Advent 6 - Get Ready

DAY 6 - Get Ready
Mark 1:1-8

What do you do before meeting someone important?

The four Gospels introduce to Jesus, the most important person to ever live. The Gospel writer, Mark, makes us meet John the Baptist before Jesus. No shepherds and wise men, just a weirdly out of place prophet. John’s message is simple: “Get ready!” His mission is to get people ready for Jesus.

John is very clear that he’s not the main attraction. He’s the one who says, “Silence your phone!” before the movie. “I’m not the one you’re looking for,” John says. “Someone is coming - someone better!”

What do most of us do before meeting up with someone? We prepare. Many churches return to John the Baptist during Advent. He got us ready for Jesus the first time around, maybe he can help us get ready for Jesus’ second coming, too! He gets us ready by forcing us to take a good hard look at ourselves. He challenges us to examine ourselves before we meet God.

On Christmas, we celebrate Jesus’s arrival as the baby in Bethlehem. During Advent, we use Christmas to look ahead to his next arrival. Christians confess in the old statement of faith, The Apostles’ Creed, that Christ “ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.” We’re going to be examined, inspected, judged.

I don’t know about you, but I want to look myself over before someone else does. I don’t want to be embarrassed but I also want to show people I care. Preparation shows investment in the relationship. If we get ready for work and weddings, how much more should we ready ourselves to meet Jesus face to face?

REFLECT
How do you usually prepare for an important meeting?
How is it similar or dissimilar for preparing to meet Jesus face to face?

PRAY
Merciful God, you sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation. Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. AMEN.