Water and Mountains (Part 1)
times of receiving and testing
Many significant events occurred on mountaintops in the Bible. God gave Moses the law. Abraham sacrificed Isaac. Noah’s ark came to rest on a mountain. Israel’s blessings and curses were shouted from mountains/ridges. Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount on a mountain. Mount Zion is a metaphorical mountain.
Many significant events in the Bible also took place on the water—Noah’s flood for instance. The Israelites walked through the Red Sea and the Jordan River. Jesus calmed sea storms. Baptism symbolizes the washing away of our sins and our death with Christ.
The other day, I discovered a series of water and mountain events in Matthew chapters 14-17. That naturally led me to ask some questions. Why does Matthew mention Jesus going up a mountain again and again? Who cares that he’s on a mountain when he does this next miracle? Does it really matter? Does it matter that Jesus crossed a body of water for the next set of teachings? Here he is crossing a body of water again. Why is he going back and forth, back and forth? His travel agent needs to be fired.
If Matthew was inspired to arrange the story of Jesus’ life in this narrative, then it seems like he’s saying something through these water and mountain references. So, this is my first attempt to make sense of these chapters of scripture about several repeated themes in Matthew 14-17 and then 18-20.
Symbols
The repeated symbols that I’ll be tracing through Matthew 14-17 are:
Water, rivers, storms, boat rides, & washing references
Mountaintop experiences
Bread references
Healings
Suffering and dying references
These references seem to be tied to the following themes:
Water = times of testing &/or cleansing of the heart. Think baptism or think Eph 4:14 “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.”
Mountains = the feeding and healing of God’s people through revelation and nourishment. Think Isaiah 2:2-3, 25:6, 29:8 and various references to Mount Zion as the place where God is
Bread/feedings = living off of Jesus or passing on Jesus’ life and teachings to others
Healings = Healings could symbolize several things. They could be demonstrations of the power of one’s faith, Jesus setting people free from spiritual illness, or Jesus’s message causing whole-body healing.
Suffering & dying = the way Jesus and the disciples rule, reign, and are glorified
Please remember that the symbolism of the above events doesn’t mean that these events didn’t happen. Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, but Jesus also used this story to talk about his death and resurrection. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Matthew collected and arranged events from Jesus’ life deliberately. When Matthew repeats things again and again, it seems like he’s trying to draw our attention to something.
Because the summary of these chapters are quite lengthy, I’m dividing this study into several blogs to be released on Tuesdays for the next few weeks. Hope you enjoy this analysis as much as I did!
Click the link after next week to read more.