A potter in the city of Tiberias used to carry fresh water every day to the home of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish — the great sage known as Reish Lakish, whose learning was matched only by the size of his appetite and the fire of his temper. One day the potter stopped at the door and set down his jar. He was tired of carrying water for nothing, he said. He would not carry another drop unless Reish Lakish prayed that the potter should be with him in the world to come.
Reish Lakish smiled. He had no trouble promising the prayer, but he adjusted the terms. "I will pray," he said, "that you be placed among my own companions in Gan Eden." The potter took up his jar and resumed his deliveries, satisfied.
Rabbi Pinchas taught a parable on the same theme. A king once invited many guests to dine with him, and each was seated according to the chair he brought with him from home. Those who had labored to prepare a seat sat in places of honor. Those who arrived empty-handed stood at the back. So it is with the world to come. We do not arrive at God's table and find our place assigned by lottery. We bring the seat we have built over a lifetime of mitzvot, and we sit on the chair our own hands made.
Gaster's Exempla of the Rabbis (1924, No. 195) places the two stories side by side. The potter's water earns him a companion's place. The parable of the king reminds everyone that the seat at the banquet is made out of deeds, not hopes.