%1

Those who say there is no resurrection have a question for Jesus about resurrection.

We can sense the deceit in the moment, a trap meant to pit the radical teacher against his own tradition. But the deceit gives way to a flurry of realities, the loudest being the commonality of tradition: Jesus’ questioners start from the same place he does. Both the teacher and his skeptical hearers revere the tradition, lauding the writings of Moses as sacred text.

People on the ground. Weary, dirty, curious flesh—provocatively close. This is the context for the Sermon on the Plain.

The 12 disciples swell into many, and they hear about their past, present, and future. Jesus references their ancestors; he draws content from their current circumstances. And the question of who and where they will come to be bears weight in the sermonic veracity of this moment.