Once upon a time, a mean old mountaineer fell sick and died. There were no funeral directors back in the hills then, and embalming was not yet practiced. So the widow and family dressed the body and placed it in the coffin. As the deceased was being carried from the house, one pallbearer stumbled, causing the coffin to crash into a gatepost. The knock somehow revived the old mountaineer, who sat up yelling at everyone in sight. The man lived for over a year and was as mean as ever. Then he got sick and died again. Once more the body was put in the coffin and the pallbearers lifted their burden. As they shuffled by, the long-suffering widow lifted her head and said, “Watch out for that gatepost!” (Merritt K. Freeman, Reader’s Digest, July, 1983.) Most of us have known difficult people like that. Maybe they’re in your family. I hope that none of such is reading this FB post, but it’s possible. You may not be so bold as to wish that they would die, but you may secretly wish that if that fate befell them, they wouldn’t get resurrected! The gospel of Jesus Christ brings together people of diverse backgrounds and personalities, increasing the possibility for strained relationships. We can see this in this short letter of Philemon. We have Paul, a scholarly, zealous Jew and former Phar¬isee; Philemon, a wealthy Gentile businessman; and, Onesimus, a runaway slave. Any time you bring together people from such varied backgrounds, you have the potential either for great conflict or great glory. It brings great glory to God when people who would normally be at one another’s throats instead love one another because of the reality of Jesus Christ.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 05:20:09 +0000
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