Look at Me!

Mark 1:1-8

Second Sunday of Advent / December 4, 2011

“Look at me!  Look at what I did!” We’ve all heard these words before. Look at me! I can run all the way to the end of the block and back!  Look at me! I can ride my bicycle with no hands! Look at what I did! I made this Christmas ornament! Our children crave our attention and affirmation. And it is important that we praise our kids’ accomplishments. It is important that we build their self-esteem.  We want our children to be confident; we want them to do their best.  And so we rejoice with them: “Yes, I see! That’s beautiful! Wow! You are so talented!  You could be a star some day!”

Of course adults want this kind of affirmation as well.  Look at me! I’m the employee of the month! Look at what I did! My company is growing in the midst of this recession.  Look at me! I clipped coupons and saved $50 on my groceries this week!  Look at me! Look at what I can do!

Today our scripture invites us to look at John the Baptist. He was an odd man who was clothed in camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist. His dreadlocks marked him as a Nazarite and he ate only locusts and wild honey.  People flocked from the whole Judean countryside and all of Jerusalem to the Jordan to look at this man.  And standing in the icy waters of the Jordan, John cried: “Repent! For the kingdom of heaven has come near!” (Matt 3:2).  And people came to John confessing their sins, and John baptized them in the Jordan.

Just think how easy it would have been for John to say, Look at me! As people came to John from all over the countryside, they may have believed him if he had said: Look at me! I have the power to forgive sins.  I have the ability to wash you clean. Look at what I can do!

But instead John proclaimed: “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:7-8).  John proclaimed: Don’t look at me, look at Jesus.  Jesus is the Savior, the Messiah, the One who is to come!  Look at Him!

John’s entire life pointed to Jesus.  John’s entire ministry prepared the way for the Lord.  John invited people to repent and turn away from sin and toward God.  He listened to their confession and baptized them. As John pushed their heads under the waters of the Jordan their old selves were washed away with the current, and as they came up out of the water they were made new and their sins were forgiven.  In baptism they were given eyes to see Jesus – to recognize him when he came.  In baptism their lives were reoriented – they became a people who said, “Don’t look at me, look at Jesus!”

On this day, as we prepare to baptize eight people and welcome them into the family of God, we do want to pause and reflect on the many people who have walked alongside these beloved children of God, preparing the way for the Lord: grandparents and Sunday school teachers and friends and neighbors who have pointed to Jesus through their lives and their witness and their stories.  We pause to say Thanks be to God for these people who have brought us to this day.  And Thanks be to God for the people who will walk with us into the future, helping us to lead lives that always point to Jesus.

On this day, as we remember our own baptisms, and as we eagerly prepare for the birth of our Savior, we come to these waters confessing our sins and affirming that God loves us unconditionally.  We come to these waters to be clothed with Christ so that we can go out into the world as people who say, “Don’t look at me, look at Jesus!”