Tag Archives: Slave

Chapter-a-Day

The Way of Jesus Exemplified

Leave a comment

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 1:15-16 (NIV)

Along this chapter-a-day journey I have gained a love and appreciation for the chapters in this Great Story that no one talks about. When was the last time you hear any one reference Philemon? And yet, the story of Philemon is one of the most beautifully powerful human dramas in the Great Story.

Philemon was a member of the local gathering of of Jesus’ followers in the city of Colossae in Greece. He became a follower of Jesus when Paul visited, shared Jesus’ love and message there, and established the local gathering. Philemon was a man of means, with a household large enough to host the church in his home. His means and his large household included slaves.

Among the slaves in Philemon’s household was a man named Onesimus. Reading between the lines Paul’s very short, intimate letter, Onesimus stole money from Philemon and ran away. Eventually, Onesimus made his way to Rome. In Rome, the runaway slave runs into none other than his former master’s friend Paul who is now under house arrest awaiting trial before Caesar.

We don’t know the details, but the bottom line is that Paul shared Jesus’ love and message with Onesimus, and the runaway slave became a sincere believer. Now, Paul tells Onesimus that he must make things right with Philemon, not as slave and slave-master but as brothers in Christ. He sends the runaway slave back to his master with this letter in hand in order to reconcile the relationship and make things right.

Over the last several years, I have shared with my own local gathering a graphic and a concept that depicts the way of Jesus and how different it is from the way the world operates. The world operates through the force of top-down power and authority. From the childhood game of “king of the mountain” to the power structures of politics, business, commerce, and crime. Whoever has the wealth, influence, and power dictates how things are going to work in this world whether it’s through law, rules, regulations, coercion, domination, leverage, or threat.

Jesus, however, did the opposite. He left the power of heaven itself, came to earth to live as a human being. Through faith, obedience, and sacrificial love He changed the hearts of individuals. He then tasked those of us who are His followers to utilize that same faith, obedience, and sacrificial love to carry His message so that it might change the lives of individuals in our circles of influence. As more and more lives are changed and more and more individuals are operating out of faith, obedience, and sacrificial love, the world itself is impacted.

It’s not top-down power and domination but bottom-up love and generosity.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
Isaiah 55:8 (NIV)

Here’s how I’ve depicted it graphically:

The thing that I love about the story of Philemon is that it perfectly illustrates this entire paradigm.

Level 1: Jesus changes Paul’s life from the inside out.

Level 2: Paul shares Jesus’ love and message with people in Colossae.

Level 1: Jesus changes Philemon’s life from the inside out.

Level 2: Philemon’s community is changed as members of his household and community become believers and meet in his home.

Level 2: Onesimus the runaway slave from Philemon’s household stumbles into Paul, his former master’s friend and member of his former master’s circle of influence, in Rome of all places.

Level 1: Onesimus becomes a believer and Jesus changes him from the inside out.

Level 2: Changed by the love of Jesus, Onesimus returns to Philemon to be reconciled and make things right, their relationship now transformed by the love of Jesus that has transformed each of them.

Level 3: The world is still being impacted by their lives and story. This very blog post and podcast are living proof.

What is beautiful about the letter is the fact that it is all about transformation. The transformation of Philemon and his household into a center of God’s love in their community. The transformation of Onesimus from thief and runaway slave to brother in Christ. The transformation of the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus in which the love and power of Jesus tears down the socio-economic power structure of the world’s paradigm of slavery and replaces it with the love, joy, and peace of spiritual family.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself moved spiritually and emotionally as I imagine the moment when Onesimus arrives to face his master. I imagine the mixture of emotions that each of them were feeling in that moment. I imagine the runaway slave handing Philemon Paul’s letter. The shock and surprise as Philemon reads it. The conflicting emotions in Philemon’s heart as anger gives way to forgiveness, resentment yields to kindness, and the world’s paradigms crumble to the transformational, life-changing power of Jesus’ love.

Jesus, I pray that your love continues to change me today from the inside out, so that your love through me might change those around me, that your love through us might positively impact the world for your Kingdom.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

“Why Do We Pray Before Meals?”

Leave a comment

“Why Do We Pray Before Meals?” (CaD Matt 14) – Wayfarer

And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
Matthew 14:19-20 (NIV)

“Why do we pray before meals?” Wendy asked me yesterday morning after I had prayed before breakfast.

It was a simple enough question. There are so many things in life that we do because they are habitual or traditional. We rarely stop to ask “Why?”

The question came back to mind as I read the chapter this morning. Jesus famously feeds a hungry crowd of 5,000 followers with just a handful of bread loaves and a couple of fish. Yet, there is so much more to this story than the surface event. It even addresses Wendy’s question.

