Walls Fall Down - June 21 Readings: Philemon

Today's Reading

Context

The gospel shattered many of the social divisions of First Century culture. Jew and Gentile. Rich and poor. Slave and free. All of those things that separated people in the world came to mean nothing in the church. Philemon is a book about two men - a slave and his master - and how the love of Christ brought them together.

Devotional - Walls Fall Down

Fate determined that Philemon and Onesimus would stand on opposite sides of life's railroad tracks. Philemon was wealthy, successful, a man who was able to have a slave. Onesimus was that slave. Evidently, from what Paul said in Philemon 11, he was a "useless" slave, one who did not do the work he was assigned and who eventually ran away from Philemon.

Then, something happened. Onesimus, while he was on the lam, met a man named Paul, who introduced him to Jesus Christ. Coincidentally, Paul had also met Philemon and introduced him to Christ. And when the two men met Jesus, everything in their lives changed, including their relationship to one another. Those human walls which divided them began to crumble in Christ.

Our human differences mean a lot to us. Republican. Democrat. Hawkeye. Cyclone. Cornhusker. Hobby preferences. Likes and dislikes. White. Black. Brown. Rich. Poor. We are diverse and these differences matter to us. Division seems to come naturally to us.

But when Jesus Christ gets hold of our lives, the human differences become lesser in importance and our unity in Christ becomes what matters most. Paul reminded Philemon that Christ had fundamentally changed the relationship between the slave and the owner. Now, they were in much more than an economic relationship, they were in an eternal family. They were brothers in Christ. The injuries of the past faded in comparison to the new reality of Christ.

Knowing Christ does not immediately or permanently remove all human differences. Some of us are rich and some are poor. We come from different backgrounds and have different skin colors. We remain men and women. These things don't change when Christ saves our souls. But when we are in the family of God, those human differences, still real, just become less significant.

It will only be in heaven, I suppose, that we find out "the rest of the story" concerning Onesimus and Philemon. Did they reconcile? Did Onesimus receive both forgiveness and freedom? Paul seemed confident, in verse 22, of a positive outcome.

But when we walk in Christ, those human things that divide us no longer need to build walls. Jesus Christ tears down walls and builds unity among us.

Father, may I focus on Christ and his work that brings unity, not on the human things that divide. 

Think and Pray

Do you allow human divisions to become divisive in the church?
Are you working to break down social barriers to reach out across racial, economic, and other human barriers?