My Favorite Verses - Vol V (Feb 17 to Jun 17)

Luke 3:8 … Bearing worthy Fruit
(03/08/2017)
“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 selfjudgment
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 deed –
Matthew 18:3-4 + John 13:15-17), then Repentance
would have to be an active embodiment as well.
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