Philemon

Useless

I always pick up a penny when I see one laying on the ground. The reason I do this is not because I am eager for money. The reason I do this is because of a testimony one of the kids in our Youth Group gave many years ago. He said that he was walking along and saw a penny laying on the ground and stopped to pick it up. When he did he was struck with the thought, “The fact that God would care enough to pick me is life a millionaire stopping to pick up a penny.” In other words, this doesn’t seem worth his time, but for some reason he thinks it is.

Paul writes to his friend Philemon and even though this short letter is named after its recipient it is really about a man named Onesimus. Onesimus was a runaway slave who had been owned by Philemon. Somehow he had come into contact with the apostle Paul and in the process had been converted to faith in Christ. Having now become a believer he was going back to face the consequences of his former actions of running away. 

In some ways this letter is itself a parable of the gospel. Onesimus had run away from the one to whom he belonged. As sinners we are away from the One who created us, the God to Whom we belong. Yet, in going back Onesimus was carrying a letter in which Paul said, “Whatever Onesimus owes to you I will pay myself.” Through the gospel we are able to come to God with Christ’s provision that whatever sins we have committed He has paid for Himself. On these terms God accepts us, not as slaves, but as His very own family.

The reason this story reminds me of why I pick up pennies is because the name Onesimus literally means “useless”. In today’s economy a penny is essentially useless. In today’s world an individual human is considered expendable, certainly by the rulers of this world. And for sure God doesn’t “need” us. But He still chooses to stop and pick us up and through the grace of Christ we are accepted as members of God’s own family.