“Bear fruits worthy of your repentance.” ~ Jesus (Luke 3:8)

 

First & foremost, this verse cannot be truly understood without understanding what Jesus meant by “repentance.”  Indeed, contrary to popular understanding (which sees “repentance” as some sort of mental &/or verbal admission of sinfulness, culpability, or regret) the Greek word in the ancient manuscripts commonly translated as “repent” is “metanoeo” – a word that had very little to do with self-judgment and nothing at all to do with confessing one’s sins.  Rather, it meant to “completely alter one’s way of living” (see Strong’s #3340; also metanoia Strong’s #3341) – namely: to turn away from arrogant, judgmental self-centeredness and turn towards humble, caring selflessness; … to turn away from a life of worry & fear and turn towards a life of Service & Love; … to turn away from striving for one’s own personal salvation in the Hereafter and turn towards working to bring others Peace in the lifetime we already possess.

In essence – at least in the case of every traditional Christian believer, to truly “repent” means to turn away from the teachings of Paul (which errantly intimates that “repentance” requires a self-critical admission of personal sin – see Acts 20:21 et al) and turn towards a life of humbly & selflessly & lovingly living The Way of Jesus Christ. (“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is even now at hand … The time has been fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; so repent, and believe in the Good News … I tell you; unless you repent, you will all perish as [the Galileans who were executed by Pilate] did.” ~ Jesus Christ in Matthew 4:17 + Mark 1:15 + Luke 13:3).

As such, pure Repentance – at least according to Jesus – always bears Love, and thus always bears Good Fruits worthy of the same (see Matthew 21:43 — “Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the Kingdom”).

 

Secondly, Jesus could also be implying here the Truth that “Grace is not a gift but a given” – meaning that Repentance is always a choice encouraged by the Soul, and thus always a choice available to the sinner — and as such it is an inevitability that he or she will (hopefully sooner rather than later) enjoin the same … And this is why we are to “bear fruits worthy of our repentance” – or, more wisely stated, why we are to bear fruits in accordance with our inevitable Divinity.

 

Of course, it is also possible that Jesus is speaking in more mundane terms – encouraging his listeners to not only repent verbally, but to actualize the same.  After all, if Salvation was a verb for Jesus (i.e. if Salvation was known by enlivening Love as a humble verb – Matthew 18:3-4 + John 13:15-17), then Repentance would have to be an active embodiment as well.

 

Amen … Let it be so.

 

Filed under: My Favorite Verses by Scaughdt