Before we hear from the word preached, let’s ask his blessing upon the preaching and reception of that word. Let’s pray together.

Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you that you indeed have come to us in the power of your Holy Spirit. And Lord, that you’ve enabled us to even praise you and to give ourselves to you. What we pray now is we seek your face and your word, and we seek to listen to the preaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that you would send your spirit to us, even afresh, that we might not merely come as tasters, but as truly children who are hungry and long to feed upon every word that you say to us.

We do pray, Lord, for grace, that we may sit under your word, that we may listen to your voice, that it will break through our hearts that are oh so callous so often, and truly by your love and your passion, change, transform us into the likeness of our Savior. And so we pray, Lord, that you would, by your word and through your Spirit, do unto us good as we come for you, for your counsel, for your presence. Lord, we pray, minister to us through word and spirit, according to the wide variety of our needs, Lord. You know each one, but bring every one of us, we pray, to see that truly you have provided all that we need in Christ, and that we may come to Him and find our all in Him and be satisfied.

We pray this, dear Lord, for His glory and for our good. We ask it all in His mighty name and all God’s people said together, Amen.

Setting the Stage for the Ending

Well, this morning as we close the Gospel of Mark, I want to look at the ending of Mark’s gospel and see how the telling of the gospel here is, once again, arranged, constructed with great purpose, with great intentionality and point. The first thing I want us to see is just how Mark sets the stage, right? How he’s setting the table for us, so to speak. He lifts the story. He lifts these women up that we are introduced to in particular. He lifts them up. He’s been doing something, leading us somewhere, literarily all along, as we’ve tried to point out and recognize as we’ve gone through Mark, so that the ending of the gospel does something to you, like it makes an impact. It’s intentional, and its intention is to get your attention as the ending is revealed.

Replacing the Disciples with Women Followers

Particularly we see, as we end here, Mark, he has interlaced two stories most recently. Two sets of players, if you will. One set of characters Mark is focused on throughout is this set of men, the disciples. These men who had followed Jesus, who had served Jesus, and ultimately who had failed Jesus. And as Mark has arranged the telling of his gospel, these men are now replaced, as they have faded from the scene, with another set of characters.

And all of a sudden, here towards the end of Mark’s gospel, we have these women. Up until now, they’ve not been mentioned by Mark, no hint. And all of a sudden, they’re brought into the story to the end of the gospel story, and they’re introduced by name. In the immediate context, chapters 15 and 16, they’ve been viewed positively. And notice again, quite intentionally, they kind of mirror the lives of the disciples previously that we’ve encountered.

These women are named specifically. We’re told where they’re from. We’re told who they’re related to. We’re told who some of their children are. Similar to the disciples, remember, when they are introduced to us in the beginning, right? And these were the 12, right? And we get all the names and some of their relations as well. We’re told about their character traits: that there are those who follow Jesus, who had served Jesus. And they take on these two primary characteristics of true disciples, right? These women, they follow the Master, they serve.

The Women Who Stayed Faithful in Crisis

And you’ll notice, too, something that’s different about these women is, at least in the telling thus far, they did not abandon Jesus in crisis, right? At the cross, they are there. At the burial, they are there. On the day of resurrection, they are there at the tomb—all the places where we would expect the disciples should have been standing. Here are these women, standing there, following, watching, observing all that was happening to their Lord.

And so by literary parallel, Mark has replaced the disciples in those that they, the disciples, have faded from the gospel, and they’re not reintroduced. They’ve at the very end been replaced by this other group, these women followers who are being put forward and acting like the disciples and acting like they should have acted all along.

Why Mark Does This: Raising Expectations

And we have to ask ourselves, why is this happening? What is Mark doing here? As they come to the tomb, as we go forward, this young man clothed in white, he says, do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. Go tell the disciples and Peter that he has gone before them to Galilee.

And these words shouldn’t have surprised them. It shouldn’t be surprised. We know this message. We’ve heard it already in chapter 14. Remember, Jesus said to the disciples, you will fall away. For it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter. And then he said, but after I am raised, I will go before you to Galilee. And so these women are given this commission. Go remind the disciples what Jesus already told them, that he’s to meet them in Galilee.

