What comes to mind when you hear the phrase, “faith can move mountains?”
My guess is that most people take that phrase to mean something similar to the following: “With enough faith, I can overcome, or even remove, the obstacles of life.” It is this type of theology that underpins those catchy coffee mug slogans titled, “faith can move mountains.”
It is true that our faith in Christ helps us endure life’s difficult circumstances. With faith centered on Christ’s atoning work, I can look past my current struggles to the immense hope that awaits beyond this life. But such faith does not remove the proverbial mountains of life. If anything, the Bible reminds us that life will be difficult, not easy. That’s just part-and-parcel of life in a fallen world.
The point is, when Jesus speaks of “faith that moves mountains,” I believe he is revealing something much more theologically profound than what your typical cup of joe might indicate. Take for instance, Jesus’ words from Mark 11:
“23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” Mark 11:23-25
When Jesus spoke these words, he was speaking to his disciples and he was referring to a specific mountain. Notice that he said, “this mountain.” He wasn’t alluding to some metaphorical mountain in the future, he was speaking of a mountain that he could point to and say, “this mountain.” Which mountain was he speaking of? In the context of Mark 11, the closest referent is the temple mount, the mountain on which the Jewish temple was built.
Jesus has just left the temple after the famous “cleansing of the temple.” In what many scholars call an “enacted prophecy,” Jesus vividly prophesied the coming end of the temple and its sacrifices. Everything that Jesus does—overturning the money tables; driving out worshipers; preventing people from carrying vessels through the temple—grinds the temple operations, including the sacrifices, to a halt. In the mold of an Old Testament prophet, Jesus was announcing God’s impending judgment upon second-temple Judaism for its failure to produce spiritual fruit for the kingdom of God (Mark 11:12-25).
Keep in mind that the temple was the centerpiece of Judaism. The Jews believed the temple was the primary place to worship God and to seek God’s forgiveness. They believed prayers in the temple were more effective than prayers offered elsewhere. That’s why you still see Jews praying on the site of the temple today in Jerusalem.
But Judaism had devolved into lifeless religiosity that failed to bear fruit for God’s kingdom. In effect, rather than being a place of true worship where people found forgiveness, the temple had become one giant mountain separating people from God. Therefore, the temple, and all that it represented, was soon to come under God’s judgment. But while God would destroy the temple, he would also make a way for all people to access and worship him through faith in the sacrificial death of Jesus.
In this way, the theological implications of Mark 11 become far more profound. Jesus is announcing that a time is soon coming when the true worshipers of God—those who seek God by faith in Christ—will worship God, pray to God, and find forgiveness from God anywhere in the world. For all intents and purposes, the temple and the mountain on which it rests, will no longer separate man from God. Well, at least for those whose faith is in Christ alone.
So, the next time you sip your cup of joe wondering if you have the faith to overcome life’s proverbial mountains, keep in mind that by virtue of your faith in Christ, the most important “mountain” has already been removed. Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection has secured for you God’s forgiveness, a vibrant relationship with God by which your prayers are always heard, and an unshakable promise of life eternal. Christ Jesus has removed every potential mountain separating man from God.
Now, the question becomes: do you have the faith to move mountains?