Through a Mirror Dimly

people would please take your
Bibles and turn to John Chapter 20. John Chapter 20 where we
will see the first time that Jesus reveals himself following
his resurrection. What an astounding statement.
and looking back it’s easy for us we look back and we know that
jesus has risen we know that god accepted his sacrifice we
know that he is seated at the right hand of the father but
there had to be a first there had to be a first person to actually
see the risen christ and there was certainly jesus could have
burst into the Dwelling where perhaps some of the Apostles
were residing and if it were one of us I started to think
about this if it were one of us to whom might we first make
an appearance I Was able to produce a pretty lengthy list If I was
the Savior rising from the dead I might present myself first
and foremost to the devil Showing him who really is in
charge. Pilate was another one that came
to mind. Annas, Caiaphas, those were individuals
that had a distinct hand in putting Jesus to death in our humanness. We might be tempted to put it
in their face too, wouldn’t we? To show up in front of Pilate
who had only recently given orders for Jesus to be buried, following
the orders that He gave for Him to be crucified. What about the soldiers? We might
even take delight in presenting ourselves to the soldiers that
had a hand callously, harshly, cruelly, pounding nails, stabbing
Christ in the side with a spear, only to ultimately pull him down
off the cross as meaning nothing. I might have chosen to present
myself to the chief priest to show them that I was alive and
risen from the dead. In our humanness we might take
delight in some of this almost like a mild form of revenge.
Certainly as having a mindset of showing them what’s right. He couldn’t present himself to
Judas because Judas was dead and gone. He couldn’t present
himself to the unrepentant thief on the cross. What about to the
great crowd, remember, who only a week earlier welcomed him into
Jerusalem in the great triumphal entry who gave up on him inside
of a week. I might have taken great delight
to show up to an entire stadium and present myself as risen from
the dead. In our humanness, we can even
empathize and think that why didn’t Jesus, of all people,
why didn’t he present himself to his own dear mother, risen
from the dead? What about to his friends? to
his apostles, to even his unbelieving family members in kind of a very
practical call to repentance. There are a lot of people, there
are a lot of situations that we could conceive of where we might, if we were given
the opportunity to choose, we might choose differently than
what Jesus Christ did. How about appearing to an obscure
woman about whom scripture says very little during Christ’s earthly
ministry and nothing afterwards? Mary Magdalene is never mentioned
in the book of Acts, never in the epistles, a woman who is
far from perfect, whose faith was feeble, who did not seem
to even hope in the resurrection, who seemed steeped in fatalism,
who seemed content to wallow in pity. To her? To her. Jesus Christ chose to
reveal himself first. It’s significant. And it’s moving. And it’s humbling that Jesus
Christ, risen from the dead, of all people that He could have
presented Himself, presented Himself first to humble, obscure
Mary Magdalene. That Jesus Christ, who reveals Himself in His own
will and His own way, who chooses to reveal to anybody anything. If we know anything, it’s only
because God first desired to reveal it to us. God chose to
reveal His own Son, and Jesus Christ chooses to whom He reveals
Himself. What a glorious truth. Mary, feeble faith and all, was
the first one that God chose to reveal himself. We find this
account in John chapter 20 beginning in verse 11. But Mary was standing outside
the tomb weeping and so as she wept she stooped and looked into
the tomb and she saw two angels in white sitting one at the head
and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been lying.