What We Expect from These Model Followers

And what should we expect at this point? As we’re introduced to, we get some of the characteristics of these women, what do we expect of them? They’ve ministered, they’ve been where the disciples are supposed to be. Think of how Mark has written this so far. When certain characters are introduced, we come to expect certain reactions, right? When the Sadducees, for instance, or the priests or the elders of Israel come on the scene, what do we expect next? Challenge to Jesus? Damage to his reputation? We expect them to repudiate his character, to incite crowds against him?

Or, for instance, when we see someone come who is blind or lame or poor or weak, and Christ enters the story, what’s our expectation next? It’s that there’s going to be healing. Christ meeting those needs. And as readers, what do we expect as we’ve been introduced again to these women, and we’ve seen their character traits, and as we’ve seen them remaining with Jesus in His moment of need, again, where the disciples should have been, but were not, what do we expect as we’ve seen here at the end, when the strong, like the disciples, have fallen away, but the weak and the outsiders prevail? This has kind of been the pattern, has it not?

Simon, remember Cyrene, he has followed the master carrying the cross. The centurion, the Roman soldier, confessing Christ with more clarity than any of the disciples. We’ve seen Joseph, remember, this Pharisee, who should have been a traitor like the rest, not a traitor, but buries the Lord. And then we have these women. They’re ministering and serving and following their master unto his death. And so what do we as readers expect to come next? Well, we expect them to continue to actually do what they’ve been told, right? Because they’re followers and servants of the Lord.

The Shocking Refocus: Expectations Shattered

But Mark, as he set the stage and he’s lifted them up and lifted up our expectations about them, he’s done so to bring intentionally, emphatically, a different point. Because our expectations aren’t met, right? Notice the reality, the replacement, and the raising of our expectation, and then the refocus that Mark does, right? In verse eight, we read of these women, and they went out of the tomb, and they fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

We expect them to do what they’re told, but we see at the end this confusion and apparent disobedience.

Reading Mark 16:1-8 in Context

And let me read those eight verses in context here, again, to put them before us. Mark 16, verse 1 to verse 8. Notice, when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb, and they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? And looking up, they saw the stone had already been rolled back. It was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid him. And then he tells them, But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them. And they said nothing to anyone. But they were afraid.

Right? Our expectation is that as they’re told this, they will go and do this very thing. But that’s not what happens, right? And so we see this confusion at the end, and this apparent disobedience by them. And it truly should catch us off guard. And this is one of the reasons why people say, well, this can’t be the end. This just doesn’t fit.

Tell us about these faithful women. Tell us what they did. Tell us they went in faith and obeyed the words that they were given. But Mark has been setting us up for this conclusion for quite some time.

Things That Are “Off” in Their Approach

And notice from this text that there a handful of things that are off. Mark tells us that their timing is off, their concern is off, and the location that they’re in is off.

Again, Mark 16:1, when the Sabbath was passed, what did they do? They brought spices so they might go and anoint him. That’s not the right timing. We know this is the wrong time because Mark has already told us what? Earlier, that Christ was already anointed for his burial. You remember this. And Mark told us about this woman who came and anointed Jesus. And he specifically told his followers, she is anointing me ahead of time for my burial. So he’s already been anointed for his death. And for them to show up now to do so is ill-timed. Because it’s already been done, number one, and number two, they should have been expecting his resurrection. This is what he told them, right? He’s talked about it throughout the whole of the gospel. And the reason he needed to be anointed beforehand was what? Because he wasn’t staying there. He would not remain there, and therefore the timing is off, right?

So wrong timing. And also what’s wrong is their concern. Notice the preeminent concern in their minds as they approached were told specifically in the text verse 3, and they were saying to one another, who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? That’s the concern in front of mind for them. Mark goes out of his way to point out that by the time they got there, this preeminent concern had already been dealt with, right? And looking up, they saw that it had been rolled back. They should have, again, expected this. This concern to be solved, not a concern because Christ had told them. He wasn’t worried about this situation. He was going to rise again, he told them.

