Producing Fruit and Repentance

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 3:7-10)

The setting is the Jordan River. John is baptizing and the Pharisees and Sadducees come to him. These are very religious people! Every time I read this, the same question comes to my mind... "were they really coming to be baptized by John or were they coming to make trouble for the one who is stealing their disciples?". His response to them would indicate that he saw through their facade and was able to identify their purpose.

Maybe John greeted everyone with these words.. "You brood of vipers", but I doubt it. I think that he saw these religious men as those who had an outward appearance that didn't match up with who they were inside. We would call them hypocrites today. He tells them to "produce fruit in keeping with repentance". He wanted to see evidence of a changed heart before he would immerse them. Produce fruit... an apple tree produces apples, an orange tree produces oranges... so, what would fruit look like that came from repentance?

The Greek word here is metanoia. The word carries the idea of remorse for doing something bad and includes the action needed to reform the action. In order for them to produce fruit in keeping with repentance, they needed to feel bad for what they had done and take some action to change it.  In other words, stop doing the things that we shouldn't do and start doing the things we should. Forrest Gump told us, "Momma always says there's an awful lot you could tell about a person by their shoes. Where they're going. Where they've been." John knew that a person's actions, what they did when no one was looking, was who they really were. Forrest was a shoe inspector, he could tell a lot about a person by how their shoes looked. John was a fruit inspector, by looking at their actions, he could tell where they were going and where they had been.

Take a moment to consider what John would say to you. There he is... standing in the river, waiting for you to show up... how would he greet you? What do your shoes say about you? Where have you been? Where are you going? John tells us that repentance is needed. If we have not done so, we need to see that our shoes are scuffed and worn and take action to get them shined and repaired. Does our fruit demonstrate a repentant life? Does mine? Does yours? I encourage you to take a moment to think about your life. Are you part of the brood of vipers or have you recognized your need for change and acted on it?

John concludes these thoughts with a frightening revelation... The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. He says the time is now. He says take action now! He says that the destination of those that don't produce this type of fruit is destruction. The choice was theirs and the choice is ours. Choose wisely.