18 March 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“Bear fruits worthy of repentance.” Luke 3:8
Peter's language about the false teachers is some of the strongest in the New Testament. They are “like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct”. “They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed.” He compares them to Balaam, the prophet who “loved the wages of doing wrong” and had to be corrected by his own donkey. And then comes an image every farmer in Kerala understands at the end of a dry summer: “These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm.” A spring that promises water and gives none is worse than no spring at all; the traveller walks to it and finds dust. A mist promises rain and blows away. Peter is speaking of teachers, but the warning reaches every Christian. We can look like a spring: baptised, confirmed, present at the feasts, with a holy picture in the house. And yet, when a thirsty person comes to us, a lonely neighbour, a child with questions, a poor man at the gate, do they find water? “Hearts trained in greed” is a striking phrase: greed is learned by practice, and so is generosity. The fast is a training of the heart in the other direction.
In the Gospel John the Baptist speaks to the crowds who came out to be baptised. He refuses to let them rest on their ancestry: “Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” We could say, “We are St Thomas Christians; our families have been Christian for centuries.” It is a great gift, but it cannot replace fruit. “Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees.” Then the crowd asks the most honest question in the Gospel: “What then should we do?” John's answer is not mystical; it is practical and almost embarrassing in its simplicity: “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Most of us have more than two shirts, and food in the kitchen tonight. The fruit of repentance can be counted in clothes given away and meals shared. The Latin Church today remembers St Cyril of Jerusalem, whose instructions to those about to be baptised at Easter still survive; like John, he taught that conversion must show itself in a changed life.
Theme: “Bear fruits worthy of repentance.”
Waterless springs that promise and do not give, and the Baptist's plain answer: share your coat and your bread.
“for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.” Jeremiah 2:13
“These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the deepest darkness has been reserved.” 2 Peter 2:17
Apply: Ask yourself honestly what a thirsty person would find in you today, and give it.
“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” Isaiah 1:16–17
“Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” Luke 3:8
Apply: Thank God for the faith of your family, and add one fruit of your own to it this week.
“Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” Isaiah 58:7
“In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.”” Luke 3:11
Apply: Give away clothes you do not wear, and share one meal with someone alone, before Pesaha.
A Christian who promises and does not give is a waterless spring; the fast trains our hearts in generosity.
Our heritage is a gift; the fruit of repentance is a shared coat and a shared meal.
Take-home resolution: Before Pesaha, empty one shelf for the poor and invite one lonely person to your table.
Dear friends, Peter describes false teachers with a striking image: they are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm (2 Peter 2:17). They promise water and give dust.
That warning is for us too. We can look like a spring, baptised and present at every feast, and still give nothing to the thirsty who come to us. Greed is learned by practice, and so is generosity. The fast trains our hearts.
John the Baptist tells the crowds: bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not say, we have Abraham as our ancestor (Luke 3:8). We cannot rest on our Christian heritage. When they ask, what then should we do, he says: whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise (Luke 3:11).
Let us count our shirts and our meals this week, and share them. That is the fruit of repentance. Amen.
Children, John the Baptist said: if you have two shirts, give one to someone who has none. Look in your cupboard today. Is there something you can give to a child who needs it?
Lord Jesus Christ, fountain of living water, do not let us be waterless springs. Train our hearts in generosity instead of greed. Free us from resting on our heritage, and make us bear fruits worthy of repentance, sharing our coats and our bread with those who have none. Amen.
Two images about what is empty and what is fruitful. 2 Peter describes false teachers as springs with no water, who promise and do not give. John the Baptist asks for fruit, and when the crowds ask what that means, he speaks about coats and food. Near the end of the Great Fast, both readings ask whether anything has actually changed in the way we live and give.
Setting.
The letter continues its warning about false teachers. Much of this passage runs closely parallel to Jude 8–13, and many scholars think the author of 2 Peter used Jude. The language is sharp, in the style of ancient polemic. Its concern is the harm done to “unsteady souls” (v. 14), who were being drawn away by teachers who shared the community’s table while living in greed and license. The authorship of the letter is discussed by scholars, and the Church receives it as inspired.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their dissipation while they feast with you.” (2:13)
A note on the text: some manuscripts have a word meaning “dissipation” or “deceptions” (apatais), and others have “love-feasts” (agapais), as in Jude 12. Either way, the wrongdoers were sitting at the table of the community.
“They have hearts trained in greed.” (2:14)
The Catechism says that the tenth commandment forbids greed and the desire to amass earthly goods without limit (CCC 2536). The Great Fast is a training too, in the opposite direction.
“following the road of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of doing wrong,” (2:15)
The story is in Numbers 22–24, with the donkey that sees what the prophet cannot. A note on the text: most manuscripts of this verse read “Bosor”, while the Old Testament and the Malayalam POC have “Beor”. A few manuscripts here also have Beor. The man is the same.
“These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm;” (2:17)
Both images are about a promise that is not kept. The mist looks like rain and blows away. The warning reaches anyone who teaches or leads: the form of religion, with nothing to give to the thirsty.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that the Church’s shepherds have the task of guarding God’s people from deviations and defections, so that they may profess the true faith without error (CCC 890). Christ is the true spring: “let anyone who is thirsty come to me” (John 7:37).
Setting.
John the Baptist preaches a baptism of repentance in the region of the Jordan (3:3). Luke says that crowds came out to be baptized by him (3:7). He is a Jewish prophet speaking to his own people, in the manner of Amos and Isaiah, and his warning is for all who trust in a religious label. Luke alone gives the practical answers that follow, in vv. 10–14.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Bear fruits worthy of repentance.” (3:8)
John does not reject the baptism people came for. He says what it must lead to. No one can merit the first grace (CCC 2010); the tree that has received it bears fruit by that same grace.
“God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” (3:8)
This is no word against Abraham or his descendants, for God’s promises to them stand. The warning fits any Christian who says, “I am baptized, I am from an old family of the faith,” and leaves it at that.
“What then should we do?” (3:10)
The same question returns in 3:12 and 3:14, and again at Pentecost (Acts 2:37). It is the right question after hearing God’s word.
“Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” (3:11)
John asks for nothing spectacular. He asks that no one keep what another needs. The answer is simple enough for a child, and hard enough for a lifetime.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes this verse when it speaks of the works of mercy (CCC 2447), and it teaches that interior repentance shows itself above all in fasting, prayer and almsgiving (CCC 1434). St Basil the Great, preaching on the rich fool, says that the coat stored in your closet belongs to the one who has none (in substance). So the fast and the sharing belong together.
Is it unkind for Christians to use language as harsh as 2 Peter’s?
The letter is using the strong conventions of ancient warning, to protect vulnerable people from real harm. It does not give us licence to insult those we disagree with; the same letter praises the angels for holding back from slander (2:11). We may be firm about error, and we are still called to love the person.