So along with their timing and the concern that’s off, the location is off. Mark introduces us here to a man in white who tells us and them they’re looking in the wrong spot, right? This too they should have known. Mark gives us this new character that we’ve never seen before. He introduces him as a young man, and he reminds them, you’re in the wrong spot. You should have known this. Notice what he says, verse 7 again. But go tell the disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. And so why should they have known that? Again, remember in chapter 14, when the disciples said, we will never deny you, Lord. And he says, yes, you will. When they strike the shepherd, the sheep will scatter. But don’t worry, he said, Jesus, I will go before you, and I will meet you in Galilee after I have risen. So they should be going to the correct location, which isn’t the tomb, because Christ didn’t plan on staying there, and he told them ahead of time, he’s going to Galilee, meet me there to restore those who have failed in their following Him.

The Pinnacle of Human Weakness

And so Mark, in one sense, has been hinting at this all the way up to verse 8, to the conclusion that this other group of faithful women were doing things that the disciples failed to do. They’re now, all of a sudden, they also are starting to show weakness, show their humanity, show their fallenness. And we’re finally led up to the pinnacle, the pinnacle of their weakness in verse eight.

And Mark doesn’t soften this. He doesn’t, this weakness of theirs or their disobedience, right? He’s very clear, though some have tried to soften this in commentaries and otherwise, right? Again, the concluding verse, and they went out and they fled from the tomb for trembling and astonishment had seized them. And they said nothing to anyone for they were afraid. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

We see the word astonishment there. The connotation there isn’t, wow, or some kind of wonder, or mere surprise. It means fear. It means terror. Again, some try to soften this and just say, well, they’re just stunned at the glory of this. And so there’s silence. They’re in awe and wonder of the resurrection. They try to paint them in a positive light to explain this. But notice how Mark introduces it. He says deliberately, they went out and they fled.

When Mark uses this word of fleeing, it’s a negative. It’s always negative. When the disciples fled, for example, when the disciples fled, remember, as Christ is being tried at the house of the high priest, they fled. And when that young man, remember, comes in the linen cloth and is grabbed by the soldiers and he flees and his garment leaves him and he’s, you know, the gospel streaker, that’s the word used there too. It’s not a positive connotation, leaving his clothes behind. And when Mark uses this word, it’s of the disciples deserting their master and their commands that they had given him.

And here we have these women in the very last verse of the gospel, and it gives us the reason they were afraid. They were afraid, and you’ll notice not only did they flee, but the angel gives them one command, go and tell the disciples and Peter. And then Mark tells us very clearly, you make sure to let us know they said nothing to anyone. They’re told to speak, give them one thing to do, and they fail to do that one thing. They said nothing to anyone. They will not speak.

The Messianic Secret Lifted—Yet They Stay Silent

And it’s interesting, Mark’s used that phrasing again before, right? Say nothing to anyone. Where, as you think back in the Gospels, has there been this idea of being quiet, don’t say anything to anyone? And of course, we don’t have to think back. It’s fresh in our minds, I would think, the first chapter of the Gospel. The same phrase is used when Jesus, remember, he’s trying to keep his messiahship a secret at the beginning of his ministry, mainly because he didn’t want a misunderstanding about the nature and kind of king that he was, his person, his identity, and his ministry. And he tells this one that is healed, remember, way back then, see that you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses has commanded.

In that silence, that don’t tell anyone, that mystery or that secret of the Messiahship wasn’t in perpetuity. It was to be lifted at a particular point in history. Recall, Jesus told us this very thing in Mark chapter 9. Remember the Transfiguration. When he says they’re coming down from the mountain, he charged the disciples. He said, don’t tell anyone what you’ve seen on the Mount of Transfiguration until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. Right? So there’s a silent command, but it’s to be lifted. And when is it? Until the Son of Man risen from the dead. At that point, the secret was going to be lifted. The proclamation of what Christ has done was going to be allowed by all, promiscuously to go forward.

And so the first command to say anything after the resurrection, when there’s no more secrets, when we declared openly what Jesus had done, we have all these characters all of a sudden saying, no, we don’t want to talk about it. We’ll go silently on our way because we’re terrified. And as they arrive, they’re given a task. And we assume, as readers, they will obey. And then that expectation is completely shattered. And Mark sort of pulls the rug out from under us, so to speak, and then fades to black and ends his gospel.

