Across time and place, the mountains are the place where revolutions begin and from where they emerge to overthrow kingdoms. Just consider the last 100 years: the Communist Chinese movement began in the Jing’gang Mountains; the Cuban revolution descended from the Sierra Maestra mountains; the Afghan Mujahideen’s power base was always in the Hindu Kush mountains – and other examples are plentiful. In today’s gospel, another revolutionary, Jesus of Nazareth, comes down from the mountain to a “stretch of level ground.” A divine revolutionary whose goal was to overturn a kingdom.

One way to look at kingdoms is to understand their patterns of values, power, and product. When Herb Brooks took over the US Olympic Hockey Team before the 1980 Olympics he brought a new set of values to the team. He knew that the Russians were the most skilled hockey players in the world and were essentially paid professionals in an amateur world. Coach Brooks brought the value of conditioning, he trained his players in the power to outskate the Russians, and the product was the Miracle on Ice gold medal. Kingdoms can be understood by their patterns of values, power, and product.  Old kingdoms are overthrown with new values, new power, and new results.