Fruit worthy of repentance

In tomorrow's Gospel reading we will read the opening eight verses of Mark's Gospel—the earliest account of Jesus' life and ministry. Like each year on the Second Sunday of Advent, we meet John the Baptist who Mark introduces writing

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

John was clearly not interested in the cleansing power of the muddy waters of the Jordan River. For the baptizer, there was no sense in wading out into the waters if you had no desire to change your life, making the love of God and love for your neighbor as your top priorites. John was very concerned that the people he baptized lived their lives differently after the baptism than before.

John the Baptizer says, “Bear fruit worthy of repentance.” Repentance means saying that you are sorry for the things you have been doing wrong, the sins in your life. But repentance also means stopping doing the things you know are wrong and starting to do the things you know are right. If you left the banks of the Jordan soaking wet, but unchanged then John would say that his baptism had been for nothing. John knew that a more lasting, more affecting baptism was coming with the Messiah, but in the meantime, John was counting on real life change on the part of those he baptized.

If we want to avoid the scorching heat of his blast against the Pharisees and Sadducees as a Brood of Vipers then we should ponder if our lives are changed in any way because we are Christians. Do we live any differently because we believe? What would fruit worthy of repentance look like in our time? In our lives?

This same theme was taken up in the Sunday sermon a couple of weeks ago, Perturbed on behalf of the least of these

Note:
The Christmas Bazaar and High Tea is today at King of Peace from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.

If you are dropping off items or volunteering your time, you may arrive as early as 8 a.m.