Daily Devotion for Easter 2021

Scripture Reading: Philemon

I've enjoyed working through the earliest letters of Paul starting with 1st Thessalonians and then moving to Galatians and then ending with 1st and 2nd Corinthians.  Of course, there is always debate over which was the earliest and how we might ascribe a chronology to the epistles.  But this particular order worked out to cover each of these four letters by looking at one chapter each of the forty days of Lent.  

While I didn't cover Sundays this year, I usually wrap up the series on Easter Sunday and so I thought I would look at Philemon on Easter since some scholars place it next in order.  The fact that it was only a chapter seemed to lend credence to this idea as well!

How are broken shackles an
image of the resurrection?

As we look at Philemon, it definitely has some important themes of resurrection which coincides well with Easter.  Paul is writing to Philemon who is likely a member of the church at Colossae with a rather specific request in the faith.  It seems that Philemon's slave Onesimus has made his way to Paul and become a Christian.  Paul is sending Onesimus back with the instruction that he would no longer be a slave but a brother in Christ.  

Here Paul is asking Philemon to put the theory of Galatians 3:28, "there is no longer slave or free...for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" into practice.

Paul is willing to cover any cost but also emphasizes Philemon's own debt to him by stating, "I say nothing about your owing me even your own self."

And in case Philemon is having other thoughts about how he will treat Onesimus, Paul lets him know that he's going to be coming for a visit.  He doesn't state explicitly that things better go the way he has laid them out but it is pretty easy to read between the lines!

As we consider a living resurrection faith on Easter Sunday, Paul's letter to Philemon shows us practical value.  Our idea of a risen Lord is put into reality when we conform to his teachings and find our own freedom in bringing love and respect to places in the world where they are absent.  

Onesimus finds resurrection in his own physical freedom - he is no longer a slave.  

Philemon finds resurrection in granting freedom to Onesimus and seeing him as a brother in Christ.

Paul finds resurrection in the guidelines he lays out - they were surely followed or this letter would have been destroyed rather than copied!

How is resurrection present in your life today?  Where might you add life to the world around you?

Prayer for the day:

Living Lord, we know in our hearts how we should treat others.  But often our heads justify lesser behavior.  As we celebrate Jesus risen from the dead, this reminds us that suffering and cruelty are not the final word.  Help us to see that our participation in them is a denial to the resurrection faith that we claim.  May you rise again in our lives so that our actions might reflect resurrection for all.  We pray these things in the name of the risen Christ.  Amen.

Photo by GPS via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.

All scripture quoted is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.