Mountains – heavenly meeting places

In Switz­er­land, moun­ta­ins are omni­pre­sent. They are all around us. But even in our own lives the­re are pro­ver­bi­al moun­ta­ins whe­re we are stuck and don’t know what to do. We also encoun­ter moun­ta­ins in the Bible, and God often comes into cont­act with peo­p­le on moun­ta­ins. On the moun­ta­ins, hea­ven and earth touch. Jesus Christ hims­elf often went up moun­ta­ins and met God the­re. Whe­re­as in the past the Israe­li­tes had to go on pil­grimage to Jeru­sa­lem to Mount Zion to meet God, this is no lon­ger neces­sa­ry today. We can get in touch with God everywhere.

My wife and I have been living in Seen­gen for just under a year now and now for just under three weeks with our son Hosea. We have sett­led in well in the See­tal and also find the natu­re very beau­tiful. When the wea­ther is nice, you can even see a few moun­ta­ins in cen­tral Switz­er­land. Nevert­hel­ess, the pan­ora­ma from here is quite dif­fe­rent from what I’m used to at home. I grew up in the Aare val­ley bet­ween Bern and Thun. From the dining table and the kit­chen at my par­ents» house, you have an unrest­ric­ted view of the Eiger, Mönch and Jung­frau. Last Satur­day we were at a wed­ding in Thun and I rea­li­sed again how clo­se the moun­ta­ins are the­re com­pared to here. I used to see the moun­ta­ins prac­ti­cal­ly every day. For the last three weeks I have also seen moun­ta­ins every day – moun­ta­ins full of nap­pies. In the Bible we also come across some lines and sto­ries that take place around and in the moun­ta­ins. Today we want to look at moun­ta­ins in dif­fe­rent ways.

Mountains in your life

What comes to your mind when you think of moun­ta­ins? Are you like me? How do you rela­te to the moun­ta­ins? Alt­hough I grew up clo­se to the moun­ta­ins, I am still very com­for­ta­ble in the low­lands. I find the moun­ta­ins fasci­na­ting. For a while I used to go jog­ging along the Aare from Wicht­rach to Mün­sin­gen. The Aare is sur­roun­ded by a forest on the left and right the­re. At the Mün­sin­gen swim­ming pool the­re is a bridge that cros­ses the Aare. I always took a break the­re and stret­ched a litt­le. I did this for a reason, becau­se from the­re you have the best view of the moun­ta­ins. Or rather, of a moun­tain. Blüem­li­salp emer­ges like a cut-out abo­ve the water. The Blüem­li­salp is a very wide moun­tain and even in sum­mer it is still full of snow. This sight was unbe­lie­va­ble to me every time, and so Blüem­li­salp is my favou­ri­te moun­tain to this day. But moun­ta­ins are not only beau­tiful to look at, they also form a natu­ral bar­ri­er. Be it with regard to the wea­ther, but also an obs­ta­cle that can­not be over­co­me so easi­ly. Moun­ta­ins can thus offer a natu­ral pro­tec­tion. On the other hand, alt­hough moun­ta­ins are actual­ly dead mat­ter, they are very frigh­tening. The­re are count­less dan­gers such as ava­lan­ches, bould­ers and fal­ling stones. Espe­ci­al­ly in com­bi­na­ti­on with a thun­der­storm, it can quick­ly beco­me a dan­ge­rous and even dead­ly combination.

In Switz­er­land, more than 100 peo­p­le have lost their lives in the moun­ta­ins every year sin­ce 1984. This does not include peo­p­le who have an acci­dent while doing extre­me sports. Alt­hough moun­ta­ins are not wit­hout dan­ger, they exert a tre­men­dous fasci­na­ti­on on us. Alt­hough moun­tain clim­bing for lei­su­re has only increased sin­ce the 18th cen­tu­ry, moun­ta­ins were clim­bed much ear­lier. Ötzi, for exam­p­le, died in the moun­ta­ins about 5300 years ago; he was pro­ba­b­ly fle­e­ing and sought refu­ge the­re. This fasci­na­ti­on and respect for the moun­ta­ins can also be found in the Bible. «I look up to the moun­ta­ins – whe­re will my help come from?» (Psalm 121:1 NLB).

I like to go to the moun­ta­ins from time to time, but I always feel very good when I make it back to the flat­lands. But the­re are not only phy­si­cal moun­ta­ins, but also sym­bo­lic moun­ta­ins that can be encoun­te­red. For exam­p­le, the­re is the col­lo­quial expres­si­on «a moun­tain full». As I said, the­re is a moun­tain full of nap­pies at our house at the moment and if our son was­n’t so small, the­re would also be a moun­tain full of laun­dry. Dif­fe­rent things in our lives can be per­cei­ved as moun­ta­ins. As things that are an insur­moun­ta­ble obs­ta­cle. The­se are per­so­nal­ly very chal­len­ging. The­re are dif­fi­cul­ties that come again and again and that can be very absor­bing. What moun­tain are you curr­ent­ly facing in your life? How big and immo­v­a­b­ly hea­vy does it seem?

