Luke 3:12-17: in context

As John the Baptist preaches repentance, different people come asking what they should do. Tax collectors ask, and he tells them to collect no more than what is appointed. Soldiers ask, and he tells them to extort from no one by violence, to accuse no one falsely, and to be content with their wages. To each he gives not a religious duty but a concrete instruction about how to live honestly in their ordinary work. And then he points beyond himself to the one coming after him, whose sandal he is not worthy to loosen.

What stands out in John's counsel is how concrete and everyday it is. He does not tell the tax collectors and soldiers to leave their work, or to add religious observances; he tells them to do their ordinary jobs honestly, without extortion, without false accusation, content with their pay. The repentance he calls for shows itself not in religious feeling or ceremony but in changed conduct in the ordinary business of life: honesty in one's work, fairness in dealing with others, contentment instead of grasping. Real repentance, John teaches, bears fruit in how we actually live, in the concrete details of our daily conduct. This corrects a notion of repentance that stays inward and religious without touching daily life. We can think of repentance as a matter of feeling sorry, of religious devotion, of inward experience, while the ordinary conduct of our work and dealings goes on unchanged. John will have none of it. The tax collector repents by no longer overcharging; the soldier repents by no longer extorting and by being content with his wages. Repentance shows itself in the concrete, everyday conduct of our lives, in honesty, fairness, and contentment in our ordinary work and dealings, not merely in religious feeling. Produce fruits worthy of repentance, John says elsewhere; and the fruit is a changed way of living, visible in how we do our work and treat others. This searches our own repentance. Does it bear fruit in the ordinary conduct of our lives, in honesty in our work, fairness in our dealings, contentment instead of grasping? Or does it remain inward and religious while the everyday conduct goes on unchanged? John's counsel makes repentance concrete: let it show in the daily details, the tax collector's honesty, the soldier's fairness and contentment, the ordinary conduct of our work and dealings made honest before God. Let him who stole steal no more, Paul says, but rather labor and give; and real repentance is like that, showing itself in changed conduct, in the concrete honesty and fairness of daily life.

Does my repentance bear fruit in the ordinary conduct of my life, in honesty in my work, fairness in my dealings, and contentment instead of grasping, as John told the tax collectors and soldiers to repent by doing their daily jobs honestly, or does it stay inward and religious while my everyday conduct goes on unchanged, untouched by the repentance I profess?