Jesus on a Park Bench: Will There Be Sports in Heaven?
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Scripture says, in James 4:14, life is like a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
It also tells us, in Colossians 3:1-2, to “seek the things that are above” and “set your minds on things that are above.”
When you combine those verses, why isn’t there more focus on heaven in today’s evangelical preaching circles? Since we are here for a short time and told to think about heaven, shouldn’t we be talking about it?
We don’t have to be spot-on correct when we discuss aspects of heaven because there’s a purposeful mystery to it. And I’m not here to say Randy Alcorn, founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries and a New York Times bestselling author, was wrong when he said, in 2019, there will be sports in heaven.
“I would anticipate sports on the new Earth,” Alcorn said. “Sports without injuries, sports without jealousy, competition that is congenial, that’s friendly. I think we’ll be just as happy on behalf of another person who may win — if we’re playing tennis with them — than it would be if we had won ourselves.”
But I want to press deeper into the issue.
SPORTS ON EARTH
When you think about sports on Earth, consider the reason for their appeal. It’s easier to discuss in terms of specific examples, so let’s use golf and baseball.
Golf can be an ethereal experience. Walking on lush fairways or stepping on tender greens nestled a few steps away from a refreshing pond can make a person quickly forget the negative effects of a three-putt. The beauty of the landscape is often part of the game.
But let’s dig into the reason it can get our adrenalin flowing. The exhilaration of perfect contact can make the heart thump. In particular, let’s discuss a hole-in-one.
Full disclosure: I have no personal experience with a hole-in-one. However, I feel like I came close a time or two. Yes, my definition of “close” may differ from yours. One time I landed a shot on the green and watched it roll in the direction of the flag. I thought I might find the ball in the hole — but, alas, it had rolled past the cup and off the green.
Golfers may spend their entire lives dreaming of an ace. But the question is: What makes scoring a hole-in-one important to the person who gets it? Keep that question in mind as we move to the baseball example.
I confess. I’ve done it. Deep into a daydream, I hit a walk-off home run to win an important game. Of course there’s more to this Hollywood drama, and I’m just a pitcher who has to bat because there’s no one left to pinch hit for me.
Atlanta’s Rick Camp had this as a real-life experience in 1985. (If you don’t know, Google: “Rick Camp Game”).
But what makes these golf and baseball examples fascinating or important to us?
It’s because we can carry them with us. It becomes valuable as our history.
WHAT MAKES SPORTS MOMENTS GREAT?
Part of it is the fact it can’t be duplicated.
It can be repeated: Michael Jordan and others proved that to be true. But Jordan could not duplicate his 1991 NBA championship with the Chicago Bulls. The other five titles didn’t happen in 1991 when Jordan was 28 years old. The history surrounding the initial event made it different and memorable.
Like a hole-in-one or Camp’s improbable homer, the adrenaline rush comes from a feeling of success.
But it’s relative success.
Here’s why: If making a hole-in-one was a commonplace event, it wouldn’t be thrilling. If winning an NBA title eventually happened to every player in the league, wouldn’t the first one be less special than it is when a player doesn’t know if he will ever get one?
And if light-hitting pitchers routinely hit game-extending extra-inning homers, it may not even raise to the level of a shoulder shrug.
MORE THAN GAMES
It’s not simply competition that makes sports great.
Think about it like this: If Tennessee beats Alabama in football, it’s different than Tennessee beating, say, Kent State or Chattanooga. Why? If it was all about competition and the thrill came only from a win, the opponent shouldn’t matter.
But the opponent matters. Rivalry matters.
Back to the hole-in-one. Let’s say a golfer gets up early to meet buddies for nine holes one day, but he’s the only one who shows up at the course. On hole No. 3, the golfer squares up a 7-iron. One bounce, three rotations, and it disappears into the hole. Ace.
But there were no witnesses, no high-fives. And let’s say the golfer never tells anybody about the shot. Wouldn’t the event lose most of its meaning? The thrill comes from feedback (high-fives) and having a story to tell.
WIN-LOSS THEORY
Sports are based on winning and losing, which are only relevant according to how it affects the other team.
Sure, there can be team sporting events where no score is kept. But that removes the value of teamwork.
For example, if no score is being kept in a soccer match, what is the value of scoring? Where is the value in trying to stop the other team from scoring? If it doesn’t matter whether the ball goes into the net, why should it matter how many times it happens?
