The Last Scribe

Story scene · The Life of Jesus · Matthew 5, 6, 7

The Sermon on the Mount as a game: the Beatitudes, the prayer and the rock

Climb the mountain in Galilee and sit among the multitude, where Jesus “opened his mouth, and taught them”. Hear the Beatitudes, the prayer He taught, the lilies of the field and the two builders, as Matthew tells it.

Play free Try the quiz questions

No download. Plays in any modern browser on a phone, tablet or computer. Revelation 1 and the Baptism of Jesus are free to try first.

What you will see

One mountainside in Galilee, told from the Beatitudes to the house upon a rock

You arrive as a Scribe, sent to witness the story and write it down. The Sermon on the Mount is told from four passages of Matthew 5, 6 and 7, and the scene is one map you can walk end to end. Four stand on it: a disciple, Jesus, a mother in the multitude and a scribe in the crowd. Each speaks only from their own verses. Jesus is met and spoken with, never played, and His words are the words of the sermon.

Seven things wait to be found and read: a bowl of salt for “the salt of the earth”, a lamp set on its lampstand, a note on the jot and the tittle of the law, a door shut for prayer, the Lord’s Prayer itself, the lilies of the field that “toil not, neither do they spin”, and the house on the rock. The quest follows the sermon in order: a disciple tells you why the crowd is climbing, Jesus speaks the Beatitudes, and you go on through the lamp, the law, the prayer and the lilies to the storm and the house that stood.

The sermon ends as Matthew ends it: “he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” When you have heard it all, step into the quiz zone and twenty-two questions ask what you saw.

The Sermon on the Mount in the game: the map of the story with its people standing where the passage puts them
The game itself, not a mock-up: The Sermon on the Mount.

The story, in order

The quest, Hear These Sayings, and Do Them, has eight steps, and they follow the passages in order. Nothing is added to the text; the steps are a way of making sure you miss none of it.

  1. Ask a disciple why the crowd is climbing.
  2. Hear the Beatitudes from Jesus.
  3. Find the lamp set on its lampstand.
  4. Learn what a jot and a tittle are, and why they matter.
  5. Read the prayer He taught.
  6. Consider the lilies of the field.
  7. See which house stood in the storm.
  8. Hear why the people were astonished.

Who you meet

Four people and voices stand in the scene. Each speaks only from their own place in the passages.

  • A Disciple — one of those who came to Him when He was set on the mountain, and heard Him begin, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
  • Jesus — met and spoken with, never played, who gives you the Beatitudes, the law fulfilled, the kingdom sought first and the wise man’s house.
  • A Mother in the Multitude — a listener who tells you what He said of the fowls of the air and of the Father who knows what we need.
  • A Scribe in the Crowd — a scribe who heard it all and says the people “were astonished at his doctrine”.

What you find

Walk up to any of these and the game reads you the verses it comes from, in the King James Version.

  • A Bowl of Salt (Matthew 5:13)
  • A Lamp on a Lampstand (Matthew 5:14–16)
  • One Jot or One Tittle (Matthew 5:17–19)
  • A Door Shut for Prayer (Matthew 6:5–8)
  • The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9–15)
  • The Lilies of the Field (Matthew 6:27–31)
  • The House on the Rock (Matthew 7:24–27)

The first of the Beatitudes

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:3–6, King James Version

Every verse the game quotes is the KJV. Where a character speaks in their own words, the dialogue is written from the passages and checked against our doctrinal rules before release. The about page says plainly how we read the Bible.

Try five of the twenty-two

The Sermon on the Mount quiz questions, with answers

Five real questions from the The Sermon on the Mount quiz, in the game's own words. In the game the options are shuffled every time, and you need 70% to pass.

1. What did Jesus promise to the poor in spirit?

  1. They shall obtain mercy
  2. They shall be filled
  3. They shall be comforted
  4. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven
Show the answer

D. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven The first Beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:3

2. What did Jesus say His hearers were, besides the light of the world?

  1. The salt of the earth
  2. The vine of the Lord
  3. The bread of life
  4. The sheep of His pasture
Show the answer

A. The salt of the earth “Ye are the salt of the earth.” Salt that has lost its flavor is good for nothing.

Matthew 5:13

3. Where did Jesus say to go when you pray?

  1. Into your room, with the door shut
  2. To the corner of the street
  3. To the top of the mountain
  4. To the front of the synagogue
Show the answer

A. Into your room, with the door shut “Pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”

Matthew 6:6

4. Who, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of the lilies?

  1. Solomon
  2. David
  3. Herod
  4. Pharaoh
Show the answer

A. Solomon The lilies neither toil nor spin, and yet even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Matthew 6:29

5. Why were the people astonished at His teaching?

  1. He taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes
  2. He worked a sign from heaven
  3. He spoke against Rome
  4. He spoke in many languages
Show the answer

A. He taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes When Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one having authority.

Matthew 7:29

Right answers pay 10 XP each and a perfect score pays 50 more. In a room, everyone answers the same quiz and sees how the others did. More on how the quiz works.

Story facts

47
verses from Matthew 5, Matthew 6, Matthew 6, Matthew 7, every one covered by something you see, hear or read
22
quiz questions, each tied to a verse
4
people and voices to speak with
7
things to find and read
1–6
players in a room; solo play is fine too
KJV
every verse quoted from the King James Version

How to play it

  1. Open the game in your browser and make an account. A child under 13 gives a parent's email instead of their own, and the parent confirms before the child can play with anyone else; see the page for parents.
  2. Play the short intro story in the Archivery, the library where the Scribe finds the Book. It is free and takes a few minutes.
  3. Open the world map and choose The Sermon on the Mount. To play with others, start a room and share its code, which looks like SCRIBE-7K4P2Q; up to six people can join from their own devices.
  4. Walk the map, speak with everyone, read everything, then step into the quiz zone.

Free, and with a subscription

The Sermon on the Mount is one of the 14 story scenes, in the series The Life of Jesus. It is part of the subscription ($9.99 a month or $79.99 a year), and the story scenes are open from the first day of it: they do not wait on the road through the books. See pricing.

Free forever, for every player: the intro story, Revelation 1, the story scene The Baptism of Jesus, and four open lands to walk with other players: the City of the Last Days, the Garden of Eden, Judea in the days of Jesus, and Patmos and the Seven Churches. Revelation 1 is a good first chapter to try before you subscribe.

More to play

Sit down among the multitude.

The Sermon on the Mount takes about twenty minutes alone, a little longer with friends in a room.

Start with the free chapters