FAITH TO MOVE MOUNTAINS

In Mark 11.23, Jesus tells his disciples that "if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him." Now, I've always thought that this sounds nice. Oh sure, Jesus, next time God wants me to singlehandedly move a mountain, I don't have to doubt. I can just do it!

The neat thing about this passage is that it is not simply an exaggeration. Jesus was using an illustration that the disciples would have recognized. Here's where a little historical information can illuminate the meaning of scripture for us...

King Herod was famous for building things. He built entire cities, places of worship, and most famously, he renovated the Jewish Temple. He also built some stuff for himself, including a vacation home on the top of a mountain which was visible from the Mount of Olives. In the process of building this palace, he actually had his construction crew remove the top of this particular mountain! King Herod moved a mountain.

Now, when Jesus tells his disciples that if they have faith in God, then they can move mountains, I can't help but think that either he was pointing to Herod's mountain or he at least had it in mind. If King Herod can physically move a mountain, then how much more can God's people accomplish through faith? What kind of mountains can we move through prayer? We can move much more than physical mountains. We can tackle things like world hunger, like the AIDS epidemic in Africa, like turmoil in the Middle East, like widespread Christian nominalism in America. All we have to do is believe and put our trust in God to the point of obedience, and God will work through us to bring about his kingdom. Am I an idealist? Maybe, but I believe that God works through one person at a time, slowly but surely revealing his goodness to humankind.