Why This Unresolved Ending Encourages Us

And people think, well, that just doesn’t work. I mean, it’s not a good ending to the story. Why would it end there? And we talked about some of this last time. But I want us to see, as we close, that Mark does this in a desire, it’s very intentional, and that is to restore us, to restore and to give a proclamation to the church going forward, even a church under persecution, the church in this pilgrim land, the exiled church, so to speak, until glory. And he sets us up, and then he, you know, our expectations are disjointed, so that he might show us this thing, something encouraging, that he might lift us up.

The Gospel of Mark written ends on paper with a failure. The story as it’s written ends right there, but that’s not the end of the story, and we know that, and they knew that. This isn’t the end of the work for the reader. Most of us can relate, right, to use, you know, ourselves. Watching a movie, and when the movie ends, or is getting close to end, we get anxious because they’re not tying up all the plots. There’s lots of loose ends, and we have, it’s probably just not me, but, you know, you wanted, you know, what do they do about this, what do they do about that, right? And this needs to make sense. They don’t tie up the loose ends. And many of us are frustrated at this kind of thing and consider it a lame thing, but we want resolution in an outright explanation of what happened. We don’t like having to think back and figure those things out as we think back through the story we’re reading or the movie we’re watching.

Good stories will oftentimes provide the needed resolution. So in our minds, we just need to think back and read or watch, like I said, and think what’s maybe there. Maybe those answers were there, having what we know now. And this is something of what Mark is doing. It’s something we’re tempted to do with Mark and be frustrated about this, but he’s intentionally doing this. His intention is for the reader to realize that the story is not over, right? He told me enough within the story itself that I can piece together the ending in order to see something that he’s saying to me.

Clues in the Text Point to the True Resolution

And so what is he saying to us? What is he saying to the reader? What is he trying to do as he ends?

And there’s this discomfort with an unresolved ending. Well, as we look back, and we don’t have to look far, because the very text that’s in front of us gives us all the clues that we need to be reminded of what is really happening, what is going on, and what is going to happen in the future. Again, right, verse six. Do not be alarmed, he says, you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who is crucified, he is risen, he is not here. See the place where you’ve laid him, but go and tell the disciples of Peter that he’s going before you to Galilee, and there you will see him just as he told you.

And so look carefully at what this one called a young man, this one robed in white says. For in these words, Jesus is being revealed. And the answer to the dilemma of the ending of Mark is being answered. It’s given there.

Why would he say all of these things? He’s wrapping up a lot of loose ends in this text, right? Go, tell the disciples and Peter that he, Jesus, is going to Galilee. Why does he use that very specific location as well as addressing all the disciples and then singling out Peter?

You’ve read this story. It’s not unfamiliar to any of you. Why is he doing this? Why does he say these things? Can’t he just cover it all by saying the disciples, right? And we know already the answer to that. We’ve read this story enough. We’re familiar with it. We’ve been there. We know why he’s singling out Peter.

Why does he say, go tell them he’s going before you to Galilee? Where has he said that before? Again, why should we know that? Why the reference to we should know this as he told you before? Because that’s where Jesus is going. We know this because we were there when Mark, in this story, having told this already when he said this, as I read earlier, he’s already revealed what’s going on. We’ve heard Jesus.

Recalling Jesus’ Predictions and Their Fulfillment

that he warned the disciples that they would fall away once the shepherd was struck. But we’ve also heard one singular disciple. Not me. Everyone else will deny you, but not me. And so as Peter, in all of his bravado and all of his genuine desire to serve the Lord, self-deceived and blind to his weakness, though, however, though I’ll deny you, I will never deny you, right? But Jesus assured them that they all blew it.

And after they blew it, two things would happen. He would indeed rise again and he would go before them to Galilee in order to restore them after their failures. And so what are we supposed to hear in this text? Mark’s alluding to this verse from two chapters earlier, again, 14, and it’s quite clear as we focus on it.

This young man in the tomb is quoting or referring to what Jesus said specifically. You’re all going to deny me, and when I’m risen, I’ll go before you to Galilee. And this young man says, you go tell Peter and the rest of the disciples to go to Galilee, where Jesus said he was after he was risen would be.

