The verb anapempō means to send someone up (to a higher authority) or to send someone back. It appears five times in the New Testament, primarily in Luke 23 (Jesus' trial before Herod) and Philemon 12 (Paul sending Onesimus back to Philemon).
Both major uses of anapempō illuminate the dynamics of authority, justice, and reconciliation. In Luke 23, Jesus is sent back and forth between Pilate and Herod — a tragic political spectacle revealing human authority's bankruptcy when confronted with divine innocence. In Philemon, Paul "sends back" the runaway slave Onesimus — now a brother in Christ — appealing to Philemon to receive him not as property but as a beloved equal. The same word, two profoundly different contexts: the abuse of authority and the redemption of relationships through Christ.