PENTECOST 5A 2026

THE REV. E. WAYNE ROLLINS

​ I once read a story about a state trooper who stopped a driver on the highway. When the trooper approached the car, the driver asked why. After checking license and registration, the trooper replied, “I saw all the religious bumper stickers and then the way you were driving and a few hand gestures. I assumed the car must be stolen.” 

This week brings many reminders and definitions of words like “liberty” and “freedom.” But today’s Epistle lesson reminds us that we are slaves in one way or another. We don’t like that word, slaves. We’ve heard a lot about it and might have toured scenic park-like settings or cemeteries where battles were fought over the right to own another human being. 

We continue to hear words of condemnation spoken about and toward those who live here as a result of that way of life. But you really have no right to complain about the presence of those whose ancestors were kidnapped and forced to move an ocean away from home for your own ancestors’ benefit and enrichment. 

Paul says we are all slaves. We all submit to the authority of someone, perhaps some entity. Paul contrasts being slaves to sin and being slaves to righteousness. If anyone wants to help me explain that, now’s your chance to step forward, shackles and all. 

We might declare ourselves to be free. But first we need to understand the meaning of the terms "sin" and "righteousness." Then comes the sometimes uncomfortable task of admitting which one we really choose for ourselves. 

One commentary I read mentioned a friend of the writer who is a slave to fashion. We don’t have to look beyond news headlines to find those who are slaves to wealth and/or power. Many enslave themselves to attention and prestige, and some of those are found in church pews on a regular basis. 

I remember a convention in another diocese where it seemed one or two persons submitted their names for nearly every position available. I didn’t want to hear about time management issues if they had won every election. I’ve seen the same thing happen with parish committees. Then I see the burn-out that follows. It could be what our Prayer of Confession refers to as “things done and left undone” all in the same action. 

My working definition of sin is “actively separating ourselves from the God who gives us life.” From that point we might develop endless lists of “sins,” including, as I mentioned recently, the purchase and eating of pretzels. As a former professor used to say regularly, "There's sin everywhere.” 

Sin is predominantly known by choosing to gratify only ourselves, serving only ourselves, and insisting that only what pleases us as individuals is acceptable. Sin denies the benefit of being in relationship with each other, a reciprocal way of life that seeks the good of and in the other as much as the pleasure of the self. 

The slavery of sin denies goodness in others, while the slavery of righteousness seeks harmony and benefit of living together in right relationship. That means everything from helping each other as we are able to not crowding and swerving around others because we haven’t yet learned that waiting longer at the next red light is not always a good and joyful thing. 

Slavery to righteousness is made known to us in the cross of Jesus of Nazareth. As Paul says in his letter to the Philippians, he became a slave—a slave to and for love to reveal who God is for us. 

Being a slave to righteousness means living in ways that reveal our slavery to and for love through how we live at home, in our communities, at work, and even what we call “at church.” Being a slave to righteousness is how we move from being “at church” to being the church—the Body of Christ continuing the life of obedience to the speaking of the Spirit, words taking on flesh, our flesh, in our own time. 

When we choose to be slaves to righteousness, we don’t need bumper stickers or sweatshirts or other banners and slogans to make it known. Others will know by the way we move through the highways of life in ways that seek the well-being of others as much, but no less, than we do for ourselves.

Nearly fifty years ago, we began hearing a designation known as the “me generation.” It describes a move away from communal relationships into a focus on self-interest. We’re living the results of that now that include everything from identity politics to the decline in religious attendance and participation. The rise in social and economic inequality and the almost instant choice of violence as a response to disagreement give evidence that our communal fabric is being torn to shreds.

Paul’s writing shifts our focus in his discussion of slavery to righteousness. He tells us we are baptized into the death of Jesus, resulting in our rising to the new life of resurrection. But Paul would not confine his words to what happens at our fonts. Our restriction of the effectiveness of that ritual to the actual event betrays our misunderstanding of its true meaning.

Our life as disciples of the risen Christ is an ongoing baptism into his new, never-ending life as we choose between the slavery to sin and slavery to righteousness. In other words, we opt to live in ways that deny the presence of God, or to live in the self-giving example of the One who humbled himself, even to death on a cross.

The very real life-or-death choices we make reveal our true master. The life we live, as individuals and as a faithful community, reveals whether we live in hope or the despair of fear. Choose wisely.