We are blessed to live in the most affluent empire in human history during the most affluent age in human history. Never in the history of humanity has the simple human need for food been so abundantly satiated on our planet. I’m not saying that there aren’t places and people in the world who are struggling for their “daily bread,” but never in history has that number been so small. That is just the facts. Not only that, but here in America we have long struggled with the opposite problem. Food is so abundantly available that we have a problem with obesity.

Yet, for the crowds following Jesus to an isolated place to hear Him preach, and for God’s people leaving slavery in Egypt and wandering into the wilderness, the need for food simply to survive was critically real. And, this episode in today’s chapter is connected to the story of the Hebrews in the wilderness. It’s connected to the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught His followers to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

For the Hebrews in the wilderness, God provided a miraculous bread from heaven called “manna.” Every morning when they woke up the manna covered the ground like dew. It was always just enough for that day, and if someone collected more than they needed for themselves and their family that day it would grow horribly rotten.

The spiritual lesson of manna, and of the loaves and fish, is profound in its simplicity: Trust God for what you need each and every day.

When I began work for our company, Intelligentics, back in 1994 it was unlike any job I’d ever held. No one in our company, including the founder and owner, has ever drawn a salary. Every person gets paid by the amount of time we charge clients within projects. Which means if we don’t have any clients or projects then no one gets paid. Our founder set up the business this way to mirror the spiritual principle of daily bread.

For over 30 years I have never had the simple assurance of next month’s paycheck or how much it would be.

God has always provided for our needs despite the fact that across the 30-plus years there have been months of proverbial feast and famine. Nevertheless, like the story of the loaves and fish in today’s chapter, there has always been “leftovers” in the end.

As I meditated on this simple life lesson in the quiet this morning, Holy Spirit raised within my memory one of my favorite verses in the entire Great Story. It comes from the time of the Hebrews in the wilderness as God is instructing them in their new way of life. The hard reality of slavery is that your Master has the responsibility of protecting and providing for his investment with housing and food, meager as it might be. Wandering in the wilderness is a very different reality. Freedom required faith that God would provide. And when God did provide, Moses instructed God’s people:

“When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.”
Deuteronomy 8:10 (NIV)

I love the fact that Jesus not only provided a filet-o-fish feast, but Matthew was careful to record that everyone “ate and was satisfied.” Matthew the Quirk was also careful to record the numbers like the math geek he was. Five loaves and two fish feed 5,000 with twelve baskets full of leftovers (that’s one basket for every one of the twelve tribes of Hebrews wandering in the wilderness back in Deuteronomy.

Matthew was also careful to record that Jesus “broke the bread,” giving us the colloquialism that we still use today for gathering together with friends or loved ones for a meal. Jesus also “gave thanks” in anticipation of God’s provision for the “daily bread” God was about to provide. While Matthew doesn’t say it specifically, I know for certain that everyone was obediently obeying Deuteronomy 8:10 and praising God after the fish feast was over that day.

So, there’s the answer to Wendy’s question. We pray before meals because it’s the spiritual pattern God wove into our daily lives. Trust God each and every day for my daily bread. Thank Him for His provision as I break my bread. Praise Him each time I am satiated and there are leftovers.

When I begin to trust and depend on myself for my daily bread, I’ve completely lost the plot.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!

Chapter-a-Day

Water

Leave a comment

Water (CaD Rom 6) – Wayfarer

Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Romans 6:3-4 (NIV)

Over the past few months, there have been mass baptism events around the world. It’s not the type of thing that mainstream media is going to report, but it’s out there. A reported 12,000 individuals were baptized at Huntington Beach, California on Pentecost Sunday. Another nearly 5,000 were baptized in multiple events in Florida. In New Guinea, 300,000 people were baptized. Just weeks ago, I was honored when a young friend drove a long way in order that I might baptize her. It was a precious event. Just a week before that, our local gathering of Jesus’ followers baptized several people, and the place was packed with witnesses celebrating each one.

Over the years, I have repeatedly stated that God’s base language is metaphor. All of creation is an expression of God’s being and a reflection of His eternal nature. Time and time again, throughout the Great Story, God uses metaphors to communicate spiritual truth. That is what baptism is really all about, but it’s even more than that because metaphors are layered with meaning.

In Genesis 1:1 the Great Story begins with God’s Spirit moving over the “deep” regularly translated as “sea” or “waters.” In his Revelation, John describes Heaven’s throne room as having a sea that looks like crystal. From beginning to end, water plays a major role both physically and spiritually.

