Mountain Moving Faith

There is a scripture that has troubled me for many years, and I suspect it has likewise troubled many others as well, when Jesus talked with His disciples and explained how they could, "...have whatever they asked in prayer..." if they believed, and "doubted not", in their hearts. Why, they could even have "Mountain Moving Faith", if they simply "doubted not". For years this has been interpreted by many to mean we could speak to any mountain, and frivolously command it to be, "lifted up, and cast into the sea", as Jesus said, in Matthew 21:21, but if it didn't happen immediately before our eyes, then the logical conclusion must follow that we must not have enough faith. But, a simple examination of what Jesus said, and the context, and setting of where He was when He said it reveals a whole different aspect of this truth.

This story is told in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and a bit more briefly in John's Gospel, in conjunction with the story of Jesus' triumphal entering of Jerusalem, which we celebrate today (and call it, "Palm Sunday", for all the Palm fronds that the people laid in His pathway as He rode upon the foal of a donkey (I suspect this was a traditional way of honoring the arrival of someone, by covering up the filth of the roadway so that even their animals would not step on the filth). The account tells of His arriving in Jerusalem, spending the day there, and then returning to Bethany, to spend the night (so as not to be easily arrested, in Jerusalem, by the Jewish leaders, whom Jesus knew were filled with jealousy at His presence).

The next morning, He, and His disciples returned to Jerusalem, and along the way He saw a fig tree that caused him to see if there were some figs on it that they could eat. His disappointment at finding none caused Him to "curse" the tree, saying, "May you never bare fruit again." As the tree apparently withered away immediately, His disciples remarked how quickly this all came to be. This is the context in which Jesus said, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, (one of the smallest herbal seeds) you will say to THIS mountain (italics added) 'be lifted up, and cast into the sea', and it will be done."

Is this meant to condemn us for doubting that we could go around casting mountains into the sea, or was Jesus referring to some deeper meaning, unspoken at that time? I am reminded of a description, in the Old Testament book of Zechariah, chapter 14: verse 4, where the prophet speaks of a time when "the Lord" (who had not even been revealed to that generation, yet) will, "stand on the Mount of Olives...and the Mount of Olives shall split in two from the east to the west...so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward." Some translations add that some of this mountain shall be cast into the "former sea" (the Mediterranean Sea???), and half into the "Latter Sea" (the "Dead Sea", or the "Arabian Sea", which flows into the Indian Ocean???).

When one considers this, they can easily see how Jesus would compare the faith required to believe this with a small seed, because this is a fundamental tenant of His prophecies of His second coming. One either believes it, or not, along with the rest of the prophecy of His soon return, when he will judge the whole world for their belief in Him,... or not!

Remember, Jesus never said, " if you say to ANY mountain..." etc., etc. But, He said, "If you say to THIS mountain..."etc. And they were traveling on the road between Bethany, and Jerusalem, which went across the top of the Mount of Olives. So He was clearly referring to the Old Testament prophecy, with which His disciples would have been very familiar, and would have understood His meaning easily. So don't beat yourself up because you doubt that you have "Mountain Moving Faith", and can't go around casting mountains into the sea, just by speaking! I don't believe that's what Jesus was talking about. He was referring to our belief that the prophecies about His Second Coming were true, not that we could play magic games with the local topography!!!