A brother in Christ

 

Haiku responding to the letter to Philemon

Paul pens a letter

to his old mate, Philemon

and to his house church.

Expresses his love

and gratitude; a good start

when seeking favour.

A runaway slave,

Onesimus has helped Paul

while held in prison.

Paul has sent him back

Requesting friend Philemon

to set his slave free.

He who was useless

became useful to us both;

helping in your stead.

I would have kept him,

but I want your consent. Do

this freely for me.

Your slave ran away,

now receive him back as a

brother in Jesus.

Welcome him as you

would welcome me; I'll repay

anything he owes.

Do this for me, Paul.

I'll not mention that you owe

me even your life.

Grant me this, brother.

I am confident that you,

will refresh my heart!

© Ken Rookes 2025

Welcome-home party

An errant & disrespectful son,
(been there, done that);
dissolute living – code
for wine, women and song;
a robe, a ring and a fatted calf;
music and dancing
and a pissed-off older brother:
Jesus knew how to put a yarn together

The older brother was deserving
in the way that the younger one wasn’t.
Worked hard, did what was expected,
never questioned his father’s judgement;
until the outrageous welcome-home party.
The old man couldn’t even wait for the sun to set;
didn’t think to send out to the field
with instructions to knock-off early.

Like the father in the story, who pines
for his lost son, God, they say,
is forgiving and generous to a fault.
Which may be true, but it misses the point.
It’s the older brother, and the rest of us,
unable to rejoice at grace shown to someone
who might be less deserving than us;
we are the point.

Jesus never wasted a parable.

© Ken Rookes 2013