Given the way the Liturgy of the Word is set up, often the second reading, which usuallycomes from St. Paul’s letters, is not mentioned in homilies. You see, the Liturgy of the Word follows a three-year cycle. Currently we are in Year C, which follows the Gospel of St. Luke. Especially in Ordinary Time, each Sunday’s gospel reading pretty much picks up where we left off the week before. Come Advent we will begin Year A which follows St. Matthew’s Gospel. In Advent in 2020 we will begin Year B which follows St. Mark’s Gospel, and because it is a short gospel, we also get St. John’s. Each Sunday, the first reading, which is from the Old Testament (except in the Easter Season), is selected to match the theme of that Sunday’s gospel reading, so the first reading tends to jump around the Old Testament. The idea is to show how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises. For the second reading, which I mentioned is generally from one of St. Paul’s letters, it is not selected to match the theme of the Gospel and first reading. Even the Psalm is selected to reflect the theme of the gospel reading. But the second reading is just to read through St. Paul’s letters, one Sunday picking up from where the previous Sunday left off. Naturally, preachers tend to want to focus on the Gospel, thus the second reading is often not commented on.
Not this weekend, however. I am going to focus on today’s second reading, from St. Paul’s letter to Philemon. It is the shortest of St. Paul’s letters, and it is the most personal. Here is some background. St. Paul is imprisoned – we are not sure where, most think in Rome, but a good argument can be made for in Ephesus. A man named Onesimus has come to him to serve him while he is imprisoned (he might have been in house arrest). Onesimus is a run away slave. In fact, St. Paul knows his owner, Philemon, very well. They are good friends because Philemon is the Christian leader of the house church in Colossae. St. Paul has high praise for how well Philemon has been preaching the Gospel of Christ.
While with St. Paul, Onesimus has become a Christian. There is obviously now a rift, a barrier between Onesimus and Philemon, and St. Paul does not want one to develop between him and Philemon. He has convinced Onesimus to return to Philemon, and the letter has the hope of easing the reunion of Onesimus and Philemon.
Paul doesn't write a diatribe against the institution of slavery – it was so ingrained at the time that no one could conceive of society without it. Instead, Paul asks Philemon to have mercy on Onesimus by telling him that Onesimus is no longer a merely a slave, but a brother, because he has become a Christian. He knows that Philemon has every right to treat Onesimus harshly, but he asks him to be merciful instead – for Christ's sake. And that is the point.
In Christ, all the false divisions among people dissolve, and we are made into one family. This is at the very heart of the Christian message. Sin divided the world, causing war, racism, prejudice, and injustice to run rampant. Christ reunites the world, overcoming all divisions.
St. Paul called upon Philemon to recognize the radically new relationship he had with his runaway slave. Onesimus was not to be considered a piece of property but a fellow child of God, a brother for whom Christ died. St. Paul did not call for a change of law, but for a change of heart.
While laws can help to improve our society, perhaps true improvement only happens when people begin to see one another in a new way, as fellow children of God.
What barriers are still up in our lives? None of us is a perfect Christian yet – when we get to that point the Lord will take us home to heaven. Today, the Church is inviting us to examine our hearts sincerely, calmly, to see what grudges we still hold and what prejudices we bear.
Is there an individual in our life that we are not treating as a sister or brother, but as a slave, or as an enemy? Christ died for that person. Is there a whole group of people that we resent, that makes us mad just to think about? Christ died for them too. These barriers of resentment, anger, and prejudice are like giant weeds growing in the garden of our souls.
They steal the nutrients that are meant to feed virtues like wisdom, courage, and generosity – the kind of virtues that produce interior peace and lasting happiness. They grow around our hearts like vines grow around trees – sucking the Christian life out of us, making us fall into the convenient back-talking, gossiping, criticizing, and destructive attitudes of division that make this world such a valley of sorrows.
Christ's grace is the most powerful weed killer ever invented. He wants to use it to free us from these parasites, so that our lives can flourish more and more.
Today, when he comes to us again in Holy Communion, let's allow him to apply it to our hearts. Let's ask him to give us a heart like his, a heart like Paul's, that can turn runaway slaves into brothers and sisters. Let's not leave this Church without having decided that we will welcome the Onesimuses in our lives as brothers and sisters. I can think of few things that would please our Lord more than that.