In the Fulness of Time

“In the fullness of time.” How often have we heard that phrase with relation to Jesus’ coming? Usually it refers to the state of the world at the time with particular reference to how the Hellenization of the Mediterranean and adjoining lands followed by the rising of the Roman Empire made it possible for the gospel to be spread after Jesus’ ascension as rapidly it was.

I wonder if there is not another explanation for that phrase. Let me take you back to the tale of the patriarch Jacob wrestling with God. You will recall that God changed Jacob’s name at the time to ‘Israel’, meaning ‘one who wrestles with God.’ God told Jacob, as God did his father Isaac and grandfather Abraham before him that through them God was creating a special people. You will also recall that Jacob’s descendants, as this people of God, took on the name Israel, and now that name is applied to the nation formed in 1948 in Palestine.

So then, what might that name mean for the Jewish people? Might that mean the same for the nation? There’s another twist to this. We Christians consider ourselves to be following in the footsteps of the Jews as the people of God. What does ‘Israel’ mean for us?

Some Jewish theologians have come to understand, although they still question why, that it is the lot of the Jews to ‘wrestle with God.’ What they mean by this as I understand it is that they accept this state of struggle, but still wonder why? They continue to struggle with God over what has happened to them throughout their history, and still do. Why were they reduced to slavery in Egypt? Why were so many of their people lost because of the actions of invading empires? Why the Holocaust? And why, in particular, has anti-Semitism never ended? What is the purpose of all of this? Where is the meaning in it? And especially why, after 4000 years and more, do there not seem to be answers?

My proposition is that this goes on because the presence of the people of God is never going to be welcomed by all in our world as it is. There is another power who has been fighting God since Creation and many humans, perhaps often even unwittingly, are helping him fight his battles.

Satan would like to destroy God’s people. The treatment of the Jews and Christians throughout history is a testimony to that. To our shame as Christians, Satan has too often even been able to use us for his purposes when our actions become anti-Semitic.

But all of this is not where I am going with this. Let’s go back to the phrase I began this piece with.

We believe that God, in his love, created us to be in a mutually loving relationship with him. However, almost from the beginning, we as humans strayed from that for which God created us. God’s plan to deal with this, as we have come to know it, was ultimately for God to come among us to show us his true nature and how that could be lived out in the world. This came about through the birth, life, death and finally resurrection of the one we call Jesus. Jesus was God in human form.

But even that was not enough. We are incapable of living the way God planned it. We are going to ruin God’s plans even if it means killing him to get our way. And we know that’s what happened to Jesus.

God had even that covered in God’s plan. We believe God is love. God showed us through Jesus that the ultimate act of love is to lose your life for the other. So just when Satan and his blind and deaf minions thought they had won the victory by killing Jesus, they had actually and totally lost. Jesus’ death and our belief in and acceptance of the gospel, the good news of that penultimate historical event, turned out to be the means of our reconciliation to God.

And ‘the fullness of time?’ Yes, the Roman Empire was there. Its roads and its laws did help spread the gospel. The Apostle Paul, the prime example of the Apostles, the ones first called by Jesus himself took advantage of those factors. However, that was after Jesus’ ascension, his return to whence he came.

God’s plan was able to be fulfilled at the time in history when it was for at least two reasons. God’s people, the Jews, Israel, thought they had it all figured out as to how to get on God’s good side, to put it somewhat crudely. They, at least the leaders, had no use for Jesus. He didn’t fit Into their scheme. What was worse, it seemed he was going to destroy all their best-laid plans. They had to do away with him. They were still committing the sin of their ancestor Jacob, thinking they could wrestle with God and win. They lost.

The other reason was though, indeed the Roman Empire. The Romans wanted power at all costs. Nothing should upset their plans. So, when the Jews brought Jesus to the Roman governor Pilate, it was not that hard for him to give consent to doing away with one more zealot.

The earthly minions thought they had it all figured out. As it turned out, God’s plans were the ones that were fulfilled. Praise the Lord!

2019 2 4 

The Story of Onesimus I. Changes

It was only the beginning of the second watch, but even now the oppressive heat was building. The sun was already moving higher into a cloudless sky. There was just enough of a breeze to feel its coolness on one’s perspiring skin. However, working in the confines of the courtyard scarcely allowed for even that little reprieve. 

Onesimus was preparing a shipment of wool to be transported to the neighbouring city of Laodicea. His master, Philemon, was a shrewd buyer of some of the best wool in the region. In sheep-shearing season wool Philemon had purchased from the area would arrive in piles on the backs of donkeys and be unloaded under the shelter of a roof projecting out from the side of his house. It was Onesimus’ job to take these piles of wool and try and sort them out into bales of similar quality. Once that was done to Philemon’s satisfaction, they would be tied up and transported to Laodicea. There, they were made into clothing by the many slaves who dyed and wove the wool. 