God destroys the world with a flood. Noah and his family are saved through the waters. Peter makes the spiritual connection between the Great Flood and the baptism of believers.

God delivers the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and the freed slaves escape through the waters of the Red Sea. In today’s chapter, Paul writes of being freed from our slavery to sin. Spiritually, baptism is a person’s Red Sea moment.

God leads the Hebrews to the Promised Land, and they enter the Promised Land by passing through the River Jordan. Paul speaks today of the spiritual transformation of a believer from the “old life” of slavery to sin and into the “new life” in Jesus. Spiritually, baptism is also a person’s River Jordan moment.

Life for every human being begins in the protective water of the womb, As the “water breaks” it ushers the baby into their earthly journey. Jesus told Nicodemus that salvation is about being “born again” spiritually. The water of baptism metaphorically becomes a sign of the water breaking and ushering a newborn believer into their new life.

Jesus said that He came to bring us “living water,” a spring welling up within a person to eternal life. Baptism is a metaphor for being “buried” in the “living water” just as Jesus was buried in the tomb and raised up out of the “living water” just as Jesus was raised from the dead.

David presciently describes the metaphor of baptism in his lyrics to Psalm 18:

[God] reached down from on high and took hold of me;
    he drew me out of deep waters.

As I meditate on the metaphor of water and baptism in the quiet this morning, I find myself encouraged. That’s what metaphors do. They are physical reminders of spiritual truth. It was a crazy weekend of an assassination attempt and being reminded of the division, violence, and vitriol that is seemingly so prevalent in our current times. But then I think of 12,000 people on a California beach whose lives have spiritually changed for the better. I think of 5,000 people in Florida who experienced a spiritual rebirth. I try to imagine the positive impact that the transformed lives of 300,000 people could have on their nation and world as they follow Jesus into obediently loving God and loving others. I think of the smile and joy of my young friend as she came up out of the baptismal pool and gave me a hug. She was so excited about God’s spiritually transforming work inside her. Death-to-life. Buried-to-risen. Slavery-to-freedom. A new birth in which old things pass away and new things come.

Yes, there’s a lot of chaos out there in the world, but God’s Spirit is still moving over the “deep.” The Good Shepherd is still leading His flock to still waters. This wayfaring stranger is looking forward to crossing Jordan into an eternal Promised Land and seeing the crystal sea.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Broken Relationships; Divine Purpose

Leave a comment

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 1:15-16 (NIV)

If you’re not a regular reader, please know that I’ve been reading and blogging through the letters of Paul in the chronological order they were likely written. In my last post, Seasonal Companions, I wrote about the conflict and reconciliation between Paul and John Mark. But that isn’t the only story of reconciliation hiding in the back stories of the personal greetings found at the end of his letter to the followers of Jesus in Colossae. Paul writes:

Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.

Onesimus was a runaway slave from Colossae who was owned by one of the believers there named Philemon, a friend of Paul. We don’t know all of the facts of the story. What we do know is that Onesimus seems to have stolen from Philemon and fled. In what I’d like to think was a divine appointment, Onesimus ends up running into Paul in Rome and he becomes a follower of Jesus. Now, Paul is sending Onesimus back to Colossae to make things right with the master from whom he stole and fled. Onesimus is carrying with him Paul’s letter to the Colossians, which we just finished reading. Onesimus is also carrying a letter to Philemon, which is today’s chapter. (Paul’s letter to Philemon became the shortest book in the Bible, FYI.)

Paul’s letter to Philemon is brief, but warm-hearted in its appeal to Philemon to be reconciled with Onesimus. Paul asks Philemon to consider sending Onesimus back to help Paul while he is in prison. Paul urges Philemon to see how God used Onesimus’ offenses to bring about His divine purposes. Onesimus left Philemon a runaway thief, but Onesimus is returning as a brother in Christ trying to make things right.

In the quiet this morning the theme of my thoughts continues to swirl around lost and broken relationships. Paul’s letter to Philemon is a good reminder that sometimes a season of relationship ends because one or both parties need the separation in order to learn, experience, and grow so that a new season of deeper and more intimate relationship can come back around.

I find myself, once again, thinking on the words of the wise teacher of Ecclesiastes. There is a time and a season for everything. That includes a time for conflict, and a time for reconciliation. There is a time to make amends, and a time to forgive. Sometimes the time in between is just a moment. Other times it takes many years. Along the journey, I’ve come to embrace the reality of, and necessity for, both, along with the wisdom necessary to discern which is which.

