Repent & Do the Father’s Will

Repent & Do the Father’s Will

Matthew 3:8-10 "Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  Even now, the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” 

This statement is being said by John the Baptist to the Pharisees and Sadducees. In the verse right before this one, John calls them a “brood of vipers.” What John the Baptist is saying in this first verse is to make sure they are truly changing on the inside, not just on the outside. He is telling them to produce good fruit as evidence of their repentance. In other words, let me see the real change that has taken place. John is saying that he doesn’t want them to use the excuse that they are children of Abraham. The children of Abraham are numerous.

I believe John is telling them that even though they are being baptized with water, if they do not change their ways, then Jesus will cut them down and throw them into the fire. Repentance is something we can all do. However, it can’t just be something we say we are going to do and then we don’t do. It can’t be an idea that we like, and we get behind, and yet we do not change our lives in any way.

Change is hard. Staying the same is easy. It can be easy to say we will change our ways, and we might even really mean it. Then when we try, we see it isn’t as easy as we thought it would be. We realize changing and repenting means we need to give up some things that we might really like. For instance, maybe we really like gossiping. We like to sit around with others and talk about all the crazy things other people do. This would be something we would need to repent of and to do no more.

I think this line in the verse above is an important one, “And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’” I think this is an important word for all of us to hear because it is something that I think many of us do. We assume because we are Catholic, or because we are Christian, or because we believe in Jesus that, we are automatically going to heaven. I have heard this a lot of times from a lot of different people. If we declare Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are automatically going to heaven. It also says in the Bible in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’  Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’”

You can know Jesus, Jesus can be your Lord and Savior, and yet, if you are not doing the will of the Father, you will not be getting into heaven. Take a look at the things you are doing and look at the motive behind them. Are you praying for other people because you really care about those people, or are you praying for people so that you look good to others? Are you saying the rosary and attending mass because you want to be there, because of your love for the Lord, or are you doing that so that others see you and think you are a very holy person?

The Pharisees and Sadducees followed the letter of the law. They made sure their prayers were out in the open, and they were long so that everyone could see how “holy” they were. They made sure they were doing what it said they had to do. However, they weren’t following the heart of the law. They were more concerned with the rules than they were with the people. We can sometimes hear about the Pharisees and Sadducees and think we would never act like they do. However, if we really examined our behavior, I am not sure that is true.

Have we ever called someone out in an unloving way? We tell ourselves we are trying to help them, we are trying to get them into heaven, and yet we do not do it in a loving way. Have we ever walked by someone in need on the street and not stopped to see if we could help? Have we ever treated someone in need badly? How many times have we walked by the cold, the hungry, the thirsty, and not even bothered to look over at them? Jesus is in each one of us. Not each one of us that is doing good, that has our stuff together. Jesus is in those who are homeless, who are hungry, who are in need, who are in jail. When we do for them, we are doing for Him.

We are all called to the same repentance that John the Baptist was calling people to 2,000 years ago. We need to repent and turn back to the Lord. This is not a one-time thing. It isn’t that we repent and we turn back, and then we are good. We have to be constantly turning back as we are constantly turning away. We might not feel as though we are turning away, and yet we slowly begin to put all these things before the Lord. We slowly, or not so slowly, begin to mess up again. We begin to turn away from the Lord and towards the world. The Lord is patient, and He waits for us to come back to Him. He welcomes us back with open arms.

I think the moral of this verse is to repent and change our ways. To ensure everything we do is living according to the way Jesus called us to live. I also think it is important never to assume, just because we are children of God, that we are going to heaven. I think that is dangerous because if we assume all we have to do is accept Jesus as our Saviour, then we can live however we want to live. That is not what it says in the Bible that we get to do as we please. It says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” Are we doing the will of the Father? Do we need to repent and begin again?

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to enter the kingdom of heaven. Please help us. Please put on our hearts any things we need to repent. Please put on our hearts any ways we are not following your will. Show us what you want us to do, Lord! We love you. You are so amazing. You are the King of kings and Lord of lords. We are so grateful for all you do for us. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!

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