Super Bowl Seating

This year’s Super Bowl tickets are bringing incredible prices. Resale on e-bay and in other ways is pushing tickets usually selling for $700 up to several thousand dollars—a ticket resold for $4,000 is not unusual. Some less-than-prime seats are advertised as "the worst seats in the house," yet cost at least $2,000. I noted one eager seat-seeker on the Internet who was offering up to $7,000 per seat for two to four tickets—that’s a total of up to $28,000. This year’s gridiron collision between the unbeaten New England Patriots and the "comeback kids" New York Giants will be a historic contest, but seat rental for a couple of hours is costing eager fans a fortune.

And merely sitting there is not the total expense of the Super Bowl visit. Hotel prices are about triple the usual cost, and a single night is probably not available. Other amenities are correspondingly raised. Think of it—a seat for an evening and a bed for a night could push people into the monetary stratosphere. Travel costs are on top of all that.

Some of these debts will probably be put on credit cards meaning people will likely be paying steep interest charges for a long time. Or, if the money is withdrawn from savings, the interest is lost. Some ticket purchasers may be somberly regretful when reality strikes in the off season. An empty feeling may set in when actions taken in the fever of the sports moment may prove the word of a preacher I once heard, "People are not satisfied, they are merely pacified."

The prophet Isaiah chided his people asking, "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy…?"(Isa. 55:2). Jesus Christ provides the best rest and seating in the universe. He invites, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matt 11:28-30). Hebrews 4:9 offers the perfect recliner, "There remains therefore a rest for the people of God."

Through Christ, believers have the best seating ever. From the frustrating quagmire of sin, we are elevated to sitting with the King as Ephesians 2:4-9 promises. "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (emphasis mine).

It’s a gift. There is no expense. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). That’s a free ticket to Heaven purchased by Christ’s precious blood.

God’s rest is permanent including free seating with Heaven’s King. Long after earth’s Super Bowls have faded from memory, all of God’s children saved by grace will be enjoying the benefits of royal living.

Dave Virkler