Luke 3:7-11: a reflection

7He said therefore to the multitudes who went out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Therefore produce fruits worthy of repentance, and don’t begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father;’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones! 9Even now the ax also lies at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 10The multitudes asked him, “What then must we do?” 11He answered them, “He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise.”

John the Baptist confronts the crowds coming to be baptized with startling bluntness: You brood of vipers! Bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say, We have Abraham as our father. He will not let them rest on their heritage or a mere ritual; he demands real fruit, a repentance that shows itself in changed life. And when the crowds ask, What then shall we do?, his answer is strikingly concrete: Whoever has two coats, share with him who has none; and whoever has food, do likewise.

Notice that John insists repentance be proved by fruit, and that the fruit he names first is practical generosity. He is not satisfied with claimed repentance, religious pedigree, or ritual alone; he wants to see it in changed action. And when pressed for specifics, he does not point first to grand religious observances, but to sharing: give your spare coat to the one who has none; share your food with the hungry. Real repentance, John says, shows up in how we treat the needy.

That is a bracingly practical understanding of repentance. It is possible to claim repentance, to rely on our religious identity, our heritage, our rituals, while our lives remain unchanged. John insists that genuine repentance bears fruit, and that the fruit includes concrete generosity to those in need. If your repentance is real, it will show, not least in a loosened grip on your possessions and an open hand to the needy. Do not rest in claimed repentance or religious identity. Ask what fruit your repentance is bearing, and let it show, as John said, in sharing with those who have less. Real turning to God changes how we hold our coats and our food.

Lord, John the Baptist would not let the crowds rest on their heritage or a mere ritual, but demanded fruit worthy of repentance, and when they asked what to do, he pointed to concrete generosity: share your coat, share your food. Keep me from resting in claimed repentance or religious identity while my life remains unchanged. Let my repentance be real, and let it bear fruit, not least in how I treat the needy. Loosen my grip on my possessions, and give me an open hand to those who have less. Show me what fruit my repentance is bearing, and let genuine turning to you change how I hold my coat and my food. Make my repentance visible in generosity, as John said it should be.