon read in this letter from Paul, who was well-known to Philemon not only as a leader in the Christian movement, but also as a personal friend.

[I have taken the liberty to paraphrase this text for contemporary listeners.]

Dear Phil:

I send you greetings, my friend, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who grants us grace and peace. Please share my greetings with the church which meets in your home.

My dearest friend Phil, you are like a brother to me and are constantly in my prayers. I continue to hear reports of your love for all God's people and that you continue to grow in your Christian faith. I pray that our friendship will continue to enrich our relationship with Christ. Your love has brought me great joy and your words of encouragement have meant much to me, as I'm sure they have to many others as well.

I write to you about a serious concern I have, as a friend rather that by my authority as an Apostle of Jesus Christ. I write to you as a friend to make a request on behalf of Onesimus. While I have been here in prison, Onesimus has become like a son to me ... No, he has become my spiritual son for I have been able to teach him about our Lord Jesus Christ and he has become baptized into the Body of Christ. Not only that, but he has become very useful to me in my ministry.

Though it breaks my heart, I have sent him back to you for that seems the proper thing to do. I would love, however, to have him here with me; though that is your decision to make.

There may well be a purpose to his having run away from you for a short time, so that you might have him back for all time as a co-worker in your ministry. Onesimus returns to you not as a slave, but as a brother in Christ. He has been a great help in my ministry here, even as he could now assist in your ministry.

If you still consider me a friend, then I ask you to welcome Onesimus back - just as you would welcome me. If you feel he still owes you a debt for what he stole, please put it on my account. Here is my written promise to pay you his debt. [Of course, I should hardly have to remind you of the debt you owe me for introducing you to Jesus Christ.] Please, my dear brother, grant me this request for the lord's sake; as a brother in Christ, for it will indeed cheer me up to know that you have forgiven Onesimus and welcomed him home.

I am sure you will grant my request, and if all I have heard about your generosity is true, I am sure you will do even more than I have requested.I hope to visit in your home as soon as God answers our prayers and releases me from this prison so that I might continue my ministry.

Your pastor, Epaphras, is with me here as I write and also sends his greetings, as do my fellow workers Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Paul

What actually followed seems too good to be true, and yet it is history. Philemon apparently welcomed Onesimus home and forgave him. Later Onesimus returns to work with Paul as a partner in the ministry of the gospel. After Paul died, a man named Onesimus became the Bishop of Ephesus, which was the center of Christianity in Asia Minor and, indeed, in all of Asia. Bishop Onesimus of Ephesus appears to be the very same runaway slave who was converted to Christianity by Paul and forgiven by Philemon.

But now, as Paul Harvey would say, stay tuned for "the rest of the story." For it seems that Paul's various Letters to the Churches were first gathered together in Ephesus after Paul's death, to form the earliest part of what we now call the New Testament. The four Gospels were not yet written, although two of Paul's other traveling companions, Mark and Luke, were certainly working on their Gospel stories.

It seems very likely that Bishop Onesimus supervised the assembling of Paul's Letters, which could also explain why this personal letter to Philemon is included in our New Testament. For in this letter is the secret of how the Bishop of Ephesus - one of the leading Christians of his day - was transformed from a slave to a Christian. It is included as a word of hope for all the down-trodden in the world. It is a story about how love and grace and forgiveness can change anyone's life.

But what does all this say to us today on Homecoming Sunday? This small letter has a giant message:

You and I are Onesimus. We have run away from God, our Master, all too often. We have rebelled against God and we have stolen from God, by keeping for ourselves the portion of our resources that really belong to God. In short, we deserve to be punished as a runaway thief. But then we come into contact with Jesus Christ who pleads to God on our behalf, saying in effect: "Put that on my account and I will pay the debt."

What do you think was the motivation that drove Onesimus to rise to such heights in the leadership of the early church? Was it not that he once stood as his master's door, trembling because of the strong possibility of being put to death for robbing him and running away? But his master had mercy on him, forgave him, and freed him to serve Jesus Christ.

That is also what makes you and me tick as a Christian: To realize and confess my fault before God as a trembling runaway, to be welcomed home and to receive, instead of punishment and guilt, God's grace and forgiveness so that we might become servants of Jesus Christ.

You and I are Onesimus. We have been forgiven to begin a new life - continuing the work of Jesus.

We are Onesimus ... but we are not only Onesimus in this story. We are also Paul.

We are servants of Jesus Christ in whatever place we find ourselves. We may sometimes feel like we, too, are imprisoned. We may not be exactly where we'd like to be. We may not be doing exactly what we'd like to be doing. But if we are sensitive to those around us, we may discover that God has sent an Onesimus to us - one with whom we can share the Good News of Jesus Christ. We can develop a relationship with that person and help them to become a Christian. We can let them share fully with us in the ministry of this church. We can be for them an agent of God's reconciliation as they make peace with their past and move into their future with hope.

In this homecoming story of love, forgiveness and renewal, you and I are Onesimus, but we are also Paul as we help persons on the road reach their full potential as children of God and servants of Jesus Christ.

But one more character ... we are also Philemon. You and I have at times been wronged by someone that we felt was below us. We have felt anger at persons who have wronged us and we have wanted our revenge. But there comes to us the moment that came to Philemon - when we are asked to forgive. And in that moment, as we search our hearts for a decision, may hang the entire future of the Church and of a future Bishop of Ephesus. Be a Philemon and extend your forgiveness to the one who has wronged you, even as God has already forgiven you.

Paul writes in his Letter to Philemon, "I am sending him back to you now, and with him goes my heart." A wall motto reads: It is better to give someone a piece of your heart than a piece of your mind." This morning, on Homecoming Sunday, I invite you to give a piece of your heart to those who have wronged you.

We have heard this morning not only the story of Philemon and Onesimus and Paul, we have heard God's story, and our own story. Each of us, at some time in our life, is an Onesimus who runs away and needs to come home to find forgiveness. Each of us is a Paul, in that we can share our faith with another in need and act as an agent of God's reconciliation. Each of us is Philemon able to say, "I forgive you. Welcome home!"

May God's grace be with each of you as you live out this story in your own way. Amen.

Sermon by Herman Kauffman
Union Church of the Brethren
Homecoming Sunday
November 3, 2002

 

1. "Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling," Will L. Thompson, The Brethren Hymnal, #250.
2. Kenneth L. Gibble, "The Search for Home," Yeast, Salt and Secret Agents, p. 70-71.