Strange Fruit. Hard Bargain.
The biblical writer, whom we call Paul, is an early church leader. He’s an evangelist to the Gentiles and travels widely throughout the Roman Empire. He is often mentioned alongside Peter as a founder of the “universal church” as we know it today.
Paul did quite a bit of management in his letters. He encourages fellow Christ-followers and often chastises them for not living how they should. A prime example is in Galatians 2:11 when Paul writes:
But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was wrong.
Paul minces no words here. Othertimes, he’s masterful in the way in which he leverages his privilege as a well-known and devout Jew as well as a Roman citizen to avoid his own execution and further the mission of Christ. The lectionary text for this week included the Epistle (letter) to Philemon. This letter was written by Paul to a man named Philemon - hence the name of the book of the bible. I want to share part of this letter with you. Philemon 1:9-16:
9 I would rather appeal to you through love. I, Paul—an old man, and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus— 10 appeal to you for my child Onesimus. I became his father in the faith during my time in prison. 11 He was useless to you before, but now he is useful to both of us. 12 I’m sending him back to you, which is like sending you my own heart. 13 I considered keeping him with me so that he might serve me in your place during my time in prison because of the gospel. 14 However, I didn’t want to do anything without your consent so that your act of kindness would occur willingly and not under pressure. 15 Maybe this is the reason that Onesimus was separated from you for a while so that you might have him back forever— 16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave—that is, as a dearly loved brother. He is especially a dearly loved brother to me. How much more can he become a brother to you, personally and spiritually in the Lord!
This Epistle (book of the bible that is a letter) is very short, so take a minute to read the whole thing if you can. In this letter, Paul writes to encourage Philemon to release his slave Onesimus, even though he seems to have escaped the custody of Philemon and is now with Paul in jail. Paul speaks against the enslavement of other Christ-followers and points to the church's ideal that all are equal and now beloved sons and daughters of God through shared belief in Jesus Christ.
This letter keeps the idea of each believer being made in God’s image central, and when each believer keeps their primary identity as that of a Christ-follower, that is how each follower should regard one another. It is really a revolutionary idea.
One of my favorite musicians recently released a song that I was reminded of in the re-reading of this letter to Philemon.
Hayley Williams in her song True Believer confronts, in a somewhat scathing Pauline fashion, the hypocrisy she’s encountered as a Christian in Nashville. She opens describing some of the things that she’s found bothersome there recently: the disappearance of a visiting college student, the treatment of homeless people, and especially the commodification of Sunday worship.
The churches overflow each Sunday, greedy Sunday morning
Gift shop in the lobby
Act like God ain't watching
Kill the soul, turn a profit
What lives on? Southern Gotham
This is a frustration I’ve heard from many of you who aren’t involved in the church any longer. Hayley Williams goes on, however, to name the original sin of the United States, slavery, whose harm still lingers in the form of White Christian Supremacy.
They say that Jesus is the way, but then they gave him a white face
So they don't have to pray to someone they deem lesser than them
The South will not rise again
Til it's paid for every sin
Strange fruit, hard bargain
Till the roots, Southern Gotham
Head of Christ. Warner Sallman, 1940.
Do you happen to know when Jesus became white? I found an excellent podcast that explores this exact question. Turns out, Jesus became white in 1940. Click on the photo above for the link to the podcast. An excerpt describes how this became the image many of us think of when we think of what Jesus looked like.
“When Warner Press rep Fred Bates saw it hanging over the family piano, he was captivated. He saw commercial potential.
In 1941, Warner Press printed 100,000 copies, selling out in two months. By year’s end, over a million had been distributed through churches, catalogs, and Christian bookstores. Then came World War II. As part of a campaign called “Christ in Every Purse,” pocket-sized versions were given to soldiers, many of whom carried them through the war. For them, it became a talisman—an image of comfort, protection, and faith.”
The biblical author whom we call John in the book of Revelation (Rev. 1:13-16) described Jesus quite differently.
Burnished Bronze
13 In the middle of the lampstands, I saw someone who looked like the Human One. He wore a robe that stretched down to his feet, and he had a gold sash around his chest. 14 His head and hair were white as white wool—like snow—and his eyes were like a fiery flame. 15 His feet were his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice sounded like rushing water. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword. His appearance was like the sun shining with all its power.
So did modern Christians do as Hayley Williams accuses? I mean, burnished bronze is nowhere close to that image of Jesus that was part of “Christ in every purse.”
They say that Jesus is the way, but then they gave him a white face
So they don't have to pray to someone they deem lesser than them
Just like Paul reminds Philemon of how infused his life is supposed to be with the teachings of Jesus, so Hayley Williams laments her own embodied beliefs being different from what she’s seeing on every Sunday morning.
I'm the one who still loves your ghost
I reanimate your bones
With my belief
And I'm the one who still loves your ghost
I reanimate your bones
Cause I'm a true believer
Philemon’s letter is short, but its reach is long. It holds together Paul’s love for Onesimus, his appeal to Philemon, and his insistence that faith in Christ reorders relationships and identities. What Paul pressed upon Philemon is still pressing on us: will we choose comfort, custom, and coercion, or will we choose freedom, community, and love?
Hayley Williams’ “True Believer” aches with the same tension. Her lyrics name the hypocrisy of a faith commodified, whitened, and weaponized, yet her refrain insists on love that refuses to die, belief that breathes life back into the dry bones of the body of Christ (aka- the church). Paul and Hayley, across centuries, ask the same question: What does it mean to be a true believer in a world that so easily distorts Jesus into its own image?
If Paul’s words called Philemon to see Onesimus not as property but as brother, then the Spirit is still calling us to recognize every neighbor as family. To repent of the false images we’ve enshrined - strange fruits, hard bargains. To choose the hard bargain of truth and reconciliation. To love the ghost of the gospel so fiercely that it lives again, not in paintings or profits, but in justice, mercy, and family that reaches outside the bounds of human constructs.
Reflection Questions
Paul appealed “through love” rather than command. Where in your own life do you notice the difference between being pressured to act and being invited in love?
What images of Jesus (in art, culture, or memory) have influenced how you picture him? How do those images shape your feelings about faith — for good or for harm?
Hayley Williams sings, “I’m the one who still loves your ghost.” What does it mean to you to love or trust the Holy Ghost, especially when the church or its people have caused pain?
Where do you sense the Spirit moving you toward relationships of family, community, freedom, and dignity, whether within the church or beyond it?
I regularly use AI to help edit and enhance my posts. This post was aided by AI for editing. As always, the content and meaningful engagement with scripture are mine.
