A Runaway SlaveMartyn Payne |
||
On Your Marks: Again and again throughout the Bible we find God searching for those who
are lost. In many ways the whole Bible is a story of 'lost and found'. People
choose to go their own way and leave the security of God's love but God does
not give up on them. God comes searching to bring people home because, as St
Augustine's prayer puts it, 'we are restless, until we find our rest in [God]'.
This session is part of a series that explores this theme in stories from
the Old and New Testaments. In each we see individuals who are lost for a
variety of reasons, but God rejoices to find them again and bring them back to
his loving arms. This outline focuses on the story of a runaway slave named Onesimus, who
meets Paul, becomes a Christian and is then sent home to his master Philemon. Get Set: Use the retelling of this story in The Barnabas
Children's Bible stories 357to 358, pages 309 to 310. See also Philemon; and Colossians 4:9, where Onesimus is described by Paul
as 'that dear and faithful follower' (CEV). Go! 1. What a collection of personal stories is wrapped up in this incident
from the early years of the Christian church! There is Philemon, a Christian
leader with his family in Colossi; there is Paul, who is now in prison for
telling people about Jesus; there are his visitors and letter-carriers,
including Epaphras, Tychicus, Mark and Luke; and there's Onesimus, a runaway
slave of Philemon, who has got mixed up in all of it! All this is a great reminder that being a Christian is about real
people, in real situations, discovering the goodness and love of God. The way that Christians at that time kept in touch was through letters
like this one - there are 21 of them all together in New Testament Talk about how your group keeps in touch today with friends they do not
see so often. Do you or do they have examples of letters or emails from overseas to
share and/or talk about? What about social networking sites, for example? What sort of news do
they share? Why? Compare this with Paul letters, in which... ... he wrote to tell them how he was. ... he wrote to encourage them to go on believing in Jesus. ... he wrote to let them know more about Jesus and how great he is. ... he wrote to give advice on how to be a Christian in day-to-day life.
... he wrote to ask for practical help and support ... and, in today's story, he wrote to Philemon for a favour. Read the stories from The Barnabas
Children's Bible, stories 357 to 358. 2. Onesimus was a slave or, in today's terms, a servant in Philemon's
home. But it seems that he took advantage of any trust that his boss had in
him. The letter suggests that he stole some money and then ran away. He made a
bid for freedom. It wasn't an easy thing to be runaway slave in those days - he
was in danger of being severely punished if caught. I wonder what drove Onesimus to run away? And how did he make his
escape? Play a game of story-writing consequences together: Each person has a piece of A4 paper. On an imaginary top line, everyone
should write Onesimus decides to escape from Philemon Now fold that over and pass the paper to the person on your left. In
answer to the each of the following questions, a child adds a line so that the
adventure story builds up. Each subsequent line should be written in secret by
the child and then that line covered up by folding the paper and passing it on.
Here are the questions: What time does he escape? It was... Whereabouts was he? He was in... How did he get out? He got out by... How did he escape from the town? He escaped by... What did he eat on the run? He ate... Where did he hide from the soldiers? He hid... How did he disguise himself at the port? He disguised himself as... What did he do to get on board ship? He got on board by... How did he survive the voyage? He survived the journey by... Where did he go when he got to Rome? He went straight to find... Finally the last line is the same for everyone: In Rome he ran into Epaphras who recognized him. Each child now opens out the full story with contributions from
different people to read what the strange adventure sounds like! N.B. This assumes that that Onesimus went to Rome. However, some
scholars think it may have been in Ephesus where Paul was behind bars. 3. Alternatively, act out his escape with the group in mime: climbing
out of the window, hiding in the shadows, creeping past the guards, running
down the back streets, stealing a new set of clothes, pretending to be someone
different, working his passage on board ship, asking for directions, looking
for work, bumping into an old friend from home. 4. However it happened, Onesimus the runaway thief ended up meeting up
with the Christians in Rome. He must have already heard something of the story
of Jesus when he was with his master back in Colossi. It seems he had to travel
all those miles, though, before it made sense for him. He met up with Paul in prison and became a follower of Jesus, and he
made himself useful there. Paul talks about him as being a very good and the
dear friend. Maybe he used some of his skills as a former slave to help Paul
under house arrest? Perhaps he cooked or kept the place tidy or even knew how
to cut hair? Who knows? Certainly he became, in Paul's own words: 'like a son
to me, because I led him to Christ here in jail' (Philemon 10, CEV). However, he was still a runaway. He had to make amends for what he'd
done. He had to go back and say sorry and put things right. What a dilemma!
What should Onesimus do? Set up a Choice Circus
activity, in which half the group advise Onesimus not to risk going back
because there would be consequences to breaking the law and running away as a
slave; while the other half try to convince him that he should return because
he is now a Christian and cannot let the situation remain unresolved. How strong are the arguments for or against going? Ask one child to
become Onesimus in the middle of all this, being swayed one way or the other. What
will he decide to do? 5. He does in fact decide to return as one of the messengers to take a
letter from Paul to the church at Colossi. It was a big decision. Paul decides
to write this extra letter to Philemon in support of Onesimus - asking him to
take him back. Imagine the scene in Philemon's home. There is his wife (Apphia) and
also Archippus, who was probably his son. Hot seat the
family in turn. Are they for or against taking Onesimus back? Do they believe
he has really changed? Do they really believe that he has discovered God's love
and that he comes back to them not just as a slave but as part of the family of
God through Jesus? 6. Did Philemon decide to take him back? Does Onesimus turn out to be
useful after all (his name means 'useful' in Greek)? We don't know the answer. What might Philemon's letter back to Paul be? Ask the group to create their own email or text message from Philemon to
Paul in response to this letter. What will Philemon say? 7. For a time of prayer together, focus on the change that comes over
Onesimus. (In fact some scholars think that he actually became a bishop in the
church many years later on!) To illustrate this change, use a long thin piece of chain, which is
placed in the middle between the children. Start by creating the letter O for
Onesimus with the chain and then changing it to the letter U for useful. This
is the change that came over this runaway slave because he met with God. Ask the children to think of some other things which they know God would
find 'useless', such as lies, anger, stealing, rudeness, greed and injustice. Create
with the chain the shape of the first letter of any of the things they suggest.
And then, after a short pause, decide what that could change this into that
would be 'useful' to God, such as truth, love, sharing, kindness, generosity
and fairness. As you do this, ask God to help us to be changed into useful
people for God by the power of the Holy Spirit. |
 |
|
