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Can Our Faith Literally Move Grandfather Mountain?

Some 15 years ago I saw a mountain moved into a valley. Sure as shootin’ I watched it happen. Highway 321 was being widened up from Lenoir, and previously the road went around a mountain just outside Blowing Rock near a fruit stand. Over several months I saw a group of workers move that mountain and put it in the deep gully nearby and even build the road over it. But it wasn’t done through a series of prayer meetings; they used gigantic earth movers to do the job. Did Jesus really say your faith can move mountains? He did say that, or something close to that, in Luke 17:6; Matthew 21:21; and Mark 11:23. So did Jesus literally mean those words? Turn in your Bible to Mark chapter 11.

Let’s examine the account in Mark’s Gospel since it is the earliest Gospel written. There are two things to keep in mind as we do this, and one question to ask. The question: Why on earth would you want to move a mountain? None of the disciples ever tried to move a mountain, as far as we know. The two things we must keep in mind are: (1) Whether this statement about moving mountains is hyperbole—an overstatement of the point—or if Jesus is speaking literally. (2) We need to look at the context; the surrounding verses. Beware of yanking a single verse out of its context; that often leads to making mountains out of molehills.

I think Jesus is taking a common saying about moving mountains (as when a Jewish teacher would try to teach a student and feel he is moving mountains), and applying it to our faith. I don’t think he meant we should go out and demand of Grandfather Mountain that it move to the coast.

Now the context. It takes place in the last week of Jesus’ ministry on earth, and he is teaching the disciples. He goes into Jerusalem, and on the way at Bethany he seeks figs on a fig tree and finds none and condemns the fig tree to die. He goes into the city and creates havoc in the temple, turning over the commercial stalls and such, and then leaves. Coming into town the next day, Peter remarks with amazement that the fig tree cursed the day before is now dead. Jesus doesn’t respond to Peter’s comment on the fig tree but instead speaks of faith. Put briefly, the fig tree incident is an acted out parable. Clearly Jesus knew there wouldn’t be any figs on that tree; it wasn’t even the season for figs, and he would know that, growing up in Palestine. He is making a point. Between seeking figs and the seeing the dead fig tree the next day, Jesus clears out the temple. The fig tree is obviously a symbol of the dead temple ritual system; God has sought true religion and found none; it is condemned. 

The point: Jesus is saying the old ritual law is dead; our faith is not in a system or a denomination but in God. Did you notice in the biblical account that Jesus does not say “have faith in rituals,” nor “have faith in prayer.” He answered Peter’s comment about the dead fig tree with “Have faith in God.” God can do anything, but so often he waits upon our faith, and it must be in God, not in our man-made systems.

Jesus is saying that it is impossible to exaggerate the power of faith in God. Notice that in verse 23 Jesus says that if the disciples have enough faith in God they can move “this mountain,” speaking of Mount Zion and the Temple Mount. I really doubt Jesus meant that literally; imagine the confusion. He is speaking of our relationship to God. The hyperbole, the overstatement in verse 23, is boiled down in verse 24: Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. This isn’t about moving mountains; it is about our faith in God. 

So, to sum up, is Jesus saying in verse 24 that we can get whatever we ask for in prayer? He sure is! But that calls for us to look at that difficult saying in our next Raccoon Theology. We as God’s children can absolutely get what we ask for in prayer.