And they said to her, woman, why are you weeping? She said
to them, because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know
where they have laid him. When she had said this, she turned
around and saw Jesus standing there and did not know that it
was Jesus. Jesus said to her, woman, why
are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing
him to be the gardener. She said to him sir If you have
taken him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will
take him away Jesus said to her Mary She turned and said to him in
Hebrew Rabboni, which means teacher Jesus said to her stop clinging
to me for I have not ascended to the father, but I go to my
brethren and say to them I ascend to my father and your father
and my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came announcing
to the disciples I have seen the Lord and that he had said
these things to her. A lot of times we’re tempted to focus in on the white spaces
and I don’t know of a single other passage that has so many
questions that develop in the white spaces. When did Mary come
back to the tomb? It isn’t recorded that she ran
to the tomb with Peter and John but suddenly we find her standing
just outside the tomb. She saw two angels and Scripture
records no reaction to the fact that she’s standing face to face
with two of God’s holy angels, and then an interaction, a conversation
with the angels, a rare occurrence in all of Scripture. When she turned around and saw
Jesus, why, first of all, did she turn around? Of all people,
did she not recognize Jesus, the very one that she was mourning? Why did she think he was the
gardener? How could this woman, all alone, even propose the idea
that she would take the body away if the gardener would only
produce it? How did one word, Mary, her name. How did one word convince her
of this guest’s identity? How and when did she begin to
cling to him? How does the answer that Jesus
provides even relate? There are many questions. And
those questions really occupy the bulk of the commentaries,
where they comment more on the questions obtained from the white
spaces than they do even on the text before us. I would say the answers are there,
and I would say that it’s more important for us to look at the
text, to focus on the text, and to draw our encouragement from
the text. as a true believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ is in process, just like the rest of us. Mary has
an understanding, she has an affection, she has faith in and
a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, but her faith is
yet imperfect, just like yours and mine. I thought of that passage
in 1 Corinthians 13, love never fails. But if there are gifts
of prophecy, they will be done away. If there are tongues, they
will cease. If there is knowledge, it will be done away, for we
know in part and we prophesy in part. But when the perfect
comes, the partial will be done away. It looks to the future.
It looks to our face-to-face greeting with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul says this, when I was a child, I used to speak
like a child and think like a child, reason like a child. When I became
a man, I did away with childish things. He speaks of his own
maturity. And what he’s pointing to here
is the Christian’s spiritual maturity. That’s where Mary is. She’s in process. And in a sense,
she’s an infant, a child in the faith. But Paul also speaks,
he speaks of the process clarifying itself in verse 12 of 1 Corinthians
13. He says, for now we see in a
mirror dimly. We see Christ. You’ve placed
your faith in Christ. You know that Jesus Christ is
the only way of salvation. You know that He’s a loving Savior.
But you see him in a mirror dimly. But Paul says we see now in a
mirror dimly, but then face to face. In glory we’ll see Christ
for who he is. In glory we’ll have a perfect
image of who Jesus is. We’ll have a perfect knowledge
of his character. And Paul repeats himself in different
words. Now I know in part. Even the
apostle Paul didn’t know Jesus Christ fully. Now I know in part,
but then I will know fully, just as also I am fully known.” Is
that a comfort to you that God knows everything about you? It’s
kind of scary, isn’t it? God knows everything about you,
but He tells us that if we believe in Jesus Christ there will come
a day when we will know everything about Him. We will know Him as
He knows us. And so I’ve entitled the message
Through a Mirror Dimly. That’s how we see Jesus. That’s
how Mary saw Jesus. And I just want to look this
morning briefly at one woman’s clarifying perspective of Jesus. First of all you see Back to
verse 11, a woman standing in her grief. Here’s a woman who
is absolutely devoted, who came to the tomb before dawn, now
has come back to the tomb again after dawn, all to do one thing,
to mourn the Savior that she loved so deeply. Look at verse
11. was standing outside the tomb weeping, and so as she wept,
she stooped and looked into the tomb. At the very outset of verse
11, it introduces a contrast, doesn’t it? That little word,
but. It presents to the reader a contrast between those who
had just departed, Peter and John, and the one who stayed
behind, Mary Magdalene. She has such a love and such
a devotion for her Savior, for the Lord who at this moment to
her is nothing more than a dead body. And she comes back to the tomb.
We’re not told when. We’re simply not told when at
all. Did she run with the apostles?
