Christ On Four Peaks – Brad Jersak

THE SCRIPTURES

Prophet: Micah 6:1-8
Psalm: Psalm 15
Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Biblical peaks, mountains great and small,
Rise as powerful symbols of our encounters with the Divine.
The Word of the Lord we’ve heard today through the Scriptures
give us a peek at four such peaks.

I. FIRST PEAK

THE COVENANT MOUNTAINS

Like us, the prophet Micah lived through the tumult of imperial obsessions with expansion.

Like friends we love, he experienced occupation, witnessed social corruption,
and wept over injustices—urban and rural.

He witnessed the fall of the northern kingdom
and pled with Judah to return to covenant faithfulness before its crash.

Today’s reading, Micah brings us to the mountains, hills, and foundations—
convened as God’s jury as he indicts his people for their crimes.

Why mountains?

They are not swayed by bribes or corruption, they are impartial.
But more than that, the mountains have always been witnesses and partners in God’s covenants, and Mount Sinai in particular looms on the historic horizon.

GOD’S CASE:

Yahweh lays out his argument, appealing to precedent:

“Remember!” he says. “Four waypoints…”

1. Remember Balak’s plot: Balak (literally, the Destroyer) knew he could not overcome God’s people by military might, so he commissioned Balaam,
“Defeat them with dark magic.” It did not work.

2. Remember Balaam’s counsel: Balaam (literally, the Devourer) could not overcome God’s people with witchcraft curses, so he advised Balaak,
“Seduce them into idolatry.” And it did work.

3. Remember the journey from Shittim to Gilgal: At Shittim, Israel “yoked itself” to the Moabite mountain god Baal‑Peor—inviting a plague that killed 24,000 souls.

4. Yet remember also Gilgal, where God opened the Jordan and renewed the covenant, proving faithful despite all their failures.

JUDAH’S DEFIANT REBUTTAL:

Dripping with sarcasm.

“What do you expect of us!?
It’s never enough for you, is it, God!
Would 1000s of rams satisfy your hunger?
Would 10,000 rivers of olive oil satiate your thirst ?
Would sacrificing our firstborn fill your big belly?
Come on! When is enough finally enough?”

GOD’S RESPONSE:

“NO. You KNOW what I TOLD YOU.
I have told you what I require.
Only this:

Justice, mercy, humility.
That’s what I want.
That’s all I want.”

Jesus will say,
“Do this and you will live.”

Samaria had chosen and fallen.
Judah would choose and fall.
Now WE are called to choose.
And the Mountains preside.

II. SECOND PEAK

THE HOLY MOUNTAIN

From that tense encounter, we join the Psalmist at the second peak,
to David’s Holy Mountain—
to Mount Zion,
the City of the Firstborn—
to the Tabernacle of David and Temple of Solomon.

Who belongs in that sacred space?

The blameless, the righteous,
Whose lives are just
Hearts are pure
Tongues are true
And whose promises count.
Whose handshake means something.
They don’t lie to themselves
Or to others
Or about others

They are generous and hospitable and utterly trustworthy.
Their house—that house—is built upon the rock.

By those standards,
David couldn’t build there.
And I can’t dwell there.
I don’t belong there.
I’m powerless to get there.
We all are.
Powerless.

But not helpless.

I lift my eyes up to the Mountain.
From where does my help come?
I know Someone.
We know Someone.

The Gospel reading took us to him on:

III. THIRD PEAK

THE MOUNT OF BEATITUDES

To mercy, justice and humility Incarnate.
To holiness, righteousness, and truth Enfleshed.

For the Beatitudes are an autobiography
unveiled in the character, the life, and the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The only holy one of Israel,
the new and fully human God,
whose death and resurrection were manifest
in every moment of his life
in daily surrender to his Father and ours.

Jesus, whose poverty of spirit, reveals the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus, who mourns for and with those who mourn,
Jesus the meek, whose inheritance we are,
Jesus whose hunger and thirst are filled in doing the will of his Father,
Jesus the merciful, the all-merciful, the especially merciful,
Jesus the pure in heart, Lamb without guile,
Jesus the peacemaker, minister of reconciliation, restorer of all,
Jesus the persecuted, the slandered the crucified.

HIS is the kingdom of heaven
HE is the comfort for those he mourns
HIS is the earth and all who live in it
HE fills the hungry with good things
HE showers us all with mercy
HE alone beholds his Father and reveals his face to us as
self-giving, radically forgiving, co-suffering love
HIS is the kingdom of heaven and
HIS resurrection life is freely given!

IV. The Fourth Peak

MOUNT CALVARY

That life, that ministry, lead us to the Epistle’s punchline peak,
the hill far away that tradition calls Mount Calvary

From East to West, we hear the Good News!
— from Cyril of Jerusalem, [Catechetical Lecture 13.4]
“For on Mount Calvary, where He was crucified, we are saved.”

— from Gregory the Theologian, [Oration 45 (On Holy Pascha)]
“He stretched out His hands upon the mount and embraced the world.”

— from Jerome, [Epistle 46.12]
“On Mount Calvary, the place of the skull, the Lord conquered death by death.”

— from Ambrose, [De Fide 5.3.42]
“On Mount Calvary, the mystery of redemption was accomplished.”

—from Paul:

“We preach Christ crucified…
It is because of him that we are in Christ Jesus,
who has become for us wisdom from God—
that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”

So finally, ultimately, it is Jesus Christ who stands on the four peaks and
beckons us to follow him into the sacred tent of meeting
that we know as Communion.

Amen.

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