The young man is referring to this verse. He’s referring to that whole scenario, the denial and restoration promised. And you find no less than three predictions about the future in what this young man is saying, in the tomb is saying. Again, notice what Jesus was saying, you all deny me, right? That’s a prediction. They hadn’t yet done it. But he also predicts, but I will rise again. I will be raised. And the third prediction that he makes is, and I will meet you in Galilee. And these are all future things. You’ll deny me. I will rise. I’ll see you there in Galilee.

But we don’t just remember these three things, right? The young man points out that two of these three things have already been fulfilled. He points out that Jesus said the disciples would all fall away. And he says, by the way, go tell the disciples and Peter. And what are we supposed to think of? They all fell away, just like Jesus said. And what else does this young man say? He says, you’re looking for Jesus of Nazareth. He’s not here. He’s risen. Go ahead inside and look. See where he was laid. And what did Jesus say? He said, after I rise, I will go before you to Galilee. So there’s this completion or this fulfillment or this paralleling, answering what Jesus had already said. And so the young man’s saying these two things. He predicted you all would fall away, and you did. He predicted he would rise. He’s risen.

And what’s the third thing? Jesus said, I will go before you to Galilee to meet you. And so what we should expect happens in the future. If this Jesus who predicted these things in this text has already shown that these other two, much more difficult ones, you would think, have come true, we should expect what of the third one? That this will happen as well, that Jesus will go before them to Galilee. Will he go? Will the disciples meet him there? Will they be restored? Will they be commissioned afterwards? Will they know that Christ has forgiven them? Will they know to now be faithful, to walk forth in that commission and faith that’s given? And so these questions, right, they should come upon us as we’re reading these things and thinking about this hanging third prediction.

The Readers Knew the True Ending

But you know, the original reader of the gospel, and we today, already know the answer to this question. Did Jesus go before them to Galilee? Of course he did. Even before the gospel of Mark was written, the reader knew this was true. And how did they know? Because they had heard the gospel that was preached, commissioned by an apostle who had been restored and sent by Jesus. The story doesn’t end with the disciples denying Jesus and never coming back around. Even in the first century, before the Gospels were written, the church knew that the disciples had been restored because they were the carriers of the message of the Gospel. So the very Gospel they had trouble with in their failing and frailty and fear, the reader knows. He knows this, that it was written or that they did do this. And that the women who had so much hope, that we had so much hope as we look at them, and here’s these taking the place and fulfilling and being faithful, they really do mirror the disciples after all, in another way, do they not? Just like them, just like them, they’re followers and servants. They’re standing there before their master. They’re serving him.

But we know that they really are just like the disciples, and not just a little bit like them. They’re there standing in the shoes where the disciples should have been, right? Check, good. At the cross, at the tomb, and at the burial. And they’re there with the disciples, also fleeing in fear, failing their master. And ultimately, the commission that he’s given to them, not doing what they’re instructed to do, right?

Mark’s Point: Human Failure, Divine Faithfulness

So what’s Mark’s point in setting all this up? And what’s his point to a church under persecution that is struggling for its existence and afraid for its very life, right, that would have heard this and then hears this today? What is his point to a church that he’s told that Christian discipleship demands picking up your cross and following Jesus, even to the death if need be? What is his point to a church like this to a church who throughout the centuries have what not lived up to their calling in times of suffering and have joined the disciples in their failing, in their fear, in their fleeing. Mark’s point is that the disciples fail, the women fail, and even you, the reader, have failed and will fail. You have let fear drive denial and flight when Christ needed you. And yet what? God’s word of promise never fails. That’s the point, that the good news of Mark’s gospel, it’s not the disciples, it’s not these women, and it’s not you. The good news of the gospel is what he began with, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The good news is that Christ’s Word never fails, even when all those around Him fail, even when those closest to Him fail, even a church in Rome who is persecuted and weak and has probably failed time and time again to live up to the calling of the disciples. Mark’s ending is saying, go back, look. Yes, the women fail, and they flee in fear. Yes, they’re like the disciples in that way, but don’t worry, Jesus does meet them. The disciples do have that time of restoration. These women are restored to Christ’s fold, just like you are and will be, even though you’re failing and you’re in fear.