Chapter-a-Day

The Dark Turn Towards Vengeance

Leave a comment

"Vengeance" by jbelluch via Flickr
“Vengeance” by jbelluch via Flickr

Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
    happy is the one who repays you
    according to what you have done to us.
Happy is the one who seizes your infants
    and dashes them against the rocks.
Psalm 137:7-8 (NIV)

Years ago I found myself the victim of another person. I wasn’t wronged in any tangible way, mind you. It was more of the personal affront in which a person of authority demeans and diminishes  another person because he or she has the power to do so. I was hurt and my hurt became anger. Sometime later, while still seething with anger, I found myself in a unique position to wreak vengeance on the perpetrator and make this person’s life extremely uncomfortable. I had a choice to make.

The psalms are song lyrics and they express the breadth of human emotions. Today’s psalm was written in extreme circumstances that we can scarcely imagine today. Around 600 B.C. the Babylonians laid siege to the city of Jerusalem. Eventually, they destroyed the city, razed the walls, tore down the temple of Solomon, plundered the city, and returned to Babylon taking all of the best and brightest young people as their slaves (fyi: the prophet Daniel was one of them).

The writer of today’s psalm was one of the slaves living in Babylonian captivity. The lyricist had survived the siege during which, according to Jeremiah in his song of Lamentation, the residents of Jerusalem were reduced to cannibalism to survive. Perhaps the song writer had been forced to eat the flesh of his family or friends to survive. Certainly the song writer had seen his hometown and all he held dear destroyed. He had likely seen friends, family and neighbors senselessly slaughtered in sadistic ways. Then he had been forcibly taken from family to live life as the slave of those who destroyed their family and home.

With psalm 137, the writer is feeling more than just the blues. His pain was coming out in anger. I get that. My pain of being victimized is nothing compared to what the writer of this song went through, but yet the human reaction is the same. Pain turns to anger, but once anger is realized the path leads to a fork in the road. We have a choice. We can sit endlessly in the anger as it endlessly gnaws away our spirit, we can choose the path of forgiveness, or we can choose the path of vengeance. Our psalmist is struggling with feelings of vengeance and he pours them out in his musical prayer. I like to think that writing a song about it was probably a healthy outlet for his feelings.

As for me, I chose not to pursue vengeance on my perpetrator. The thoughts of revenge were sweet, but in the long run I believe it would have damaged me spiritually more than any pain and discomfort it would have inflicted on my perpetrator. Like the psalmist I expressed my anger and desire for vengeance to God and I vented with a safe cadre of loved ones. Then, I let it go. I chose to forgive and gave up any “right” I felt for revenge.

Anger and the desire for vengeance are real emotions. They need to be explored and expressed in healthy ways. Finding a creative outlet like the psalmist can be an important part of that process. The path of vengeance carries with it deep spiritual consequences. When anger makes the dark turn toward vengeance victims risk critical damage to their own souls.

wayfarer chapter index banner

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 2 Peter 2

3 Comments

Poster by Mat Kelly

They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. 2 Peter 2:19 (NLT)

This past Saturday night, Wendy and I went to see a new play performed at Central College. Dead Man’s Curve was adapted from the book Yellow Cab by Robert Leonard. Leonard, a former professor of anthropology at the University of New Mexico, shares his experiences of driving a Yellow Cab during the graveyard shift in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Through the play we are introduced to a wide variety of very real people with whom Mr. Leonard rubbed shoulders. He calls them “invisible people.” It was a fascinating ride. Days later, Wendy and I find ourselves continuing to talk about the people and stories to which we were exposed.

I thought about some of those people this morning as I read the chapter and particularly the verse above. Indeed, despite the promise of freedom, we are all slaves to those things which control us. It’s too easy to draw a dotted line from this truth to the common addictions of sex, drugs and alcohol. The more insidious truth I’ve come to believe is that there are far more people enslaved each day by socially acceptable appetites out of control like pride, hunger, control, greed, materialism, and even religiosity. Legalistic religiosity is simply the gluttonous indulgence of the human appetite for power and control. It is just the point Peter was trying to make in today’s chapter. That which promises freedom only creates a different version of slavery.

As we watched the play I was struck by the number of times drivers, who each had their own set of troubles and issues, acted out of love and compassion both for the needy and the foolish humans who happened into the backseat of their cab. Modern day Samaritans providing random acts of grace and kindness, often to those who didn’t really deserve it. Those acts of love are examples of the very essence of Jesus’ entire message. Freedom does not flow out of a license to do whatever we want, nor out of religious adherence to lists of rules meant to keep us away from doing what we shouldn’t. Freedom, Jesus said, flows out of the truth embodied when we obey the law of love He taught: To love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; To love our neighbor as we love ourselves.