Gentle Persuasion

Preached on September 5, 2004

At Hanover Street Presbyterian Church

By the Rev. Thomas C. Davis, III

Texts:

Isaiah 42: 1-9

Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.  He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.  He will not grow faint or be crushed until he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his teaching.  Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it:  I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.  I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols.  See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

Philemon 1-21

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our dear friend and coworker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus.  I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ.  I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.  For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love--and I Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus.  I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment.  Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me.  I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.  I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel; but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced.  Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, no longer 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.  So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me.  If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account.  I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand:  I will repay it.  I say nothing about your owing me even your own self.  Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord!  Refresh my heart in Christ.  Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

Sermon Text

Well, the Olympic games are over, and weren't they super!  The networks covered more events than they ever have, and they didn't just focus on contests where Americans were in the running for a medal.  I liked that.

The commercials were great too.  Did you see the one about the tiny donkey who wanted to be a Clydesdale, and finally got his wish by pulling the Budweiser wagon with the big guys?  And, did you see the one where a gangster is directing the filming of a commercial, and the actor, afraid that if he flubs he might get concrete shoes and a walk off the Brooklyn Bridge, nervously reads a message praising Vanilla Coke?  He does get through it all right; and the gangster smiles and says:  "Ring the bell Jimmy!  We have our first celebrity endorsement."  We laugh of course, because that's the world we know, where persuasion is anything but gentle.  In our world, gangsters just take what they want, or else, scare you into handing it over.  The gangster's smile doesn't fool anybody.  He's a gangster!  We know he will cut a throat to get his way.  That smile is phony.  We laugh because of the incongruity of that kindly smile upon a gangster's face.

When I planned the theme of this morning's sermon, "gentle persuasion," I didn't know that roughly thirty Chechen terrorists would seize a thousand Russian school children and hold them hostage, apparently to persuade the Russian government to grant their territory independence.  Could those desperate separatists really believe that such a heinous tactic would persuade anyone to do anything?  Such horrific tactics will only incite more hatred, and resistance to their cause. 

When Jesus walked in Palestine, he too passionately desired to persuade people of something that would have deep and long lasting political consequences.  He wanted to persuade them that God's Kingdom is coming, a Kingdom that transcends national allegiances, a Kingdom unlike any of the kingdoms of this world.  Jesus' mode of persuasion was gentle, in contradistinction to the rulers of this world, who attempt to persuade by force or threat of force. 

The prophet Isaiah had a vision of the coming messiah.  He foresaw him not as a military conqueror, but rather, a gentle persuader.  In our passage this morning, Isaiah writes that the messiah will not break a bruised reed.  The messiah will not quench a dimly burning wick.  In other words, the messiah will not pick on soft targets to achieve control of history.  The messiah will not achieve what God wants in this old way, by belligerency and intimidation.  Rather, the messiah will do a new thing, not yet known in the world of domination.  He will use gentle persuasion.  That is Isaiah's vision.

Jesus lived up to it.  Oh, he did get angry from time to time, the scriptures say.  But he didn't push people where he wanted them to go.  And that wasn't because he lacked social power.  To the contrary, Jesus had considerable power.  Why, anybody able to achieve healing miracles like he might have used his awesome reputation to scare people into compliance.  But he didn't.  Jesus told stories.  He asked questions.  He appealed to the spark of sanity and goodness in everyone, even his enemies.

It's one thing to praise Jesus, the anti-hero to Alexander the Great, Augustus Caesar, Attila the Hun, and all manner of modern day G.I. Joes.  It's quite another to follow him.  We can acknowledge that Jesus was doing something entirely new, but unless we can live by his example, unless we learn to be gentle persuaders instead of terminators and intimidators, what good is his good example?  We have to be able to walk his walk, not just talk his talk.  Who will help us do that?

Well, for starters, Paul will.  I chose his letter to Philemon as my major text this morning because it is a masterful illustration of gentle persuasion.  Before we explore how that's so, let me give you some background to the letter.

Paul wrote it while he was in prison in Ephesus (a city in what is now Turkey), facing a charge of disturbing the peace.  While he was in prison he had been attended by a slave, most likely a run-away slave, named Onesimus.  Onesimus had become a Christian, and also quite devoted to Paul.  Paul, in turn, had become very grateful for his attentions and also his Christian fellowship, so much so that in the letter he refers to Onesimus as his own heart.  The letter is addressed to Philemon, who was obviously a friend of Paul's, and also Onesimus's previous owner. 

