As a child, I remember my mom wearing a necklace with a pendant on it. The pendant was a solid glass ball approximately ¾ of an inch across, and it contained a small, brown, mustard seed.
For I assure you: if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.
If we are in Christ, we can do impossible things through Him. Since I believe that, moving mountains with a small amount of faith has never seemed like a problem to me. But, the real question has always been the mountain.
What mountain was Jesus speaking of when he was trying to teach the disciples about great faith? In the Greek it says, “this mountain”, so Jesus must have been looking one. Some think it’s Mount Tabor, or possible Mount Herman. Bt a far more ominous mountain stood right in the path of Jesus and the Jewish people. The Herodium.
Herod was known for doing the impossible. He brought water to the desert by way of aqua ducts. He built marinas that housed larger boats than had ever been brought to the shores of Israel. Yet his greatest feat was in the building of one of his palaces.
If one looks southeast from Jerusalem on a clear, day you will see one of the palaces of Herod called the Herodium. Many believe he was buried somewhere within this massive complex crowned with hot and cold running water, amphitheaters, and intricate mosaics. But what makes it unique is the foundation of the complex is a manmade mountain.
Herod had big ideas, and I guess there was a mountain in the way of the view from his soon-to-be-built palace. Used to getting whatever he wanted, Herod ordered the manpower to cut the top off of it, using the lopped off portion as a base for his new palace. Pictures of the area still show a mountain with the top cut off sitting next to a mountain housing the palace complex for Herod.
Not one to waste manpower (especially when taken by force), Herod enslaved the Jewish people to build this great monument to himself. He had at his disposal unlimited resources and power at that time.
As Jesus stood at the base of Mount Tabor, he must have looked to the South, and used the mountain Herod had moved to teach His disciples a powerful lesson.
Where Herod needed the slave work of a nation, resources from taxation, and decades of time, the people of God can move a mountain instantly with just a mustard seed-sized faith in our all-powerful God.
The story makes a strong point when seen through the Savior’s eyes.
James and Cindi Runyon 