Scripture
23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. 24 And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers.
25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Reflection
As we come to the end of the letter, we realize that this is the only letter where Paul doesn’t talk about Jesus’ death & resurrection because he’s acting it out. He doesn’t need to explain ‘The Cross’ with words, because he is embodying the meaning of the Cross. He makes himself the place where Onesimus and Philemon are reconciled to God and to each other.
“Truth doesn’t change lives. It is truth applied that changes our lives.” – Rev. Edmund Chan
Paul begins the letter with v.3 “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” and he ends with v.25 “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”
The book of Philemon is permeated by God’s grace, and that changes people’s lives, not just our own, but also the lives of those who are around us.
“If a person has grasped the meaning of God’s grace in his heart, he will do justice. If he doesn’t live justly, then he may say with his lips that he is grateful for God’s grace, but in his heart he is far from him. If he doesn’t care about the poor, it reveals that at best he doesn’t understand the grace he has experienced, and at worst he has not really encountered the saving mercy of God. Grace should make you just.” – Tim Keller
Prayer
Authorities. Pray for wisdom in dealing with containment of the virus and in making decisions for the masses of people.