The letter may very well have been carried to Philemon by the very hand of his former slave.  The letter pleads with Philemon to take his slave back again, this time, as a brother in Christ.  Notice that the letter does not order Philemon to set Onesimus free.  Paul doesn't give orders in this letter.  Nor does he threaten.  Rather, he does everything he can to gently persuade Philemon.  First, he appeals to the love that he knows must be in Philemon's heart, because he knows how Jesus has touched his Philemon and changed his life. 

Let's consider another of Paul's letters, the one he wrote to the church in Galatia, wherein he wrote that everyone in Christ is a new person: There is no longer Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free.  We probably would be wrong to conclude from that teaching that Paul was an abolitionist or a feminist.  Paul was a man of his time, and as far as we can determine did not question the moral legitimacy of patriarchy or slavery.  Perhaps, then, you may think that Paul was either a hypocrite, or else just too weak to stick up for what he believed.  Let's try to be gentle.  As modern people let's not whip Paul from our high horses.  It seems clear to me that Paul did believe that the kingdom of God was dawning, as Jesus had taught, and that that kingdom calls us to live differently, to treat each other kindly, even though the social institutions that are woven into the fabric of our world remain in place and hold fast.

Perhaps out of love Philemon might have freed Onesimus.  We don't know what happened.  We don't even know whether Philemon received the letter, let alone what might have happened afterwards if he did.  Perhaps Paul really wanted Philemon to set Onesimus free.  Why do I think that?  Well, consider the logic of Paul's teaching about living in the Spirit of Jesus.  If Philemon just continued to move in the direction that Paul was moving, where Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome that people who come under the influence of the Spirit of Jesus become more and more like Jesus, guess where Philemon would have ended up: He would have freed his former slave.  No doubt about that.  Can you see Jesus owning a slave?  But Paul didn't order Philemon to free his slave.  He didn't try to shame him into doing it, either, which is a frequent tactic of pompous and anxious Christians.  And Paul didn't try to get Philemon to do it by threatening him with punishment, either, which has been another coercive tactic to which church folk, sadly, have resorted.  Why didn't Paul?  Because such tactics are worldly ones, that's why.  Instead, he used gentle persuasion, because that was the way of the Lord whom both he and Philemon had come to adore.  If Philemon was to free Onesimus, that must be his decision.  It must not be forced.  Otherwise, the act would not be under the light of Jesus.  It would be wrought through the old way, not the new.

I said that Paul's letter to Philemon is a masterful illustration of gentle persuasion.  Read it again when you get home.  You'll see.  First, Paul appeals to Philemon in love.  He invites Philemon to consider how much good he could do if he would just accept his slave back as his brother.  Then, Paul compliments Philemon:  You have already proved yourself to be a loving man.  Why, I myself have been encouraged by your good example.  Let's do more!  Then, Paul uses his own predicament to arouse sympathy.  I am an old man, and in prison to boot.  Won't you listen to the pleading voice of this dying, doomed friend?  Then, Paul appeals to Philemon's generosity:  I am sending my own heart back to you.  Won't you welcome him as you would welcome me?  Then, he affirms Philemon's freedom to choose.  I don't want to force you, Paul writes.  Finally, realizing that there are practical matters to consider, that the loss of Philemon's slave may have pinched Philemon in the pocket book, Paul even offers to recompense him for whatever Onesimus might owe him.  Finally, Paul seals the letter with a declaration of trust.  I trust you, friend, he writes.  I trust that you will do the right thing.

Strong persuasion, strong persuasion!  But none of it is coercive, not even subtly, like the gangster's sinister smile.  Church, we can learn a lot from this letter to an ancient slave owner.  We can learn by Paul's words of gentle persuasion that we too can let go of the need to force our will upon others.  We don't have to make people do what we want by twisting their arms.  As a counselor, how many ways I have seen that people do that.  The methods are myriad, and they begin so early.  Have you ever heard a child say, "I'm not going to be your friend if . . ." That's a form of arm-twisting.  It blossoms later into an insidious bouquet:  I'm not going to pay your bills if . . . I'm not going to make love to you if . . .I'm not going to ever speak to you again if . . .I'm going to tell everybody what you did if . . .The capper of course is:  I'm going to blow your brains out if . . .That's gangster talk, but it's in the same vein as all the others.  It only seems nastier because it's outright violent.  But all the rest reek of a more subtle violence, not only upon the threatened, but also upon the one who threatens.

Jesus did not break a bruised reed.  He did not quench a burning wick.  He never twisted arms, even if they would easily have been twisted.  To the mighty and the meek he was gentle.  And you know, he did so much persuading.  Isn't that amazing!