Read Luke 3:7-20
Preparation: Doing what is needed to get ready for something or someone.
In Vancouver we are regularly reminded by geologists and officials to prepare for “The Big One.” Most of us are not prepared. John the Baptist is preparing people for the coming of Jesus. It’s possible to listen to God’s Word without doing anything. This is a terrible spiritual deceit.
John faced a crowd that heard the good news of the Messiah but perhaps were inclined to do nothing. He addresses their spiritual inertia and calls them to action by warning them.
Notice that when they asked John “what shall we do,” John’s focus for repentance deals with their attitudes and actions about the stuff of earth and the ways they relate to people: to a neighbour with less, or to the person on the other side of a business transaction, or to the persons who come under their authority. John insists that in respect to the coming Messiah, they had to deal with greed by sharing, restraining themselves from taking more than required, and by being content with what they have.
In John’s understanding these dynamics of greed, deception, and power could profoundly affect one’s receptively to the Messiah who was coming with the fire of the Spirit. All kinds of terrible things have been done to people because of greed in our hearts.
In respect to Jesus a prepared person is a receptive person. A prepared person is ready to hear and respond to the Presence and Word of Jesus for He will have lordship over all our relationships.
Heavenly Father, send your Spirit and grant me a generous love for you; warm my heart and mind so that I respond to you. I repent of greed, of entitlement, and of contempt whereby I may miss the company of Jesus. In Jesus’ Name, AMEN.