NO MORE SLAVES August 21, 2020

The Word we read today, an epistle of one chapter, from the Apostle Paul to his fellow worker in the ministry Philemon, touches on a subject that is very controversial even to this day.  Of course, since time immemorial, slavery has been present in all civilizations and human settlements throughout the world.  This is largely caused by one group of people thinking themselves superior to the other and either by force, fraud or manipulation, render somebody even though they be respectable and of high status in society, subservient to them, enslaving them either physically, mentally, emotionally, economically, socially, or politically.  For after all, even wise King Solomon has said, “the rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” (Proverbs 22:7)

 

And this has indeed resulted to the destruction of many people and cultures in ancient times, when for example, those who lost in war are taken captives and enslaved.  Sadly, even when humanity has supposedly attained enlightenment and entered the modern age, lingering prejudices still fueled its modern forms: we have rich employers working their employees to death with very minimal pay, benefits, and rest privileges; there are top ranking private or public officials living luxuriously while those under them who do the dirty work live through piled up debt from payday to payday; oligarchs engaging in cutthroat competition and destroying startups and would-be competitors either by the so-called “corporate evils” of buy-ups and mergers and acquisitions; rich billionaires buying up lands and racking up prices so high that the ordinary salaryman is unable to settle down and build a home for his own family; husbands and partners who maltreat their wives, children and partners, thinking they are weak, and should just be confined to an eternity of housekeeping and servitude while with them, never to be as equals; and even the always-right-customers berating and maltreating sales personnel for being “so ignorant” so as not to cater to their specific whims and wants.  If in olden times slavery was often a result of wars and invasions, in our generation today it is often an offshoot of fraudulent financial manipulations and economic disadvantage and deprivation.

 

But times seem to be changing, what with the pandemic and all, exacerbated by a growing restlessness of people around the world at all the difficulties and hardships they are undergoing from corrupt and inefficient governments, brilliant management strategies and administrative rhetorics that do not filter down to the grassroots, so that there is an ever-growing call to have much of the western world make amends with their history of slavery and even racism.  And even in the eastern world too where we belong, socialism, the monarchy and communism are starting to show its cracks, with those who have been its victims and slaves for several generations now, making their complaints and voices of dissent louder.  It seems these systems and ideologies were never able to prove themselves right and ideal, and people are starting to shake themselves free from the shackles that politics, tradition and culture have bound them to.

 

And so we read that Philemon’s slave during the Apostle Paul’s time, Onesimus, was a runaway that was apprehended and imprisoned, and became the apostle’s friend and disciple while in jail.  One would understand why Onesimus ran away, for his sentiment is alive even to this day.  Yet, when he came to know Christ through the preachings of the Apostle Paul, he may have realized that he needs to set things right with his former master.  And so the apostle had to write this letter in order to convince Philemon to accept Onesimus back, but to not look down on him anymore and treat him as a slave, but as a brother in Christ, and a member both of GOD’s family and Philemon’s own.  Onesimus may have realized that no matter what his status in life may be, whether a paid servant, or a lowly slave in the eyes of the world, yet, because he has now accepted the risen Christ in his life, he is actually a free man.

 

There is a great lesson for us in here too.  I for one used to think that to spend almost an eternity working for just one employer, even without any means of advancement, is tantamount to slavery.  But like Onesimus, I realized that freedom is indeed a state of mind.  It doesn’t matter where I work, who pays my salary, or whether I occupy only mid- or low-level positions, because these things could never bind my eagerness to learn new things, to experience new adventures, to get to places I’ve never been when I get the chance and have saved for it, and to grow myself personally and professionally, even without accolades and recognitions dotting my wall of fame at home. 

 

And in a nod to the wise King’s admonition in the Proverbs, I learned too that freedom, in the financial and economic aspects, is not having a large bank account, or wide-spaced properties, tall buildings, cabinets full of clothes, shoes and jewelry, but a simple thing—being free from the bondage of being a borrower or debtor.  My grandmother was indeed right, that whenever we want something, saving for it is much more rewarding and liberating than getting drowned in debt just to get it right away.  One grows as a person, learns more and gains more wisdom during the patient waiting, diligent working, and faithful saving.

 

And so, we share in the apostle’s thoughts, that if we ourselves live lives that do not bind us to the temptations of this world, but align our visions to GOD’s will and plan for our lives, we will live truly free.  And such perspective disables us from looking down on others, because we realize that we are all made in GOD’s image, and we all have the capacity to live in such freedom too.  Maybe then will there be no more disadvantaged, abused, defrauded and manipulated people on earth.  Maybe then, we will all truly live as free men and women, and no more slaves.