Seeing Others as Beloved, as Brother or Sister in the Lord

In today’s first reading, Paul writes to Philemon, asking that, in his name, he receive a runaway slave, Onesimus, as a brother, not as a slave. “Perhaps,” Paul says, “he ran away from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved, especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man and in the Lord.”  Paul’s perception of Onesimus has been transformed from  looking down upon him as a slave, as less than non-slaves,  to a brother,  to a man and to one committed to Christ Jesus. 

Think of the "Onesimus’es" in our world--those lured into the sex trade by human traffickers, those lured into the labor force as slaves, those who are slaves in any way and being violated  and treated unjustly by others.  Think of how pimps treat their victims, human traffickers their “slaves”, laborers those forced into service with them.  Think of those who, like Onesimus, have managed to run away from those who were enslaving them.

Who are the "Onesimus’es" in our lives, the “runaways,” those we disdain, think little of, perhaps? Who do you and I treat as slaves, as less than human, as beneath us?  Who does the world treat as less than a man/a woman  who have been created in the image and likeness of God, one with Christ Jesus--redeemed, sanctified , made righteous by the Lord and equal in dignity to ourselves, worthy of all of the blessings we have been given, worthy of being treated with respect, as one who is our brother and sister in Christ Jesus, loved and cherished by the Lord, chosen as His own to achieve God's purposes in their lives just as we have been chosen? 

In what way does our perception of another need to be changed by grace, as was Paul’s?