Big God, Small Mountains

Big God, Small Mountains

You could say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it would move. Matthew 17:20

JESUS AND THREE OF HIS DISCIPLES had gone “up a high mountain” (Matthew 17:1), where he appeared in supernatural splendor along with two ancient heroes of faith. It was an amazing experience, but like many amazing experiences in life, it was followed immediately by a problem. At the foot of the mountain, a man had brought his demonically oppressed son to the other disciples for help. Though Jesus had sent his followers on a mission to cast out demons on a previous occasion (Matthew 10:8), they weren’t having any success with this one. Their futility became a teaching moment, an occasion for Jesus to utter these astounding instructions about faith and words. Big mountains—and presumably the evil afflicting this boy—have to move in response to faith in God’s goodness and power.

Jesus taught essentially the same lesson on a road near the Mount of Olives, where he had commanded a fig tree to wither (Matthew 21:21-22). Several mountains were visible there, but his reference to “this mountain” likely applied, contrary to the speculation of many commentators, to the nearby Herodium, a man-made eyesore that Herod the Great had created to be his palace fortress and to glorify himself. That means that both times Jesus taught this lesson on the power of faith, prayer, and words, it was in the context of evil intrusions against his people. He was arming his followers with the means to overcome whatever the enemy tries to impose on them.

The bottom line is that we should refuse to be impressed by the size of our obstacles, the tactics of the enemy, and the power of evil agendas. Jesus was not emphasizing the size of faith nearly as much as the size of God. He had just come down from a “high mountain,” yet it was movable. He wanted us to see the absurdity of any perspective that makes mountains bigger than the Father. He wants us to see them as opportunities to showcase the Father’s goodness, not as problems that get in the way. Far too many believers let their mountains overshadow the power and presence of God rather than seeing them as proof of what he can do. We are told to reverse that perspective by faith. When we do, mountains begin to move.

Faith expects from God what is beyond all expectation.