Miracles Happen in the Mundane
In the Beatitudes, Jesus shared eight life-changing ways of life. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” “Blessed are those who mourn,” etc. The translation we have says “blessed,” but the word in its original form means happy or joyful.
This is wild. It’s revolutionary. In Jesus’s first recorded moment of public preaching, he told his followers how to be . . . happy? Not holy or reputable (although he would get to that later)—but happy. Oh, the self-made religious talking heads of our day wouldn’t be able to get to their pulpits or YouTube soapboxes fast enough to upload a video and discredit the message and ministry of this new feel-good preacher! Jesus didn’t start his message calling people out or talking about sin; he was giving them keys to joy. Heresy! The question it really suggests for me is this: How important must people’s experiencing the joy of the Lord be if God himself chose this topic to address first? Not only that, but we cannot forget that the place he chose to hand us the keys to joy, Eremos, was a place of both desolation and strength.
Let’s look more closely at where Jesus taught from. Hills and mountains were significant in the history of the people he was speaking to. Throughout the Bible, mountains often symbolize places of divine revelation and encounter. For instance, Mount Sinai holds profound importance as it was the site where God gave the law to Moses. The dramatic events on Sinai, where the law was etched on tablets for Moses to carry to the people, are detailed in Exodus 19–20. This moment marked the establishment of the covenant between God and Israel, emphasizing the sacred and binding nature of God’s commandments.
Another crucial mountain is Mount Zion, which became a symbol of the very church that Christ would build. Zion is frequently mentioned in the Psalms and the Prophets as a place of divine dwelling and ultimate redemption. Psalm 2:6 declares, “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” In the New Testament the writer of Hebrews also referred to Mount Zion, describing it as the “city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (12:22), symbolizing the ultimate gathering of God’s people and the establishment of his kingdom.
Jesus’s ministry was connected to mountains and hills as well. He often sought the solitude of hills for prayer and teaching. One of the most poignant connections is Golgotha, the hill where Jesus was crucified, fulfilling his mission to redeem humanity (Luke 23:33). Before this ultimate sacrifice, Jesus proclaimed his message from various elevated places, symbolizing the higher spiritual perspectives he offered.
Mountains in the Bible are not just geographical features; they represent moments when heaven and earth met, where God revealed his purposes, and where significant spiritual truths were imparted. In choosing these locations, God underscored their importance in the narrative of faith. This pattern continued with Jesus, whose teachings from hillsides and mountains echoed the profound significance of these elevated places in biblical history. His Sermon on the Mount, for example, is one of his most famous discourses, providing a new law that emphasizes inner righteousness over mere external behavior (Matthew 5–7).
So the association of God with mountains and hilltops highlights the idea of elevation—not just physical elevation, but spiritual elevation, calling people to a higher understanding for a deeper relationship with the divine. This moment in Jesus’s ministry, his teaching the Beatitudes from an elevated place, is in perfect continuity with the rich biblical symbolism as he invited his followers to see life, faith, and spirituality from a vantage point aligned with God’s perspective.
It’s important to note that Jesus’s teachings came from a higher perspective, one that we often lack. Jesus could “see” something that the world couldn’t. I am talking about his divine perspective—one that goes far beyond human understanding. He wasn’t limited by time, place, or circumstance.
Maybe you’re in a job you’re not thrilled about, but you need it to pay the bills. It’s easy to feel stuck and frustrated and wonder why you’re there. Jesus, though, can see how this job could be laying the groundwork for a future opportunity you can’t even imagine yet. He knows the people you’re meeting, what skills you’re learning, and how all of that might fit into his bigger plan for you down the road.
Or think about your relationships. Have you ever had a relationship that ended, leaving you feeling hurt and confused? In the moment it’s hard to understand why something like that would happen, and all you can see is the pain right in front of you. But Jesus can see the long-term picture. Maybe he knows this separation will help you grow, or maybe he’s preparing someone new to come into your life who will bring a whole new level of empathy and support you never knew you needed.
Then there are those times when we face health challenges—something that’s slowing us down or making life feel a lot harder. We naturally focus on the discomfort and start worrying about what this might mean for our future. But Jesus has the bigger view here too. He sees how this season could bring us closer to people who understand what we’re going through or how it might strengthen our faith in ways we never imagined.
These everyday moments remind us that even when we don’t see the full picture, we can still look to Jesus. When we can’t see what’s ahead, we can still see him, and that’s what really matters.
Now, I want to point out something I find encouraging. Jesus and the crowds that came to him didn’t ascend to the pinnacle of this mountain, which could represent the highest heights of success, affluence, or influence. But they weren’t at the very bottom of the mountain in a low place either, which could represent a place of defeat, failure, or insignificance. The place Jesus chose to give a master class on joy was somewhere in the middle, somewhere fairly underwhelming and, well, ordinary. Some would even say it was less of a mountain and more of a hill. No, there was nothing about the situation that was spectacular, but just because it wasn’t spectacular doesn’t mean it was insignificant.
Consider the simplicity of a conversation over a cup of coffee with a friend. You might be discussing everyday things, yet one sentence or piece of advice could have a profound effect on you. Or think about how you show faithfulness at work, completing daily tasks with a good attitude. These actions might seem mundane, but they often lead to personal growth, recognition, and unexpected opportunities. There have been times I’ve been doing something as simple as taking a walk and suddenly experienced a moment when God gave me divine direction for my life. These moments illustrate how the miraculous can happen in the mundane.
We often rob ourselves of life’s most significant moments because we have been convinced that something extraordinary or spectacular must take place for something to be supernatural and significant. Jesus illustrated that it can happen like that, but also that the miracles of life happen in the mundanity of life.
Adapted from Joy Bomb by Tauren Wells. Copyright © 2025 by Tauren Wells. Used by permission of Zondervan. www.zondervan.com.
Tauren Wells is a celebrated platinum-selling recording artist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter with ten GRAMMY® Award nominations, six number ones, eight GMA Dove Awards, a Billboard Music Award nomination, and over 1.2 billion global streams to date (and counting). Some of his hit songs include Hills and Valleys, Known, Joy In The Morning, and Take It All Back. Tauren and his wife, Lorna, serve as co-lead pastors at Church of Whitestone, a fast-growing, multiethnic, multigenerational church in Austin, Texas. Church of Whitestone strives to establish a church family that empowers people in Austin and around the world to discover their God-authored identity through wholehearted relationship with God. Joy Bomb is Tauren’s first book.
