On the mount

Lots of people are fond of mountains. Many spend a good part of their lives developing and maintaining a physical condition that allows them to accomplish the feat of reaching those hilltops. Some even travel around the world to climb mountains of different levels of difficulty.

Just in case, I am not one of those people. In my case, if I have to climb a hill for some reason, thank goodness for roads and motor vehicles.

 

But there is something else that piques my curiosity and it is how much mountains are mentioned in the Bible. There are mountains everywhere! According to an article I read, mountains are mentioned about 500 times. On the one hand, it is because mountains are part of the geography where biblical history takes place. But there is also an important connection between God and mountains.

 

We could think of Mount Sinai, the place where God gives the law to his people through Moses, or Mount Carmel, where Elijah faces the prophets and Baal, and obviously Zion, the mountain on which Solomon's temple would be built.

 

In the Psalms, we find multiple allusions to the mountains, but especially the so-called mountain of God. In Psalm 3: 4 "I cried to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy mountain." In 43: 3 “Send your light and your truth, let them guide me. May they take me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live. " And then in 24: 3 he asks the question “Who can climb the mountain of the Lord? Who can be in his holy place?"

 

We can see this idea of ​​the mountain as the place of God's presence, combined with this longing to be there.

 

Makes me wonder if there’s a relationship between that idea and the fact that so many people love to climb mountains. Are these people looking for something more than climbing a mountain? Is there a spiritual quest behind this hobby? Are they (whether they know it or not) seeking God too? 

 

In the Gospels, it is also on a mountain where Jesus sits to teach the famous "Sermon on the Mount", where he casts a vision about life in the kingdom of heaven, or as one author calls it "the beginner's guide to the kingdom of God”.

 

It was on that mountain where he spoke words like “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted; the peacemakers, because they will be called children of God; the pure in heart because they will see God”.

 

There he also said that we should love our enemies, to store our treasure in heaven, and to trust that, like a good Father, God knows our needs.

 

And it is later in the story that Jesus faces the power of evil in all its might: the unjust, violent and humiliating death on a cross. On a mountain. With his arms outstretched, nailed to a cross, he breathed his last.

 

It's easy to want to jump quickly to the next chapter and focus on the resurrection. But we need to meet him on that mountain first. It is there that we can face the reality that it was not just the Roman Empire that brought him there. His sacrifice had to do with the way humanity had strayed from God's original purpose (or in religious language: sin), and how Jesus absorbed the worst of the consequences of that.

 

At that moment, we are confronted with our complicity. But also with the extravagant love of God who was willing to forgive even the most terrible sin, out of love.

 

My friend Elías “Kimpy” Rodríguez (Old Songs for the New Year) has just released his new album called To Live On The Mount. The first single, titled On The Mount talks about just that.

 

I want to live on the mount

I need to count

Your wounds

That were inflicted by me

And you did not flee

But stayed

 

I want to live on the mount

Drink from the fount 

Of your grace

I need me not to forget 

That you will not let 

Me down*

 

It is on that mountain where we can know the love of God. Infinite grace that forgives us, but also transforms us. We discover that what happened on that mountain was not the end of the story. Neither the cross nor the grave could stop him. 

 

By overcoming the power of sin and death, Jesus opens the way to a new reality full of possibilities.

 

The mount of Calvary becomes the mount of victory, of life.

 

He continues to invite us to his mountain, to meet him, to live there. Wanna climb?

 

* You can (should) listen to the full album on all digital platforms. Also visit www.toliveonthemount.com and follow Old Songs For The New Year on social media