Paul

 

Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is as none other than Paul—an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus— that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus,^[b] who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

I am sending him—who is my very heart—back to you.  I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced but would be voluntary. Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever—  no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord. (Philemon 1:8-16)

 

One of the things that has bothered me for years is other people thinking they had the right to make decisions for me. Dad did this all the time. Once he decided what needed to be done, that was it. Everyone else had to cope. More than once, I complained that he was making decisions that involved me without asking my opinion. It didn’t matter to me that I would ultimately have made the same choice. What mattered was that I didn’t matter. I didn’t need to be included as a human being whose thoughts or feelings needed to be considered.

This is why, when I read today’s passage, I have to cheer. Paul says he could have ordered Philemon to free Onesimus. Philemon owed him. Philemon was his student, his disciple. Paul didn’t need to consider Philemon’s opinions on the matter. Paul was right. It wasn’t just that Paul thought he was right, he was right. Slavery might have been considered a norm back then, but I suspect even back then, good people didn’t enslave their brothers and sisters. If they sold their relatives as slaves, it was a temporary deal, to pay a debt. So, Paul was well within his rights as an apostle.

But he did not choose to command, badger, harass, humiliate, shame, bludgeon, order, coerce, or demand. He had the power. He did not use it. Instead, he argued, urged, coaxed, reasoned, plead, asked, and considered the feelings of the person to whom he was writing. It didn’t matter whether he was right or not. It didn’t matter if what he said was the necessary thing for Philemon to do. What mattered was Philemon agreeing by his own free will.

This has been my problem with the whole mask bit. I’m not opposed to wearing a mask. It might or might not be useful. It might or might not be right. It might or might not be necessary. The governors might or might not be within their rights to order we wear them. But am I Philemon to you? Are you my Paul, or are you just assuming the papacy  - the authority to command because you either wish to elevate yourself, or diminish me? If I am going to be your Philemon, and you, my Paul, then act as Paul acted.