The Super Bowl was played last Sunday in Jerry Jones $1.2 billion palace. Most people were amazed at this venue for a football game.
The NFL wanted to make it the largest crowd ever to see a Super Bowl game live. For that reason they put in a lot of temporary seats to bring the seating capacity to over 105,000. They also sold $200 tickets to watch the game on video screens that were set up outside the stadium.
But not everybody was impressed with the new stadium. About 1,200 people discovered that they had paid a lot of money for airline tickets, hotels, and tickets to the game, only to discover that their tickets to the game were no good. They had tickets in the temporary seating, and the Fire Marshall said that those seats were unsafe.
There was a chain reaction of placing the blame for the failure to have the seats secure. Was it a lack of planning on the part of the NFL, the stadium employees, or the ice and snow storm that kept workers from finishing the job? I like what one commentator said, “It was greed.”
It must be extremely disappointing to buy a ticket to an important event, then to discover that the ticket is no good. They did find some standing room places in the stadium for a few of them, and offered to let some watch the game on monitors or on one of the outdoor television screens. That is not exactly what people who had spent thousands of dollars expected.
The NFL did offer to give a check to the ticket holders for triple the amount of the face value of the tickets. Since the tickets were $800, the fans would receive $2,400. One of the fans had actually paid $3,000 for his ticket, so he said he was losing $600 just on the ticket – not counting the airfare, hotel, food, etc.
In life we “buy a ticket” for what we receive every day. Sometimes we pay a lot for a ticket to something we think we want, then discover the ticket doesn’t work. It may be disappointing to have a bad ticket for the Super Bowl – it’s really sad to buy into a philosophy of life that is a total bust. There is only one guaranteed commitment that you can count on – that is the Christian faith. Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
There are a lot of advertisements of how a person can enjoy life. They involve the accumulation of things, the use of certain products, achieving a certain life style, working extra hard to make extra money – the list goes on and on. There is only one genuine guarantee and that is in Jesus Christ.
This concept goes much further when it comes to eternal life. Some things might help you have a little temporary fun in this life, but when it comes to eternal life only faith in Jesus Christ is valid. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6)
I really look forward to seeing the stadium in Dallas some day. I hope the ticket I get will be a good one.
I am a thousand times more excited about seeing what God has prepared for me in heaven. I know that my ticket has been paid for by God’s son Jesus Christ with His death on the cross, and then validated by His resurrection and my acceptance of His grace.
In fact I don’t have to worry about being in temporary seating – it’s an eternal seat that exceeds a million times the finest luxury boxes in Cowboy Stadium! Paul writes, “eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has entered into the heart of man all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” (I Corinthians 2:9)
Valid tickets are important when going to a football game, and in life. There is no need for any of us to be disappointed. Snow storms, nor inefficiencies, nor greed will ever hamper God’s plan for each of us.
Do you have the valid ticket?
