Last Sunday we examined the beginning of John’s sermon where he said the King is coming, prepare! Today we continue with that sermon. Hear the words of John, the son of Zachariah, recorded in Luke 3:7-18.

John, austere preacher, calls for the multitudes to prepare the way for Christ’s coming with severe earnestness. His message is a call to repentance with actions that demonstrate an altered life. “Bear fruits that benefit repentance,” he says. “We have Abraham as our father,” is not a valid claim or an excuse. A life of faith and deeds of love are what counts before God. A religion void of moral and ethical implication is exactly that, void.

The idea that love is something we do is somewhat foreign to the modern Western mind. We grew up thinking that love is a feeling that overtakes a perso…