It has often been said that faith can be a great source of comfort and of consolation as we make our journey through life.  Which is indeed true.

But what ii equally true is that faith, the biblical tradition and the mature spiritual life is also meant to offer great challenges to us, as well as the great comfort that it provides.

And today’s readings, at least at first glance, offer a great deal of challenge.

Our reading from Jeremiah, for example, draws upon the image of a potter working a piece of clay.  We read, “the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.”

The image of the potter and the clay is found in a number of the prophetic texts, not only in Jeremiah.  The image is often drawn upon to remind us of God’s constancy, God’s creativity, God’s guidance and gentle correction.

But such is not the case in today’s reading from Jeremiah. Rather, the prophet uses the image of the clay to remind the people that God, like a potter, can tear them down and build something entirely different if they, like clay in a potter’s hand, do not allow themselves to be shaped as the divine potter intends.  In verse 11, we read, “now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you.  Turn now, all of you from your evil way and amend your ways and your doings.”

These words of Jeremiah are challenging.

Today’s suggested reading from Luke 14 is equally, if not more, challenging to hear.  Jesus’ seemingly harsh words, offered to the crowds who were following him set before them the radical commitment that they would be asked to make if they wanted to become his followers.  “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”  He spoke of need to carry a cross, to weigh the costs, rather than simply the benefits, of discipleship, even to sell all their possessions in order to follow him.

Many commentators have gone to great length to find ways to “soften” these harsh words, perhaps in order to make following Christ seem more palatable.  And, to be sure, there are parts of this passage that seem to stand in stark contrast, if not complete contradiction, to other statements that he made about loving all people – neighbours, friends, family, even enemies – rather than hating them.  Moreover, the text’s comments about giving away all our possessions in order to follow him underscores the radical and demanding nature of his calling.  We do well not to try to minimize or lessen the impact of such comments.

These words of Jesus are challenging.

Today’s suggested reading from Philemon seems, at first, to be a much easier, more palatable passage to ponder — a letter from one friend to another, preserving a seemingly pleasant and personal conversation between the apostle Paul and his old friend Philemon.

And yet, there is a difficulty, and a challenge, in this short letter, as well – a challenge to Philemon, a challenge to structures of power in this world and in human relationships, a challenge that leads us into the transforming message that lies at the heart of the good news.

So what do we know about the Letter to Philemon?

The letter to Philemon is one of the shortest epistles in the New Testament, and today’s reading includes the entirety of that letter.

The letter begins, as most of the New Testament epistles do, with an introduction of the writer and an address to the person to whom the letter is written.  In this case, the apostle Paul addresses himself to Philemon, who is greeted as a “dear friend and co-worker to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house.”  It was a personal letter, standing in contrast to the many Pauline letters that were addressed to entire communities of people – to the Corinthians, the Galatians, the Ephesians, the Romans.

But the reason why it is so specifically and personally addressed becomes evident as the letter unfolds.  Although Paul speaks of the joy and encouragement that he had received from Philemon’s friendship, and though Paul refers to him as a brother, there is a very specific personal reason for Paul’s letter.

It seems that Paul had encountered a young man by the name of Onesimus.  Onesimus had formerly been one of Philemon’s slaves, but had run away.   Although we can only piece the situation together from Paul’s words, it seems that after leaving Philemon, the slave Onesimus had crossed paths with Paul, and had come to embrace the faith that Paul proclaimed and Philemon shared.  Paul was now writing to Philemon to encourage him to accept Onesimus back – no longer as a slave but as a brother in faith.  “Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother – especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.”

Although the humour does not translate from the Greek into the English, there is actually a clever pun that is found in verse 11.  The word “Onesimus” actually means useful or beneficial.  When Paul writes, “formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me”, the author is actually having fun with the meaning of the name Onesimus.  Formerly Onesimus was useless to you, but now he is Onesimus, useful, both to you and to me.

