Matthew 4:8: “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.” (ESV)

Which high mountain in Israel did Jesus view all the kingdoms of the world from? We all know that even from outer space we can only see half of the planet, correct? The other side of earth is momentarily in darkness. There isn’t a mountain high enough to see all the kingdoms of the world. Wait! Maybe there weren’t as many kingdoms in Jesus era and he could actually have seen them. Nope. That won’t work either. Then how could this mountaintop experience actually occur? This seems like a very basic reading of Matthew’s Gospel yet we find ourselves struggling to make sense of Biblical statements which, perhaps, we’ve automatically filtered out.

Filtering material is what we do. Even if we’re reading modern or present day texts, we filter out what we don’t comprehend, and move on. It’s natural and expected. We try to understand what we can understand, quickly. The Bible isn’t modern literature, though. The Bible is its own language. The Bible is in a category all by itself. Consequently, Matthew doesn’t consciously intend to clarify every phrase or sentence for non-Greek readers. In other words, what you and I subconsciously filter out might in fact be light finding its way into a darkened room.

We find ourselves now asking what exactly happened when Jesus was led to a high mountain. We’ll try to answer that. Yet, the priority is to realize that reading Scripture requires insight which we often don’t possess. That isn’t to say that Scripture can’t give us answers. We just don’t come to Scripture with every Biblical tool in the toolbox. This is our point about filtering out the basics. For Matthew, it appears the themes and content he employs doesn’t come with a commentary in the margins. Everything is relatively “basic” for Matthew. Matthew doesn’t designate portions of his Gospel from basic to advanced as if there are elementary school portions and eventually doctoral portions. Similar to WWII history, anyone could spend a lifetime attempting to master Matthew’s Gospel. This shouldn’t prevent us from reading it, attempting to grasp it and eventually teach it, though. Instead, embracing these atypical verses (if there actually are any) should fuel us and remind us that we’re actually paying attention to Matthew, who, really does understand us that non-Jewish cultures will get strange first impressions about his incredibly artistic work.

Matthew ends his Gospel with Jesus on a mountain where Jesus claims that all authority in heaven and on earth have been given to him. Whereas, the devil claiming that he possessed any of these kingdoms to give was an obvious lie. Mountains aren’t foreign to the Bible. They’re significant. They symbolize different things, one of them being power. The Sermon on the Mount recalls Moses and the powerful theophany of Mount Sinai. Jesus is powerfully transfigured on a mountain. Jesus feeds on a shore in Matthew 14 and apparently also on a mountainside in Matthew 15:29. Commentators recognize Matthew drawing attention to seven mountain scenes paralleling Moses making seven trips up and down Mount Sinai. I’m still working on connecting these dots yet mountains are definitely intended to evoke Jesus’ unique relationship to God, and this is where the proverbial plane is supposed to land. We will filter out mountains if we believe they are trivial to Matthew’s Gospel or anywhere else in our Bibles. For Matthew, mountains are basic or fundamental settings for God and for Jesus.

By the way, mountains are high places. The Bible tells us that God lives in a high place (Isaiah 57:15). Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac in a high place on one of the mountains of Moriah (Genesis 22:2). This is not to be confused with idols which are set up in high places. Nevertheless, God’s heavenly rulership is brought down to us in the person of Jesus Christ. And, in Jesus we are made to sit in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). We’re being told that Jesus has accomplished what he set out to do, which is to install the kingdom of God on earth, to bring that which is recognized as high, near.

May we all take great comfort and assurance in the fact that God has come near to us in Jesus. This basic concept and this light, we must not filter out.