Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 129


I, Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus, urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus....




Onesimus was the slave of Philemon. He fled his master to find his "spiritual father" Paul, and wished to remain both a free man and a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

But will Philemon permit it? 

It is easy to suppose he should. Isn't slavery an abomination? Doesn't it represent a cruel insult to the divine dignity of every human being? 

We do not know what Philemon decided. We have only Saint Paul's letter to him. We do not have his response, if he sent one. 

Slavery is an economic system, a way of organizing labor, like capitalism and communism. It is as old as the human race and as persistent as sin. Wherever there are human beings it perdures. Some nations had laws that were more merciful toward slaves; some less merciful. The French allowed slaves to own money and property and to manumit themselves by buying their freedom. The American system, inherited from England just before they forswore the practice, was not so kind. 

The system philosophically died with the Enlightenment. If all men are created equal, some men cannot own others. It took a while to persuade enlightened Europeans and Americans of their own convictions. Thomas Jefferson, one of the most Enlightened men of the American revolution, kept his slaves until he died. He didn't believe in slavery but he could not give up the privileges it afforded him. Nor did his neighbors. It wasn't done in those days. 

Illegally, slavery persists in the United States and around the world. There are still many people who profit by it. Like smoking, abortion and arms manufacturing, slavery has always been "business as usual" for some people. So long as it is not illegal, they see nothing wrong with it. 

In today's gospel, when Jesus turns to face the crowds who followed him, he challenges them to abandon everything they have ever known and loved. If they would be his disciples they can bring nothing with them. Like soldiers enlisting in the military, there is no reason to carry your stuff with you. Whatever you need, he will provide. In our time we would not suppose God provides slaves to his faithful. 

The western world kept slaves for eighteen centuries. Despite Saint Paul's friendly, persuasive letter to Philemon, few people saw any reason to dismantle the "peculiar institution." The conversion of an entire culture takes a very long time. 

We have yet to suppress illegal slavery. We have yet to guarantee all the natural rights of women, the disabled, ethnic, racial and religious minorities, the sick, unborn and elderly. We have yet to recognize and facilitate the movement of people as they migrate from famine to plenty, from war to peace, from hostility to hospitality. Many Americans consider their search for a better life illegal and immoral. 

The Evangelization of an entire world takes a very long time.