Restitution

So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. 18If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self." (Philemon 1:17-19)

I measure books starting at neck deep, and as I wade through them, I go to lower extremities. Currently, at 350 pages read so far, I'm chest deep in Ron Chernow's newest book on Mark Twain (that means there are around 700 pages left for me to read). I just completed his section on Twain's writing "The Adventures of Huck Finn," considered by many to be the masterpiece in American literature.

I'll cut to the chase for time's sake and say that what struck me about "Finn" (as I read it and as I read this section on Twain) was the relationship between Huck and Jim. They had a healthy relationship for one another based on respect and maybe even love. Huck's father, a poor man and a drunk, had served him poorly, kidnaps him and holds him as a prisoner in a shack, so at 14, Huck escapes and runs away.. He came across Jim, a slave, who had runaway, and the adventures began as Huck was determined to get Jim to freedom, in spite of the danger that posed for both of them, and in spite of the fact that Jim had escaped slavery but left behind a family. It apparently struck Chernow as well as he focuses on the relationship between a poor, lower class child who is white and a slave in America in the 19th century. The hardest pill to swallow for the reader is the use of the N-word (over 250 times). It's like watching a Quentin Tarantino movie in that it is discomforting to read or hear it used by people, white or black.

So, the letter to Philemon, a member of the church in Colossae, is an appeal from Paul on behalf of Onesimus, whom he has grown to love "like a son." Onesimus is a slave to Philemon, a "bond-servant" as it is worded in the letter. Paul is "sending Onesimus back" to Philemon for restitution. Onesimus has become a man of faith, and to make it fully right, must resolve one major impediment to his journey as a follower of Christ - restitution. Why? Because he will be hunted like Jim and turned over to authorities and most importantly, he needs to square things away with the man with whom he has a debt.

The theme of the letter is a great theme of Christ, his love for us, and his restoration of us with God. Our slavery to sin could not be paid off, so to make things right, God sent his Son Jesus to pay our debt. Paul is willing to pay Onesimus debt because he loves him. 

In the end, Huck learns that Miss Watson had passed away a few months earlier and had freed Jim in her will. Jim's slavery, not a bond-servant but an indentured servant, had come to an end.

Verse 21 of this brief epistle is as close as we come to learning of its final resolve as Paul states, "Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say." We trust that Philemon did the right thing as well, given the Christ-like nature of Paul's action. 

Pray with me: Most merciful God, I have no way to pay my debt. You paid it for me with a ransom too great to understand, the death and resurrection of your own Son. Forgive me for my actions that require that payment, but I thank you for the gift of eternal life which you have given to me. In Christ's name, Amen.