Based on Jeremiah 18:1-12, Philemon 8-16, Luke 14:25-35
The word, “reformation” is defined as: “the act of changing to a better state or character, way of operating, lifestyle, etc.; the correction of abuses and bad habits or practices.” Thus, re-formation is all about actively changing into a new or improved version of ourselves. If I were going to encapsulate the whole of the Bible into a bumper sticker, it might read – “God’s love, the greatest act of re-formation ever!” or “God’s grace – the way to a new and improved you”. I’m not talking about some New Age self-help program or philosophy – I’m talking about the lived reality of the artistry of God’s love actively creating you to be something beautiful and useful to God.
Human creativity across time included artists who worked in many different media. Each artist experimented with different styles and materials before they found the one that suited them best. They learn the intricacies of their chosen art through different techniques, styles, trial and error – like a painter who works with watercolors and acrylics before choosing the one that best fits their muse. My mother was a painter, and over many years discovered that she enjoyed working with acrylics the best because they were more forgiving. If she didn’t like the way that a painting was coming together on her canvas or if she made a mistake, she could scrape all the paint off and start over again.
YHWH, THE artistic Creator, is the same. God formed humans out of the dust of the earth – out of the humus and breathed into us the breath of life. God’s grace continues to move us and reform us so that we might learn to give up bad habits and worldly practices and live communally in right relationship with God and with each other. This is what our scriptures have to say to us this morning. Paul’s letter to Philemon is his shortest, and in some ways, most interesting and practical in the way it shows us how God’s love breaks down human barriers and creates new community. Onesimus was a slave of the wealthy Philemon in Colossae. Onesimus ran away from Philemon and ended up in Rome, where he became a believer in Jesus through Paul’s ministry. Onesimus (whose name means “useful”) is returned to Philemon with this letter, urging Philemon to forgive Onesimus through Christian love. Onesimus has been transformed by God’s grace and the mentoring of Paul into a “useful” brother in the faith.
Jesus is being followed not only by the Twelve, but by large crowds. Jesus wants all of them to know the cost of following him – of carrying their cross. Jesus says that a disciple’s focus must be on Jesus and not on family matters or their own lives. They need to open themselves up to the re-formation work of God’s grace so that they can be salt for the world. Jesus is saying to them and to us that the way of discipleship is to subordinate our worldly loves in favor of the love that re-forms and saves us.
Jeremiah is led by God to the house of a potter. The prophet watches as the potter works clay on his wheel into a pot. However, the clay was “marred” or in other translations “spoiled” in his hands. The artisan reformed the clay into another vessel which pleased the potter. God tells Jeremiah that God works with humans - specifically Israel, “like clay in the hand of the potter”. The Hebrew word for reworking the clay is the same used in Genesis 2 where God created humans from the dust of the earth – making us and all of creation “very good”.
Since God’s salvation of the Hebrews through the Exodus, God has been pouring out God’s transforming love on humanity to seek to make it into one unconditionally loving community. God was trying, through the prophets to re-form the leadership and the people of Israel and Judah into a unified whole that they might be a living example to the world of how to live differently, fully and well. Finally, God sent Jesus to the disciples, to Paul and to all of us.
Theologian and New Testament scholar N.T. Wright speaks of how the letters of Paul emphasize many things about being a disciple of Jesus. According to Bishop Wright, a prominent emphasis across Paul’s letters is God’s transforming love re-forming people into beloved community. Wright observes about Paul’s letter to Philemon that, “…The way Paul writes that letter is magnificent as a piece of practical theology. He stretches out one hand and embraces Onesimus: ‘Here he is, he's my child, my very heart. I've become a father to him in my imprisonment. I'd much rather keep him with me, but I really have to send him back.’ Next, he stretches out the other hand and embraces Philemon: ‘You are my partner, my fellow worker, we're in this together - and by the way, remember you owe me everything.’ Then, standing there with outstretched arms, he says to Philemon: ‘If he owes you anything, put it down on my account.’
In this letter, Paul does not mention the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. But it is the cross of Jesus Christ, exemplified and embodied in Paul's ministry, that is bringing the master and the slave together. Paul is doing the unthinkable, bringing about what he says in Galatians 3 close-up, sharp and personal: in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, no male and female. This is what it means in practice. The cross is the place where the irreconcilable can be reconciled…
Nobody else in the ancient world thought you could do that kind of thing…there is a special, different God at work, not like the gods of the empire who dominated the horizon and believed in keeping the social structure of the world exactly as it was so that slaves had to stay as slaves - and if they tried to have it otherwise, they might get crucified. Rather, this is the God who sets slaves free; this is the God of the exodus, at work in a new way. This is the God who says, ‘I have heard the cry of my people, and I've come to do what I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: to set the slaves free….’”
Through God’s grace, we all have the opportunity to freely undergo re-formation into something that is good and useful to God. Re-formation into individuals and communities focused on learning how to live in right relationship without the divisiveness of labels and artificial barriers of race, sex, age, infirmity or ability, socio-economic class, or any other perceived difference. Through the artistry of Jesus’ teachings and His love, it becomes possible for us to be re-formed into a people who learn to see everyone as a beloved child of great worth, who are useful to us and to God to build God’s kingdom here on earth. God’s re-formation is the salvation that allows us to live fully into who God created us to be. I hope that you will all choose to live into the reality of “God’s grace – the way to a new and improved you”. Amen!