Mountains – where heaven and earth touch

Peo­p­le have not only clim­bed the moun­ta­ins sin­ce time imme­mo­ri­al, but they have also often built shri­nes on the moun­ta­ins. No mat­ter what reli­gi­on the shri­nes belong to, the most beau­tiful and often most important ones are loca­ted on hills or moun­ta­ins and are thus visi­ble from afar. Some of them are very dif­fi­cult to access, which in turn offers some pro­tec­tion, while others are very remo­te and the sur­roun­dings offer the neces­sa­ry peace and quiet to get in touch with the saint. But one of the main reasons is cer­tain­ly that hea­ven and earth meet on the moun­ta­ins. The space that peo­p­le inha­bit, the earth tou­ch­es the space whe­re the sacred, the divi­ne dwells. This crea­tes a mee­ting place on the moun­ta­ins. On the sum­mit of a moun­tain, one is clo­se to the unknown.

In the Bible, too, God often meets peo­p­le on moun­ta­ins. I would like to high­light one sto­ry from the Old Tes­ta­ment in par­ti­cu­lar, which descri­bes such an encoun­ter with God on a moun­tain very cle­ar­ly. It con­cerns the pro­phet Eli­jah. He was cal­led by God to com­mu­ni­ca­te God’s mes­sa­ge to the kings in the nor­t­hern king­dom of Isra­el. This was any­thing but an easy and beau­tiful task. He had to go through a lot and was pro­ba­b­ly one of the most unpo­pu­lar con­tem­po­r­a­ri­es. Nevert­hel­ess, he remain­ed faithful to his mis­si­on, though he too had doubts. One day he came into the desert to the holy moun­tain Horeb and the­re he met God. As he hid in a cave, God began to speak to him. «Then the Lord said to him, «Go out and stand on the moun­tain befo­re the Lord, for the Lord will pass by». At first a vio­lent storm, which divi­ded the moun­ta­ins and bro­ke the rocks, came befo­re the Lord. But the Lord was not in the storm. After the storm the earth shook, but the Lord was not in the ear­th­qua­ke. And after the ear­th­qua­ke the­re came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the­re was a low whis­pe­ring sound. When Eli­jah heard it, he pul­led his cloak over his face and went out­side and stood in the ent­rance of the cave. A voice said: »What are you doing here, Eli­jah?» » (1 Kings 19:11–13 NLB). I can only vague­ly ima­gi­ne how this must have sound­ed on that moun­tain. It was cer­tain­ly mons­trous and frigh­tening. God cau­sed the­se natu­ral events, but he hims­elf was not in them. Only at the very end, in the whis­pe­ring of the wind, did God meet his pro­phet Eli­jah. For the Jews, Eli­jah was and is the grea­test pro­phet, along with Moses. Moses was also cal­led by God and even on the same moun­tain as Eli­jah met God. Moses was the lea­der of the peo­p­le of Isra­el. He went befo­re them and gave the peo­p­le the ins­truc­tions and orders on how they should live as God’s peo­p­le. This law is still valid for the Jews today. In con­trast, Eli­jah was a pro­phet at a time when the peo­p­le of Isra­el were divi­ded into two king­doms and when the peo­p­le no lon­ger lis­ten­ed to their God. The­r­e­fo­re, Eli­jah was sent to rebu­ke the peo­p­le and call them to turn back to God.

The enti­re New Tes­ta­ment revol­ves around one per­son – Jesus Christ. He was sent to earth by God in hea­ven so that peo­p­le might be recon­ci­led to God. Alt­hough he was the Son of God, he lived as a human being on this earth. Alt­hough he came from hea­ven, he lived on this earth. Many inci­dents of Jesus take place in and around moun­ta­ins. Again, I would like to high­light one in par­ti­cu­lar. Jesus took three of his disci­ples up a high moun­tain one day. «Sud­den­ly his appearance chan­ged. His face sho­ne like the sun and his clo­thes beca­me bril­li­ant white. All at once Moses and Eli­jah appeared and began to speak to Jesus. Peter exclai­med: «Lord, how won­derful this is! If you want, I will build three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Eli­jah.» But even as he said this, a bright cloud gli­ded over them, from which a voice spo­ke to them, «This is my bel­oved Son, in whom I delight. Lis­ten to him» » (Matthew 17:2–5 NLB). This encoun­ter on this unna­med moun­tain pro­vi­des the legi­ti­ma­ti­on for Jesus. In Eli­jah and Moses he encoun­ters the two most signi­fi­cant and out­stan­ding peo­p­le of the old coven­ant. Jesus sees hims­elf in line with the­se two. Yet he dif­fers from the­se two. While they were gre­at men of God, he is God’s bel­oved Son in whom he delights. Yes, in Jesus, what both of them had work­ed on is com­ple­ted. God’s glo­ry beco­mes visi­ble on earth. Jesus is the com­ple­ti­on of the pro­phe­ts and the law and fol­lows on from them. «Jesus ans­we­red: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind! This is the first and most important com­mandment. Ano­ther is just as important: Love your neigh­bour as yours­elf. All the other com­mandments and all the demands of the pro­phe­ts are based on the­se two com­mandments». (Matthew 22:37–39 NLB).

