A Mountain Out Of A Molehill Series

Basil Matthews tells of being in a little Arabian village and seeing a tall Arab boy playing a flute

in the dusty streets. He was surprised and asked the boy if he could examine the instrument. He

discovered it was made out of an old gun barrel. The boy had found it on a nearby battlefield. He

had filed it down, drilled holes in it, and out of a weapon designed to inflict misery he created a

instrument of music.

Creative people are always taking something worthless and turning it into something worthwhile.

Many can take trash and junk and turn it into trinkets and jewelry. No one can match the creative

ingenuity of Jesus, however. He can even make a mountain out of a molehill. We are using an old

cliche in a positive way when we say this, for we mean that He can take something minor and

minute and turn it into something major and magnificent.

Ordinarily this saying is used as a negative remark about those who turn trifles into tragedies,

and who exaggerate minor miseries into monstrous malignancies. Every gas bubble is made into a

bleeding ulcer; every minor pain is the onset of cancer; every storm is expected to be a rerun of Noah

and the Ark. The worry wort and the hypochondriac are experts at making mountains out of molehills,

but very few can persuade themselves to appreciate this awesome ability because it is all

negative. There is a positive side to this cliche, however. G. K. Chesterton points out that if you can

see the tremendous in trifles, and find wonder in the commonplace, then you are making mountains

out of molehills, and he can think of no more productive form of manufacture.

When we look at the life of Jesus we discover He was a Master at making mountains out of

molehills. He was always finding the sublime in that which was simple. He used the insignificant

over and over for the basis of inspiration. A poet put it-

He saw the world in a grain of sand,

and Heaven in a wild flower,

Held infinity in the palm of His hand

and Eternity in an hour.

You will search the Scripture in vain to find Jesus speaking of the 7 wonders of the world. The

common people heard Him gladly because He spoke of commonplace things. All of His illustrations

were from everyday life that all men were familiar with. He spoke of the birds of the air; the lilies of

the field; the grain white unto harvest; the sheep and the shepherd, the fishermen and his nets,

women baking, men plowing, and all the commonplace facts of life. Ninety nine per cent of all

Jesus said was plain bread and butter talk. When He came to the last night of His life in the flesh He

did not change His life style. In fact, if it is possible, He specialized even more in life's

commonplace basics. He took a towel and a basin of water to wash His disciples feet, and that is

about as commonplace and down to earth as you can get. Now we want to examine His instituting

the memorial by which His church will remember Him all through history, and again we see His

love for simplicity.

He does not leave to his church some elaborate ceremony with complex ritual that only the well

trained could participate in, but instead he takes a cup and he takes bread. Cup and bread, no big

deal. The lowliest peasant has a cup and some bread. The condemned prisoner in the dungeon has

his cup and bread. What kind of memorial is this for a king? Look at the Washington, Jefferson,

and Lincoln memorials, and then you will see honor. For Jesus there should be a crown with

glorious jewels, and a long shiny jewel-studded sword, or at least something that is lasting.

Anything but a perishable piece of bread that can be thrown to a dog, or left to mold and decay in a

day.

What madness is this? A king whose hand can grasp the constellations, and he takes a cup. A

Master whose marvels and miracles could astound the world, and he takes a piece of bread as the

basis for his memorial. Where would the Pharaohs be today if they had taken a piece of bread and a

cup instead of building the majestic pyramids? They would have been forgotten completely. Jesus

does not want His disciples to forget Him either, but He does not insure their remembrance with

anything elaborate or complex. If He can build a perpetual memorial to His name out of these

commonplace things, then He is making a mountain out of molehill, and turning the trivial into the

tremendous.