Rome was a crazy place. That’s
were Paul was writing from. It was one of the greatest empires to ever exist.
And it was vastly, vastly wealthy. Much of that wealth was fueled by the bodies
of slaves. Up to 30% of the Roman Empire was made up of slaves.
Though many of us complain
that working our jobs is like being a slave, nothing could be further from the
truth. Slaves were less than human. There is the story of a slave that was
carrying a tray of cups into a courtyard. One cup fell and broke. Furious at
the loss of the cup, the owner ordered the slave to be thrown into the
courtyard pond. Instantly the lampreys of the pond swarmed around the
unfortunate slave and ate him alive. Many slaves had it very rough during the
days of Paul.
For a slave to run away
was not good. There was a whole industry that grew in Rome in which people
hunted down these runaway slaves. When caught the slave could be whipped, or
burnt with hot irons, or killed. Those that survived the capture would be
branded on their foreheads the letters FVG for fugitivus, or fugitive.
Onesimus was a runaway
slave. He had taken flight in search of freedom. Who can blame him? But, as he
running from his master Onesimus ran into Paul. Paul himself was in prison at
the time for talking about Jesus. Somehow Onesimus ended up becoming a
Christian and his life was radically changed. Check out how Paul describes
Onesimus' character:
"Formerly he was
useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me."
Philemon 11
Onesimus was useless.
Apparently Onesimus had been a poor excuse for a slave. Paul also mentions an
issue with a debt, which could possibly mean that Onesimus stole from Philemon.
In short, Onesimus was a useless thief.
But then Onesimus added
Jesus to his life and his character totally changed. So much so that now Paul
was asking for Philemon to grant Onesimus' freedom and to allow Onesimus to be
sent to Paul. Onesimus had been radically changed by adding Jesus to his
useless life.
Some of you know what it is like to be
useless. You feel it in your bones. This sense of what's the point? Perhaps
once you had been so full of love and now overwhelmed with loss. You may have
made some bad choices, and the freedom that you thought you were running to
ends up being more elusive than a rainbow. Suddenly you are enslaved to the
consequences.
If truth be told, we've
all run at times in our lives. And some of us have had the whippings and the
scars from bad choices bring that caught up to us. And the scars are real. In
know. I have a few of my own. The end result is a nagging knowledge that you
are useless.
But then Jesus gets
involved in our lives. “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Man, life
is totally different! Onesimus was just like that. Remember what Paul said? "Formerly he was useless to you, but now
he has become useful both to you and to me." But now… things are radically different. Jesus god a hold of
Onesimus and gave him the freedom he was looking for. In that freedom came a
life that now useful. A life that could make a difference.
How about you. Are you a
runaway. Have you experienced the beatings of bad choices. Have you found that
your life seems empty and useless. Add Jesus to your life and it will make all
the difference in the world. You can be used to make a difference, to help
others, to love. You will be useful.
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