23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, C September 7, 2025
Fr. Alexander Albert St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville
Let him go. Or her. Or it. Whatever or whoever you are most attached to, most in love with, most in need of… let that go. Or else, what? Or else you cannot be His disciple. For the disciple of Jesus Christ, it is only by renouncing our possessions that we can receive back something even better.
We see an example of this in Paul’s letter to Philemon – our second reading. Paul is clever, well-educated, and a talented writer. He knows how to be subtle and we see that on full display here. Because we live in a different time and culture and because we don’t have the whole letter, we might miss what St. Paul is saying here. So, allow me to spell it out plainly. He’s asking Philemon to release Onesimus from slavery. Onesimus is a slave according to Roman law. Slavery in Rome was different than the slavery of the early United States. It was often less violent and more flexible than what we usually think of. Onesimus had it much better than the slaves of the 1800s.
And yet, he still “belonged” to another human being according to the law. His “master” was Philemon. Paul is not interested in political revolution. He knows that Christians living the Gospel will change society and will affect politics, but political change is not the goal. So, he never develops platforms or strategies or advocates for certain policies. He’s always focused on the conversion of individual Christians and of the Christian community rather than the government.
This is why he never says things like “all masters should free their slaves” or “we should rise up to set slaves free.” St. Paul does think slavery is wrong, but he’s more interested in changing hearts than in changing the law. That’s why, in his other letters, he tells Christian slaves to do their work well and tells Christian masters to treat their slaves with kindness. His goal there is to get slaves and masters to treat each other as brothers in Christ even if their technical legal status doesn’t change. Just as St. Paul sees himself as a servant of Jesus Christ and only uses his legal status as a Roman citizen when it’s helpful, so he wants Christian slaves and masters to see each other as brothers and only bother with the legal stuff if and when it’s helpful.
Even still, this letter reveals his real hope. In this letter he does ask Philemon – the master – to set Onesimus – the slave – free. This is a situation when changing the legal status is helpful.
Why? For two reasons that work together beautifully. For one, St. Paul wants Onesimus to help him. Paul purposely reminds us that he’s an “old man” to emphasize his need. Onesimus does help him, but he is also a runaway slave and his master is in an entirely different city. It would cause all kinds of legal trouble if people around Paul started to accuse him of stealing a slave. Now, Paul was the one who evangelized and baptized Philemon so Philemon probably would have agreed to the situation after the fact, but it could have been messy and difficult to prove with the distances involved.
The second reason is for Philemon’s own benefit. Paul saw an opportunity to invite Philemon into a deeper conversion. St. Paul had a habit of going around and convincing Christians to give up their stuff. He constantly talks about caring for the poor, detaching from worldly possessions, and learning to cheerfully give everything to God. He knows that a reluctant gift is not as good as a willing one, which is why he says, “I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.” Paul never outright says “set him free from being a slave” and Philemon probably could have sent him back with a letter declaring him “on loan” to Paul, but statements like “welcome him as you would me” and “that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother” are a pretty strong hint at what Paul really wants.
It’s also good for Philemon to practice forgiveness and to reconcile with Onesimus. By giving him this chance to see his runaway slave in person, to forgive him for running away, and then nudging him to set Onesimus free to go help Paul, Philemon has the opportunity to practice real mercy and real love instead of kind of begrudgingly giving in.
And Paul means what he says about Philemon losing Onesimus in order to get him back even better. Having a brother in Christ really is better than having a slave! This is a perfect illustration of what Jesus is getting at in the Gospel. Jesus’ command to hate “father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters,” and even our own lives is a pretty tough thing to hear. So is the ultimatum “anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” But Jesus means it. Being his disciple costs us everything. It also gains everything.
Now, I should clarify that Jesus is not telling us to feel hatred towards our loved ones. He never tell us how to feel, he only tells us how to act. And in Hebrew culture, they sometimes use the word “hate” as a comparison, as a way of highlighting what is more important. If they want to say “you should love your wife more than your neighbor,” they sometimes express it as “you should love your wife and hate your neighbor.” So, Jesus is saying you have to put him above everything and everyone else, including your own spouse and children.
That’s still difficult, though. Sometimes that literally means choosing one over the other. Sometimes our friends and family actually do think we hate them because we refuse to sin with them or refuse to approve of their sin or because we choose an obligation to Jesus over something they want from us.
That’s where the comparison to Philemon and Onesimus comes in. It’s not easy for Philemon to release a slave. It’s kind of like losing a very valuable possession and a good friend all at the same time. But, if done for Christ, whatever we give up is given back to us. Only, instead of being a possession, it becomes a gift.
Better a brother in Christ than a slave. You can possess a slave, but a brother in Christ is a gift. We might not “own” our spouse or blood relatives in the same way, but they do kind of belong to us in a natural way. There’s a certain obligation and expectation that’s like possessing them. When we’re willing to sacrifice that claim on them… when we’re willing to put our love of Jesus Christ first, however, there’s an opportunity for grace to give them back to us in an even more powerful sense. Instead of temporary natural and legal bonds, we have the potential to gain eternal communion with them. Houses and cars might last for decades, family and marriage are for life, but the gifts of grace and divine union are eternal.
That original surrender has to be real, though. We need to know the cost up front: that tower can be built, that battle can be won if we’re willing to look ahead and accept that cost. Stop holding onto the stuff that makes you feel safe. Stop holding onto grudges and resentments towards those who hurt you. Stop holding onto your desire to control or possess other people.
Let him go. Or her. Or it. Whatever or whoever you are most attached to, most in love with, most in need of… let that go for whatever we possess possesses us in return. But if we set it free, we are set free. Free to receive it back as something better. Not a possession or a slave, but a gift… the gift of Jesus Christ. And whoever has Jesus Christ has everything else besides.