By the time the wool got to Onesimus it had become quite dusty from the roads over which it had traveled. Handling it with its itchiness was bad enough; the dust only added to the discomfort.

Onesimus really did not remember any other life than being in the service of Philemon. As a long-time slave, he and his master had reached a mutually beneficial understanding of their roles, their places in society. Onesimus knew when his services did not reach his master’s expectations that the consequences could be severe, but her had leaned to take that. It was the lot of a slave, and that’s what he was. He knew too though, from his limited contact with other slaves, that there were far worse masters than Philemon. 

Just the same, Onesimus sometimes wondered what it would be like to be a freedman. He knew he was not stupid. He watched how things were done. In fact, it was that trait that had led Onesimus to try and be helpful as a young child, before he was really expected to do slave duty. That was how he had been given the name Onesimus, meaning ‘helpful one.’ 

Some of his cuurent thinking now might have been the over confidence of youth, but sometimes he thought he could make a go of his own business. However, he knew those were futile thoughts. Unless one came to an understanding with one’s master, one would never become a freedman. Even then, the master would expect a considerable payment from the would-be freedman, something he could use to replace him by purchasing another slave. From what Onesimus had seen, that rarely happened, and when it did, the slave had usually outlived his usefulness to the master. It was more like the master no longer wanted to be responsible for the slave than that he gave him freedman status out of goodwill. Besides, with the situation Onesimsus found himself in, he was a long way from having any money to buy his freedom. The other option? Running away? That was pretty much a death sentence.

Still, it irked him sometimes in particular when he compared himself to Archippus, Onesimus’ only son. They were very much the same age, had grown up together, but the obvious privileges of the one set him in quite a different world than the one in which Onesimus was destined to live. 

But what was really bothering Onesimus now were the changes he was observing in both Philemon and Apphia. He thought he knew them well, could practically read their minds. That way, he could avoid some of the mistakes and punishing consequences that would ensue. But now, he was increasingly finding that he no longer knew what to expect of his masters. Even Apphia, his mistress, was not as harsh as she had once been. 

Of course, it would never have crossed Onesimus’ mind to try and find out what was going on. There was a certain familiarity in his relationship with his long-time masters, but that only went so far. You could never let your guard down and be lulled into thinking you had everything figured out. He could only observe and listen to try and make sense of what seemed to be a developing new order. Where did it come from and what did it mean? Onesimus was not really concerned for his position; he was sure that was a given. However, if one did not know how to relate to one’s master, well, there was increased risk in that. Onesimus had suffered enough beating in his life not to really want more.

The strangest thing was that, from what he heard, and from some of the new practices Philemon and his family seemed to be carrying out, was that these changes seemed to have something to do with religion. Now, in some ways, religion was everywhere in the life in which Onesimus had grown up. There were shrines and statues of the gods everywhere. There were rituals that had to be performed to appease the gods, to keep them on your good side as much as possible. Sometimes, there might even be an occasion to give an offering of thanksgiving to a god if, for example, you really got a good batch of wool that fetched a high price in the markets in Laodicea and Hierapolis. These practices never really demanded that much from one though. There was really no sacrifice involved. One did or gave just enough. There was certainly no impact of these traditions on one’s daily life. By and large, Onesimus knew, it all just made more intelligent people somewhat cynical about the whole affair, and he was quite satisfied with that.

Onesimus had picked up though that there was a new twist to this worship. The Emperor in that faraway city of Rome was now demanding worship. It was not enough that everyone was taxed to the limit. Now people were expected to worship the Emperor as a god. As a rule, none of this had any effect on Onesimus. The master’s trips to the temples were not usually excursions that included his slaves. However, he had heard Philemon complain about this added layer of expectation. It just took more time out of his day and money out of his pocket. Of course, Philemon had to be careful where he expressed these sentiments, lest he be suspected of treason. However, Onesimus had heard of others who felt the same way.

Begrudgingly, it seemed the master’s family had come to terms with this new reality. Sometimes Onesimus had accompanied his master to the temples of they were together delivering wool or on some other business errand that took them past these centres. For him, it just meant a few more stops on the route. That was not so bad though, as it gave him more time away from the labour back home. His lot was just to wait on the street with the cargo and animals, not to join in on what went on in the temple. It gave him more time to rest and sometimes to chat with other slaves whose masters were in the temple. 

All of this had not really made that much difference in the life Onesimus knew otherwise. It really had not taken much effort on his part to accommodate this, and, as he saw it, there had been certain advantages for him socially at times. However, he had not been long getting used to these changes when something altogether different and more demanding seemed to be occurring.