Rev. David Buchs reflects on John the Baptist’s command to “bear fruit in keeping with repentance,” showing how repentance is not merely sorrow over sin but a complete turning of the heart: away from self-preservation, fear, and hoarding, and toward the concrete needs of one’s neighbor. Beginning with John’s image of trees and fruit, this sermon traces how Scripture describes the repentant life as one of real transformation: bad trees made good, dead stumps made living again, sinners restored by mercy and taught to live differently. Drawing together John’s preaching, David’s repentance, Christ’s teaching on daily bread, and Zacchaeus’ overflowing restitution, the sermon shows that Christian love is not strategic generosity or disguised self-interest, but fruit born from hearts already supplied by Christ. Christians are called to see vocation—parent, spouse, worker, citizen—as the ordinary place where love becomes visible in daily responsibility. The sermon also contrasts life under...