Jesus' Use Of Mountains

Something the Synoptics, the fourth gospel, and Acts have in common is that they refer to Jesus' use of mountains. And we often see two or more of those sources referring to his using mountains in similar ways (to teach, to be with the Twelve, to be alone, to pray, etc.). For example:

Matthew 5:1
Matthew 14:23
Matthew 15:29
Matthew 17:1
Matthew 28:16
Mark 3:13
Mark 6:46
Mark 9:2
Mark 13:3
Mark 14:26
Luke 6:12
Luke 9:28
Luke 21:37
Luke 22:39
John 6:3
John 6:15
Acts 1:12

To appreciate the significance of these agreements among these sources, think of how easily one or more of them could have not commented on such issues or have had Jesus taking some other approach (preferring indoor rather than outdoor settings, fields rather than mountains, etc.). Jesus himself refers to praying in an indoor setting when instructing others about prayer, for example (Matthew 6:6). Or think of the book of Acts. There's a reference to Jesus' ascension from a mountain near the beginning, but there isn't much reference to making use of mountains afterward, not as much as in the gospels. And it's not as though the gospels' contexts surrounding mountains aren't present in Acts. Rather, Acts does refer to teaching, praying, wanting to avoid crowds, and such, but without so much use of mountains to do those things.

There are many references to mountains in Jesus' verbal communication (e.g., Matthew 24:16, Mark 11:23). His verbal references to mountains add credibility to what the gospels report about his interest in mountains in nonverbal contexts. However, other New Testament figures also say a lot about mountains (e.g., the many references in Revelation). My focus here is on Jesus' nonverbal practices. His comments about mountains increase the credibility of the reports about his nonverbal activities, but his comments aren't as unusual as those activities.

For many other examples of overlap between the Synoptics and the fourth gospel, including in lesser details often overlooked and nonverbal characteristics of Jesus, like what I'm focused on in this post, see here.

It might be objected that the fourth gospel refers to Jesus' use of mountains much less than the Synoptics do. That's true. So, this agreement between the Synoptics and John can be qualified in that way. My point is that there is agreement, even if it's agreement to a smaller rather than larger extent. The situation is similar to what we see with the kingdom of God theme. That theme is much more prominent in the Synoptics than in the fourth gospel, but it is present in John's gospel to some extent. If his gospel was the last one written, as I and many others believe, and if John was deliberately supplementing what's found in the Synoptics and/or the material behind the Synoptics, it would make sense that he'd sometimes mention a prominent Synoptic theme much less often. In fact, it would be surprising if he didn't sometimes do that. My point here is that John does corroborate Jesus' use of mountains, even though it's much less prominent in his gospel than in the others.

Besides, the material about mountains would be significant even if John didn't corroborate it at all. It's widespread in the Synoptics, in a wide variety of contexts, with some variations among the Synoptics, and it's an unusual characteristic that could easily have been avoided. For reasons like those, the best explanation for that characteristic is that it goes back to the historical Jesus, even if the material were only reported in the Synoptics and Acts. But it is in John as well.