The point is sports are fun here on Earth because winners are typically lifted up. But on Earth, winners aren’t winners without losers. It’s like the old Wide World of Sports introduction: “ … the thrill of victory … and the agony of defeat.”
Would there be a thrill of victory without the agony of defeat?
What makes sports exciting is the thrill of winning, but also the fear of losing. And perhaps sadly, it’s also the excitement of having dominion over another person, team, or fan.
But without a potential negative outcome, it is no longer a sport. And what would a negative outcome look like in heaven? Would a person enjoy the negative outcome?
It’s not about being a good sport. Countless athletes have lost with class. But if they truly cared about winning, they lost with heartache and tears.
One thing we know about heaven is there will be no more tears. If you believe there will be sports in heaven, losing must be a whole lot more fun than it is on Earth.
The goal of sports is to be better than the opponent — to work harder or smarter, or, in team sports, more together. In heaven, will people try to be better than others?
Will there be undefeated sportspeople in heaven? Will there be winless sportspeople in heaven? Or will everybody continuously be .500? Would that even be sports?
For a counterpoint to Alcorn’s comment. If you’re happy on behalf of someone who wins, shouldn’t they be happy on behalf of you losing? When you add those together, does anybody care what the outcome was? We’re going to be “happy” either way, right? So what’s the point of playing? Or keeping score?
“I played tennis today.”
“How did you do?”
“I hit tennis balls with a racket and they went different places. There was another person at the court, and sometimes he hit balls back at me.”
SPORTS ARE FINITE
The tennis example by Alcorn brings up another subject. How long would a tennis match be in heaven? Would it be best-of-five for men and best-of-three for women, or the same for both?
And would there be officials to make calls? And could you argue a call? Would they use instant replay?
Yes, I know this is a rabbit hole, but that’s the point. When you theoretically take earthly things to heaven, it can be downright silly.
Also, sports in snapshots don’t have much appeal without context. For example, Jason Tatum scoring a basket for the Boston Celtics in a regular season game against the Portland Trail Blazers doesn’t have much meaning in and of itself. It only has meaningful context because of the Celtics’ history, their current place in the NBA standings, what the game means in terms of playoff value, etc …
Every moment in sports carries meaning based only on what happened before, and what may happen in the future. Would that translate to heaven? If I played for the Heavenly Kings basketball team and Tatum played for the Heavenly Angels, and my team beat his team, what value would it have the second the game finished? And would Tatum desire to beat me in the rematch?
Games finishing is also a troubling point for sports in heaven. Sports have a beginning and an end because there must be an outcome. Games are timed based on fitting into the world.
But in heaven why would a football game need to end? Nobody would get tired and need Gatorade. We wouldn’t need time for our muscles to heal. Alcorn said there would be no injuries, so with that in mind football games could go on forever.
I love watching football and would play in the NFL if I was physically able. But I wouldn’t want to play an eternal football game any more than I would want to strum a harp and eat clouds forever.
EQUAL PLAYING FIELD?
Sports are defined as activities involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.
The word “competes” brings in “striving to gain or win something by defeating or establishing superiority over others who are trying to do the same.” The word “exertion” encompasses physical or mental effort.
A lot of times sports victories are determined by which team has the most exertion. In heaven, will some people have the ability to exert more effort?
In other words, if I played golf in heaven against the best golfer there — whomever that may be — would I ever be able to out-drive, out-putt, or out-short game him or her? If I practiced long enough and hard enough, would I eventually get there?
Or would I simply spend eternity watching my drives bounce off trees while my opponent waits on the green for me to finish the hole? Would the same top-notch opponent want to play against me whenever I wanted to play? What if all of the preachers had the best tee times? Lol.
JESUS ON A PARK BENCH
Whenever I have truly competed in sports, here on Earth, I think I can say my focus has been on winning. What can I do to defeat my opponent? But in heaven, why would I be focused on such an earthly thing?
That’s why “Jesus on a park bench” is part of the title of this column. If all there will be in heaven is me sitting beside Jesus on a park bench, looking at God’s glorious new earth and hearing all of the stories referred to in John 21:25 that weren’t written in the Bible — count me in. Wholeheartedly.
Because for anybody who thinks they need sports, hiking, traveling, building, skiing, or whatever else in heaven, or they will be bored, I have one thing to say. Jesus, who made all things as it says in John 1:3, could never be dull or uninteresting to me.