Moving Mountains

Read Mark 11:20-25

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. –Mark 11:22-23

There’s a special title that was given to the greatest rabbis of Jesus’ time: Oker Harim. It means “one who moves (or uproots) mountains.” This title was reserved for those who were exceptionally skilled at interpreting difficult texts or whose reasoning could explain the most difficult questions of faith. Their teaching was such that they “uprooted the obstacles” that blocked people’s faith.

When Jesus told his disciples they could “move mountains” by their faith, it would have been understood that he was not speaking about literal mountains. He was employing this well-known Jewish idiom, and the disciples would have understood that he was talking about overcoming obstacles in life. The key, Jesus said, was to have faith—to not “doubt in their heart but believe.”

This is not the first time the issue of faith and doubt has come up in Mark‘s Gospel. Recall that Jesus could do few miracles in Nazareth “because of their lack of faith” (Mark 6:5-6). Or remember the boy that Jesus and the disciples met when they came down from the mountain of transfiguration (Mark 9:14-27). When the father asked Jesus for help, he could not keep the note of doubt from his request: “If you are willing…” Picking up on this doubt, Jesus assured him: “Anything is possible for those who believe!” (9:23). When the disciples asked why they could not remove the evil spirit, Jesus explained: “This kind can only come out by prayer.” (9:29)

So again, as Jesus and his disciples passed by the tree he had cursed the previous day, Jesus reminded them of these lessons of prayer and faith. The disciples were amazed to see the tree wither, but Jesus wanted them to remember that anything was possible with faith. If they believed, they could overcome any obstacle in their way. They could bear fruit even in the face of withering opposition.

Then Jesus added an additional teaching, a second conditional sentence about prayer: When you pray, if you hold a grievance against your brother or sister, forgive them so that the Father may forgive your sins as well. Jesus named here a second obstacle to the life of faith. Just as doubt will keep us from living freely as God desires, so will the burden of bitterness. If we hold onto the debts that others owe us, we will not experience the forgiveness that the Father offers.

In the early 60s, doctors performed the first successful heart bypass surgeries. (The first successful surgery took place in 1960, but the procedure was not fully standardized and accepted until 1967). It is a marvel of modern medicine that an artery that is completely blocked can now be bypassed. The obstacle that keeps oxygen from reaching our heart can be removed.

Yet how many of our hearts are still blocked by the obstacles of doubt and bitterness? On our own, we are unable to move these mountains. But thank goodness, we worship and follow an Oker Harim, a mountain-mover who can remove the obstacles of hurt and doubt, in order to restore the life that God made us for.

So take a moment today and reflect on the quality of your own prayer life with God. Do your prayers flow freely in faith and trust? Or is there some obstacle blocking your relationship with God? How long has that obstacle been present, and what has been its effect on your spirit? Listen again to Jesus’ promise: Our Father is ready and willing to remove the obstacles in our way. We just have to be willing to trust and surrender them into his hands.

You know, O God, the obstacles that are in my life and in my heart. Remove, O Lord, the things that keep me from freely trusting You. Remove the bitterness that keeps me from fully loving my brother or sister. May my life flow in ceaseless praise. Amen.