10-14-24 - Best Seats In the House

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

I often worry about where I’m going to sit. Back when I actually went to the movies, I’d be anxious about getting a seat that was not behind a tall person. At concerts, I want a seat with an unobstructed view and close enough to catch the band’s energy. If I’m going to a wedding or gala, I hope I’ll be seated with people I know and not in the “outer darkness” at the edges of the room. But it never occurred to me to worry about where I’ll be sitting in the afterlife: James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”

Now, their request may not have been about seating so much as jockeying for leadership positions, and they might not have been talking about heaven. They regarded Jesus as the Messiah who would liberate the people from oppression. By “In your glory” they may have meant after Jesus had won victory over their enemies and his group was in charge. Whatever they meant, it is clear they had their sights set on the future.

Jesus had more than a few things to say about people who try to get the best seats, whether at dinner parties or in glory. He usually reiterated the “those who want to be first will be last” principle of God’s kingdom and recommended that we select the least desirable seats, with the least desirable company. If we want to sit with him, that’s where we will find him.

We all want to know we’re going to be okay, secure, set; it’s human nature to want that. Yet Jesus invites us beyond our human nature to live into the divine life we have already received as his brothers and sisters. So what if, instead of seeking the better seats, we searched out the least desirable ones? I’ve been seated at “head tables” and it’s usually dull. What if I were to embrace meeting strangers on the edges of the room, or let others have the closer seats in the concert hall? Once upon a time, the back of the bus was where the marginalized were forced to sit – how about joining them there?

Wherever we sit, whether humble or exalted, we can be sure that we are sitting next to Jesus, on one side or another of the one who promised he would always be with us. There ain’t a bad seat in his house.

© Kate Heichler, 2024. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.