Encountering God today

But how can we meet God today in the face of gre­at insur­moun­ta­ble moun­ta­ins in our lives? We no lon­ger have pro­phe­ts like Eli­jah or gre­at lea­ders like Moses. Jesus Christ is also no lon­ger here to hold hea­ven and earth tog­e­ther. To ans­wer this ques­ti­on, let us once again dive into the text of Psalm 121. «I look up to the moun­ta­ins – whe­re will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made hea­ven and earth». (Psalm 121:1–2 NLB). The­re are two ans­wers in the­se ver­ses. First, it can be com­fort­ing to pray to God and know that he is the crea­tor of the who­le world, inclu­ding the moun­ta­ins. So not­hing is impos­si­ble for him and he can help me.

For the other ans­wer from the­se ver­ses, I have to go a litt­le fur­ther. At the time this text was writ­ten, the­re was only one place in all of Isra­el whe­re God could be met. This was the temp­le in Jeru­sa­lem on Mount Zion. The Israe­li­tes had some com­mandments and in order to make some­thing right with God, they had to come to Jeru­sa­lem and offer a sacri­fice the­re. The­re were media­tors the­re on the spot who hel­ped to make this right, the priests. This temp­le was God’s dwel­ling place on earth. It was the place whe­re hea­ven and earth came tog­e­ther. Here we often speak of the old coven­ant, which had the sanc­tua­ry in Jeru­sa­lem as its cent­re. So anyo­ne who wan­ted to meet God made a pil­grimage to Jeru­sa­lem. The city lies at 760 met­res abo­ve sea level and the­re are val­leys all around. So if someone went up to Jeru­sa­lem from the Dead Sea or from the Medi­ter­ra­ne­an, they would have to cover quite a distance in alti­tu­de. So when the psal­mist wri­tes, «I look up to the moun­ta­ins,» this also means the temp­le of God. The ques­ti­on that fol­lows is then mere­ly rhe­to­ri­cal. For the wri­ter knows exact­ly from whe­re his help comes. Hence the ans­wer in ver­se two. But through Jesus Christ some­thing new began. The new coven­ant is also spo­ken of here. This new coven­ant con­sists in the fact that it is no lon­ger neces­sa­ry to have a priest as media­tor. It is also no lon­ger neces­sa­ry to go on pil­grimage to an earth­ly fixed sanc­tua­ry to meet God. Through Jesus Christ, God’s bel­oved Son, God is very clo­se to every per­son who seeks Him. Thus, God can be encoun­te­red whe­re­ver one hap­pens to be, even if cer­tain places, such as moun­ta­ins, still have their spe­cial charm.

If you call yours­elf a fol­lower of Jesus Christ. Whe­re do you meet God? What places touch you and you come into cont­act with the Crea­tor of hea­ven and earth? If you are rather distanced from the who­le sto­ry with God, then I would like to ask you, whe­re do you seek rela­xa­ti­on from your moun­ta­ins? What or who do you look for when moun­ta­ins seem to crush you? God pro­mi­ses us that he can be found if we seek him. «For I know exact­ly what plans I have made for you, says the Lord. My plan is to give you sal­va­ti­on and not suf­fe­ring. I will give you a future and hope. Then when you call to me, I will ans­wer you; when you pray to me, I will hear you. If you seek me, you will find me; yes, if you ear­nest­ly desi­re me with all your heart, I will let mys­elf be found by you, says the Lord.» (Jere­mi­ah 29:11–14a NLB). When we fol­low Jesus Christ, God gives us his Holy Spi­rit. He wants to help us deal with the moun­ta­ins in our lives. May­be he also helps us to gain a dif­fe­rent per­spec­ti­ve and we rea­li­se that the­se moun­ta­ins are no lon­ger so threatening.

Possible questions for the small group 

Bible text rea­ding: Psalm 121:1–2; Matthew 17:1–21

1. What do you feel when you think of moun­ta­ins? Does your heart open up or does it sca­re you?
2. What are moun­ta­ins in your life? Are the­re any that you always put in front of you? Which ones seem insurmountable?
3. Have you alre­a­dy expe­ri­en­ced such a moun­tain moment whe­re hea­ven and earth met? How did it feel?
4. Do you under­stand the role of Eli­jah and Moses in rela­ti­on to Jesus Christ?
5. Whe­re do you encoun­ter God? Is the­re any place you espe­ci­al­ly love to meet God?
6. How do you seek God? Has he allo­wed hims­elf to be found by you?