March 1, 2017 - Onesimus

March 1, 2017

Onesimus

A boy born free, a prince of a tribe living on the edge of the Carpathian Mountains, in the time of the Romans; this is the setting for the opening of my novel, Onesimus.  In the opening scene, he is captured by slavers, humiliated, and sold as a slave.  He is given a new name, Onesimus.  That is a Greek name that means useful.  It is a name an ancient Greek would have given to his dog, or his slave.

Years ago, I heard a sermon about this man.  I had never given a thought to the man mentioned in the smallest book of the bible, Philemon.  That book of the bible is a letter from Paul to Philemon, telling him that he is sending his runaway slave to him.  Not a lot is said about the incident, except that he ran away, stealing Philemon’s money.  Now Paul is sending him back as a brother in Christ.  The only other mention of him in the bible is that he is coming to the church in Colossae carrying a letter from Paul.  Colossae is where Philemon lived. 

Church history mentions a man named Onesimus in the first century.  It has to be the same man, because he is in the same part of the world.  How many men walk around with a name given to a dog?  Not many I would guess.  Once story goes that he founded the church in Byzantium.  Another that he became the second bishop of Ephesus after the martyrdom of Timothy.  It is possible he did both.

Paul, who was probably martyred by Nero about the time the letter was delivered, called Onesimus his son.  He called Timothy his son too, but Paul never married and never had any children.  Some of you that have led another to Christ and watched them grow into strong Christian young men, or women, will know what he was talking about.  Paul led Onesimus to Christ, just as he did Timothy.  They were his sons.

This runaway slave is the subject of the novel I am working on now.  The settings will be the village in the Carpathian Mountains; a young city called Byzantium; Ephesus and Colossae, cities of the Asia province; Athens and Corinth in Greece; and the greatest city of the ancient world, Rome.

Besides Onesimus, my main characters are of course Paul and Philemon.  Paul is difficult to write, because so many have a preconceived idea of what he must have been like.  Many others that are mentioned in Paul’s letters will be characters.  One character I wondered how to incorporate because he is so pronounced in Paul’s letters, is Timothy.  For those of you not wanting to see your biblical heroes in a bad light, I will warn you, I made Timothy the protagonist.  But don’t worry, the theme of the book is redemption, so he’ll turn out to be a good man.

I tend to work in fits and starts.  One day I will have an idea and I can’t stop writing or researching for hours.  The next day, I’m spending my time editing what I wrote.  Some days I just have to sit down and write.  It might not be perfect, but I can edit it in a few days.

I am loving being a writer.  I don’t know if I am doing it correctly or not.  I just feel I must write.  It’s funny, a year ago, I found myself working so hard on getting everything just right in Spartan Sisters and six months ago, I could say the same for Mojón con Cara.  Now I feel the same for Onesimus.  I don’t want it bland and boring.  I want my characters to come alive for you.  I guess they are like my children.  I want you to know them and love them the way I do.  I want you to understand the story of redemption written in the small book of Philemon.

A gift you could give me is prayer.  Imagine how difficult it is to write a novel about redemption.  I need prayer that the words I say are correct, that I do not contradict the bible, and that my words might lead someone to Christ.

I am hoping to be done with this novel by late spring.  I look forward to you reading it and telling me what you think.

Until Onesimus is published, enjoy my other novels.