Jesus sat down

Ro Willoughby ponders some of the times when Jesus sat down, in her latest series for Bible Reflections for Older People, September–December 2024.

18 August 2024

Sit with Jesus

Maybe you are like me and since childhood you’ve loved sitting at the front on the top deck of a double-decker bus. In the 1950s, research was conducted into double-decker bus drivers and conductors. It was discovered that drivers were twice as likely to have a heart attack as their conductor colleagues. They sat for 90% of their shift, whereas conductors climbed about 600 stairs in a day’s work.

In Jesus’ time, people walked everywhere. While they could ride on a donkey, be carried in a cart or sail in a boat, there were no other forms of transport and they mainly walked. Jesus would have had dirty feet, blisters and splinters. Yet we are specifically told of the times he sat down – to eat, to rest, to be with people, to teach and tell stories, to sit upon a throne in heaven.

I’d like to invite you to sit down with Jesus and to learn from him. (All quotations from scripture are my own paraphrase.)

In the temple

Aged twelve, Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover. When his parents set off for home, Jesus stayed in Jerusalem. Realising he was missing, his parents rushed back and discovered him in the temple, sitting, listening to religious teachers, asking them questions. His anxious mother scolded him. But Jesus replied, ‘I had to be in my Father’s house?’
Luke 2:42–49

Most primary school teachers are on their feet most of the time – it’s a physically demanding job. Most public speakers stand to deliver their message – standing is a mark of authority. Preachers rarely sit down to preach. However, at the time of Jesus, any distinguished teacher sat down while his audience gathered around, sitting or standing, to listen intently.

Imagine the twelve-year-old Jesus sitting in the audience among the learned Jewish teachers. He becomes the centre of attention by his insightful questions and the answers he gives when questioned. The audience, turning towards him, is astounded by how he speaks. Maybe they are puzzled by what he means by his ‘Father’s house’. Clearly, he already knows who his Father is and has a deep understanding of his identity. It’s possibly 18 years before crowds gathered around again to listen to him.

To teach

In the synagogue, Jesus stood up to read the scroll of the prophet Isaiah: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He’s anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to set the oppressed free.’ He rolled up the scroll and sat down. All eyes looked at him intently. Then he said, ‘Today, this has been fulfilled!’
Luke 4:16–21

News spreads fast when a celebrity is coming to town. Crowds flock to see them. Even if a well-known speaker is coming to church, more people than usual will attend the service. Everyone knew Jesus was preaching in local synagogues. We can imagine them excitedly gathering on this sabbath day.

After Jesus reads from the prophet, he sits down to tell them Isaiah was speaking about him and what he’s come to do. They are delighted with his words. ‘He’s one of us, a local boy,’ they say. But as he spells out what that means, they turn against him. How dare he say he’s come not just for Jewish people but for everyone. How dare he remind them that God accepts everyone and that he is the promised one, come to save the world.

On the beach

Jesus’ disciples fished all night but caught nothing. At dawn Jesus, standing on the beach, told them where to throw their nets. They caught 153 fish. When they came ashore there was bread and fish, cooking over a fire. ‘Have some breakfast!’ Jesus said. No one dared ask, ‘Who are you? They knew it was him. Then he served them the bread and fish.
John 21:3–13

Jesus’ disciples saw him several times in his resurrected body. He turned up when least expected, especially on the first Easter day. On this occasion we might say he was acting normally, presumably kneeling or sitting by a charcoal fire, cooking breakfast for his hungry friends.

Only nothing is normal about this scene. He has appeared from nowhere at dawn and knows where to find his disciples. Somehow, he knows where a shoal of fish is just waiting to be caught. He’s already started cooking breakfast with food that has come from somewhere. Is he cooking bread and fish to remind his friends of how he’d fed the hungry crowd? What’s more, to his disciples there is something about him that is the same but different. They are in awe of him.

Job done

Previously, the priest stands, ministering day after day at the altar, offering the same sacrifices again and again. They can never take away sins. Jesus, our high priest, offered himself as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. When he’d cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honour at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.
Hebrews 10:11–12; 1:3

You arrive at the end of a day after working hard on something physically or emotionally demanding or a task that’s demanded a lot of brain power. What a relief to sit down. Job done. Maybe God felt something like that when he rested on the seventh day of creation. A good job, done very well.

The writer to the Hebrews suggests Jesus felt like that too. Before Christ, the guilt and shame that the people of God experienced over their sin was never totally wiped clean. Once Jesus had been killed, voluntarily taking on himself the sin of the whole world, no more sacrifices were needed. His single sacrifice can cleanse us forever. Job done. Jesus could sit down. Only he’s not sitting on any old throne but next to God, his Father in heaven