Emphasis Preaching Journal

Magazine columnist Margaret Carlson, in her book Anyone Can Grow Up, tells about her lifelong caring for her brother Jimmy. Jimmy is two years older than Margaret and suffered brain damage at birth. When they were children growing up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Margaret was encouraged by her mother to "go out and play, and take your brother with you." And so she looked after him. If she was about to be chosen for a team, she reminded the other children that Jimmy came with her. She tried hard to get her friends to play games he could participate in. And she fearlessly defended him against those who picked on him. She confronted the parents of kids who didn't play fair. In one instance, she took matters into her own hands and threw a rock that bloodied a bully's nose. When their parents died, Margaret invited her brother to live for a while with her in Washington, D.C. She took him everywhere with her, even to a press breakfast with presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. Eventually, she was able to get him settled back in their parents' home, where with the help of a succession of caretakers, he has held a job at the Navy depot in Mechanicsburg and has become everyone's helper in the neighborhood.

In this text, Paul urges Philemon to receive Onesimus, not as a blood brother, but as his Christian brother. The slave, Onesimus, had run away from his master, and had come to Paul in Rome. While with Paul, Onesimus became a Christian. Paul sends Onesimus back to Philemon and urges Philemon not only to take him back and not to consider him as a slave, but also to welcome him as a brother in Christ. It is an example of how we Christians are to receive our brothers and sisters in the faith.