Preparing Us for the Christian Life of Frailty

And so what’s Mark done through the Spirit here? He’s prepared us for the challenge of the Christian life in an age before the coming of Christ, even after his resurrection, the period of time that is not dominated by outward resurrection power for us in the church in a sense of the word. Christ is risen, but our lives don’t reflect fully yet that consummate glory and that power of the resurrection in all aspects. We still have frailty and fear, and we fail the one who has died on our behalf.

The word of promise, though, brothers and sisters, prevails over all those failures. We don’t pretend that the failures aren’t true. We acknowledge the reality of the sureness of his promises. Because the cross sets us free for good, right? The disciples will be restored. Even Peter the denier will be restored. He’ll be an apostle who takes the word of God faithfully, effectively, through the spirit to the nations. Even though, remember, that will not be the last time he denies the gospel in his life. You ever think about that? In the book of Galatians, it tells us that that’s not Peter’s last fall, but the cross, right, in there, right, there’s a problem again, but the cross that Peter preaches is sufficient to resurrect and to save failing Christians. Praise God that it is.

The New Exodus and Sufficient Salvation

And the reason why this is such a big deal in Mark’s gospel is this. His whole gospel has been about a time of rescue, right? This long-awaited, anticipated, never-coming, but in the DNA of the people, this time when a new exodus would come and we would be restored and victory over our enemies, freed, and all this. This is what the gospel is about, this time of rescue when God’s people will have been exiled, will finally be brought back into the promise of God, the promises of Abraham as they were given. And as you look at the Old Testament, what do we see? We see, you know, it’s a series. We see all the bodies lying in that timeline. All the saints who fail God time and time again. But you also see a covenant that is insufficient to fully restore and deal with and save them.

Mark’s gospel presents to us, to us Christians on this side of the New Testament, he presents to us New Testament saints. And what does he show us of these New Testament saints? That they look an awful lot like the Old Testament saints. They fail, and they fail time and time again. And so what has changed? The salvation that has been brought, the new exodus that has occurred, the salvation by way of the cross that happened, that does not fail. That does not fail, will never fail, and unlike all of the old covenants. This fulfilled new covenant is sufficient to save to the uttermost even the weakest and most needy sinner who depends on this good news of Jesus Christ the Lord. Right?

So even in our own you know, day-to-day lives, and the failings of your own heart, and the anguish that you go through, and the recognizing, and the revealing that the Lord does of your own sin, and the blackness of your heart, and the stresses, and the torment, and the, you know, the war that’s waged against us by the world outside of us as well, this inward and an outward, and our enemies of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Even in that, we can know it is God who is strong, not we. And we can be weak before Him because His strength shines through our weakness, right? Be real before the Lord and depend upon Him. And what does He promise? He promises to bring us through, to be with us, to give us comfort and hope and assurance, and to grow us, and even Lord’s day by Lord’s day, as we avail ourselves to the means of grace to grow us to be strong for Him and for His life.

This indeed is good, brothers and sisters. What the law could never do in its weakness, Christ has done once and for all for good, even for the chief of sinners, even for sinners weak and needy like me and like you. And He’s done so now and forevermore. and that is a great reason for praise, and I pray that we would do so. May we praise him, may we trust him, and may we tell the world from gratitude and thanksgiving for his glory, to upset the world for his name.

Indeed, as the gospel goes forth in this land, even from our small circles of influence and outward, all under the providential hand and guiding of our precious sovereign Lord.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, we praise you and we thank you. We thank you for what you bring to us in your word and in this supper. And we do pray, Lord, feed us, Lord, feed us therein. Fill us full, Lord. We pray assuage our fear, grant us to live anew, to walk with a new life and a new script as we walk with Christ our Savior. We do thank you and praise you for this gospel. We thank you for your beauty and glory and creativity and truth and clarity that you give us. Lord, it is so far beyond us to completely grasp and understand the depth of all these things. But we thank you that you condescend to speak to us, that you love us, not to leave us, to figure things out on our own and to make things up. Lord, we pray that this will be an ongoing corrective for us to correct our perspective, to point our feet and our eyes in the right place as we grow to glorify you and revel in your love as we understand you more. We thank you for this. We thank you that you’re gracious to us in Christ and that in you we are and have sure and safe refuge. We thank you for the promise who want to behold our Savior for all of eternity.