The Best Seat In Heaven Is Beneath You

2013-09-22 The Best Seat in Heaven is Beneath You

"Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left...." Mark 10:35-45

Can you believe apostles would ask a question like that?

But, when you think about it, seat selection's an important thing. 

Think how much time (and money) we spend getting the right seats on airplanes. 

Getting good seats at concerts. 

Think how hard the Mother Of The Bride works on table assignments for the wedding reception. 

Think about how treasured, how passed down as family heirlooms, season seats at Neyland Stadium used to be.

Where else do people stake out their seats? 

Maybe… church?? 

Do you ever notice how huffy other people get when you accidentally take their pew? 

Next time it happens, remember: there's always room in the front row.

Do you have a favorite seat in your home? 

Of course you do. 

It's where the cat is. 

Cats just know. 

Even animals have favorite seats.

There IS something about seats and where we sit.

We know it's not that important. 

But it IS important. 

To us. 

It's a silly thing, really. 

But where you sit says a lot. 

The people around you, the order and placement and seating arrangement. 

Remember in school when the teacher made you sit in alphabetical order and how horrible that was? 

Especially if your name is something like, Asbury, and you're always in the front row? 

Literally miles away from your friends, whose last names always begin with "W"? 

It's interesting, but almost every single time Jesus taught, the Bible says, he "sat down." 

That was the custom. 

A good teacher always sat down when saying something important. 

Even for Jesus, taking a seat was an issue.

So maybe we should cut the disciples some slack when they try to call shotgun. 

Here's the thing, though. 

If you're at a banquet, or in a palace throne room, it's no surprise who's going to be sitting in the seats of honor. 

Seats of honor are limited. 

Sometimes they come at a great price. 

There are very few questions when it comes to who's going to get them.

Jesus said, though, that we should seek out the seats of less honor. 

How many of those are there? 

Well, how many do you need? 

We can always pull out some old folding chairs with one short leg. 

Prime seating is limited. 

But general admission can always squeeze in a few more. 

And in unreserved seating, you never know who's going to be sitting beside you. 

It might turn out to be somebody amazing. 

Somebody fascinating. 

Someone you'd never have known if you held out for the table of dignitaries. 

Anne Lamott says, "I think we're all going to be really surprised at who's sitting next to us in heaven." 

Well, if even Jesus doesn't know the seating chart in heaven, if that's the way it works, then you can start being surprised right now. 

Where's the best seat in heaven? 

You might get there and think you've been assigned a seat that's beneath you.

Where's the best seat in this life?

It could be the one right beneath you.

Wouldn't that be heavenly?