Moving Mountains
Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.� (Matthew 21:21-22, NRSV)
Jesus’ comments in these two verses are a response to the disciples astonishment at the way a fig tree Jesus cursed had immediately withered away. Not only that, this incident happens soon after Jesus had come close to causing a riot in the temple as He drove out “money changers” and overturned the tables. Might these two things be linked?
It has to be said that Jesus’ words about saying to a mountain to “be lifted up and thrown in the sea” are a little odd. Clearly He is not speaking in literal terms (though of course nothing is impossible with God), but neither does it seem to be a random reference to any personal problem any of us may face (as it has often been interpreted). So what is Jesus saying?
I wonder whether the “this mountain” that Jesus mentions was a reference to the Temple. Jesus had, after all, just condemned the Temple through His previous actions and later on predicts its actual destruction (which occurred in 70AD). The Temple was supposed to be the means by which people could draw near to God and have their sins atoned for through animal sacrifices. Sadly though, the Temple had come to be more about keeping people away from God and a barrier to God’s kingdom purposes. This was a mountain that needed to be removed. What the Temple had given as a foretaste was now being fulfilled by Jesus.
So how then does this passage apply to us today? I believe we find the answer to that question when we consider what the obstacles are to people drawing near to God today. Have we established religious traditions that are actually keeping people out rather than drawing them in? Have we made any physical things of greater importance than God Himself? It is a sad truth that one of the major objections people have to the Christian faith is not the person of Jesus but the church. We need to use the prayer of faith to bring these mountains tumbling down and prepare the way for God’s kingdom to extend to all peoples.
April 24th, 2005 at 6:39 am
That’s an interesting perspective on the ‘mountain’. Of course, God refers to the temple as a ‘mountain’ in Isaiah 2. I also like your thoughts on our traditional (but unnatural) barriers.
The post modern mind set really seems to like Jesus, though they don’t seem to think much of Christians, so obviously we are missing something and need to rethink ourselves. It does seem very fitting to me, however, that Jesus Himself is the natural bridge to getting things right again — even in the eyes of the unsaved.
Keep up the good writing, I’d like to check in again soon.