God gives the law on a mountain, the prophets predict that people will flock to God’s holy mountain and worship the Lord together there, living according to God’s law. Jesus reminds us that a “city set on a hill cannot be hid” all while standing on a mountainside reiterating the law of God. The point of God having a holy city, on a holy mountain (Zion) is that God calls a people to live according to his law and in so doing, be like a city set on a hill in the midst of a world of flatlands. We’re supposed to stick out; we’re supposed to be different. This is supposed to happen by virtue of following God’s mountain-fed spring of teaching, instruction, and guidelines for good living.
The point of having a city on a hill is that it’s a community. It’s not a call to an individual; it’s a call to a people. “Come be my advertisement to the world of what you were meant to be.”
ht: Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove in New Monasticism: What It Has to Say to Today’s Church, Chapter 4
Long-ing For Life 