As such, Paul was challenging Philemon to realize that Philemon, the slaveholder, was no longer free to view another as useless or subordinate. The former relationship of master and slave, of superior and inferior, had been transformed by the Gospel. The good news was overturning the dynamics of power in this world

And, just to emphasize the point – albeit in a friendly, but pointed manner – Paul wrote, “I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand; I will repay it.  I say nothing about your owing me even your own self.” Which is, as well, somewhat humourous.  When someone goes to the great trouble – and mentions the great trouble that he has gone to – to write, in his own hand, that he is not going to even mention how much the other owes him, we know that it is a statement being made with a smile.

So what insights might be drawn from this short, challenging, friendly letter?

The first is that it reminds us of the way that the Christian gospel, from its earliest days, has challenged people to see the world differently, and to allow relationships to be re-shaped in light of that vision.  Paul was challenging Philemon to set aside the structures of power and treat Onesimus as a brother and a fellow-servant rather than as a slave.  Challenging, but ultimately transforming.

And still relevant.  After all, what of our view of others?  Do we strive to see each other – and all people – as people of a common and shared dignity, as children of God, as individuals worthy of respect, regardless of what categories or labels that we have assigned to them, or how society invites us to identify them?   Too often, even those of us within the church have embraced – consciously or unconsciously – assumptions and prejudices rooted in social and cultural systems of power over others that are antithetical to Christ’s vision.  Challenge and transformation in the human community were being called for in Paul’s letter to Philemon – and they still are.

A second important gift of the Letter to Philemon is the inspiring example of a notable Christian leader who chose to use his power, his influence, even his friendship, on behalf of a vulnerable, powerless person in need.  Paul did not have to write the letter, any more than any busy, important, powerful person needs to pay attention to those in need, particularly if the vulnerable person was as lacking in social prestige as the runaway slave Onesimus would have been.  For Paul, however, authority and influence created opportunities for servanthood and solidarity, not power and self-importance.

But what is also intriguing to notice is that Paul’s words to Philemon were not rooted in anger, or in self-righteousness, or in seeking to ridicule or shame Philemon.  Paul might have joked with Philemon that his friend owed him some great favour, but it was an invitation rooted in grace rather than guilt.

In fact, the letter begins and ends with a word of grace. In verse 3, immediately after Paul’s greeting to Philemon, he writes, “grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”.  And then, in verse 21, he concludes the letter with very similar words, as he writes, “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”

By contrast, so often, in our often highly polarized culture, challenges to injustice or to some unfair situation are so often rooted in anger, or in judgemental arrogance about the holy, angelic rightness of one side’s perspectives and the sinister, diabolical wrongness of those who see things differently.

But, as the letter to Philemon attests, grace can be, and was, more transforming, more powerful — and more challenging – than guilt, ridicule, shame or anger.

So what ultimately happened with the situation?

We cannot know for sure.  But what we do know is this.

There is a reference, in Paul’s letter to the Colossians, to a man named Onesimus who, with Tychicus, was sent by Paul to the Colossian church.  In that letter, we read, “Tychicus will tell you all the news about me; he is a beloved brother, a faithful minister, and a fellow servant in the Lord.  I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts; he is coming with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you.”

And, according to church history, a number of years after the letter to Philemon was written, there was a bishop appointed to the church in Ephesus, whose name was Onesimus.  We cannot know, with absolute certainty, that this was the same Onesimus that is the concern of the Letter to Philemon, but it does not seem beyond the realm of possibility that this former slave, who had become a fellow servant and a brother, in Christ, both to Paul and to Onesimus’ former master, Philemon, would go on to become a significant leader in the early Church.

In any case, the challenge that Paul offered to Philemon concerning Onesimus was a transforming one.

For that to happen, Paul needed to realize that the good news was not just comforting or consoling, but was also challenging – challenging to inherited views, to cultural and social assumptions, challenging to the ways that those who follow Christ were called to treat others, challenging to a world in which we so often resort to guilt and anger rather than relying on grace and love to accomplish their transforming purposes.

Jeremiah’s words to his people were challenging; Jesus words to the crowds were challenging; Paul’s words to Philemon were challenging.  But they were rooted in a vision of the world transformed, a dream of life transformed, a proclamation that we do well to hear because even in those ancient words of challenge, there was good news.

And it is good news that we still need to hear.