Touchdown Dance

John 17:1-8

　
　
On football fields across the country pads pop, players grunt and sweat and when the game is over, teams celebrate or grieve. In the NFL, when a player celebrates after scoring a touchdown, he oftentimes will beat his chest or make a pose or do a dance. It’s a way of drawing attention to what he did, of glorifying himself.

Chapter 17 of John is Jesus’ prayer just before he is arrested, tried and crucified. In a way, it’s like a football player doing a dance after a touchdown. He asks God to glorify him. We might paraphrase it like this:

"God look at what I did while I was here on earth. I did what you sent me to do. I took care of those you gave me and I gave you the glory. Now it’s up to you and the men and women you gave me. I’ve done everything that I can, everything that you asked me to do."
God the Father gave His son Jesus a mission. In Nazareth, Jesus declared that mission at the beginning of his ministry when he read from Isaiah.

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."
For three years Jesus worked on this mission. He spent all his time with his disciples. He invested himself into them. And then he sent them out. Now, at the end of his earthly ministry, he was going where they wouldn’t be able to see him. But he was giving them a mission. And that mission was to continue his. So he did the only thing that he could at this point, he prayed for them.

This prayer in John 17 is for you and for me too. We are called to continue Jesus’ mission. We are called to continue to give the glory to God. That’s not an easy thing to do in our society and culture. It’s becoming less friendly towards Christian beliefs and morality. It’s becoming more a society of self-glorification - a society where you do a dance to bring attention to yourself.

How will you respond to Jesus’ prayer for you? Will you do a touchdown dance for yourself or give him the glory? Will you continue his mission?

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2017%3A1-8&version=NIV;TLB
http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/niv/John.17.1-John.17.8