Probably unlikely but we don’t know. She had already run all
the way back to town to tell Peter and John. It’s certainly
reasonable that if she had already run once to town that maybe she
was a little winded in running back to the tomb and so she came
along a bit more slowly. That’s certainly possible, we
don’t know. Having run from the tomb to the
apostles She may have needed to take a slower pace. Maybe
she moseyed back to the tomb. Maybe she wanted to allow the
apostles time on their own to discover the tomb. We don’t know. All that we do know is that when
the apostles depart, there’s Mary. Standing and weeping, overwhelmed
with grief and sadness. It’s her sorrow upon sorrow.
to not only witness Christ crucified, which had to be more than most
humans could ever bear, a grotesque, horrible scene, but now to have
his body go missing? Scripture records many people
going inside the tomb. Mary never enters the tomb. She
only observed from the outside. She had seen at dawn the rolled
away stone, and now it’s the same scene, but she draws nearer
and peeks inside. And so far as we know, this is
her first glance into the empty tomb. At her initial visit, she
only saw the opening. She only saw the stone rolled
away, and that’s what led her to the conclusion, remember,
that the body was gone. that may or may not have been
verified to her by Peter and John. It isn’t recorded. But now she verifies the facts
for herself. Regardless of whatever conclusion
the apostle John drew, whatever conclusion the apostle Peter
knew because scripture didn’t even record it, Mary needs to
know for herself. And so she peeks inside. this
darkened tomb and she saw two angels in white, verse 12, one
at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been
lying. And here again is another unspoken mystery. It’s John who
informs us by the direct influence of the Holy Spirit that these
two beings were angels. But Mary likely reported this
fact at some point to the Apostle John, I saw two angels in Jesus’
otherwise empty tomb. You think of the role of angels
in Scripture, how plentiful it is. That an angel announced the
coming of John the Baptist. An angel announced the coming
of Christ. Angels announce Christ to the
shepherds. Angels ministered to the Lord
in the desert after His temptation and also in the Garden of Gethsemane.
But this is the only place in all of John’s Gospels where he
says angels appeared. Did they appear as men? It certainly
seems so. Did they identify themselves
as angels? Maybe. We’re not told. We’re
told that they wore white clothing. Was it the spiritual radiance
of their garments that gave them as dead giveaways as angels? One characterized their clothing
in such glowing terms, it would almost seek to convince us. Their
white garments indicated holiness. The triumph of life over death,
light over darkness, grace over sin, that is a lot of characterization. for what scripture just says
were white garments. But each of the gospel accounts
describe the angels who came and rolled away the stone from
the tomb and they announce a very similar appearance of the angel
and I would much prefer to get my data on who these men are
and what their clothing is like from the scriptures themselves,
Matthew 28. Matthew 28 says this, just listen.
His appearance was like lightning, his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear because
of him and became like dead men. Now I’ve seen some white shirts
in my day. I’ve never seen anything like
that. Like lightning? Make me want
to fall over dead? Mark, Mark’s Gospel 16.5 says
that entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the
right, wearing a white robe, and they were amazed. Now, they
were amazed to find a presence, a being, an individual in the
tomb, but the appearance of this being was like a young man. They took on the figure of a
man, and the clothing was white. It brought about amazement. Luke
24, same scene. While they were perplexed about
this, behold, two men stood near them in dazzling clothing. Now, the most astounding thing
of all this scene does nothing to Mary. Mary isn’t impressed. She isn’t afraid. She isn’t overwhelmed. She’s so overcome by grief for
the missing body of her friend that she just seems to take it
all in stride. Oh, angels. Matthew says that
these hardened Roman guards shook with fear and fell down like
they were dead. Not Mary. Mark says that the
other women who saw the angels were amazed. Not Mary. Luke says that they were terrified
and bowed their faces to the ground. Not Mary. No fear. No awe. And so they strike up a conversation
with her. This is an astounding scene. Look at verse 13. They said to her, woman, why
are you weeping? Well, let me tell you. That’s how it goes. That’s how it plays She said
in them because they’ve taken away my lord, and I do not know
where they’ve laid him no awe at the angels Not dumbstruck
to be in now Conversation with two holy beings now come to earth
in dazzling white clothing She’s so overwhelmed with concern
and so completely sorrowful, so captured by the grief of the
moment, the absence of the Lord’s body has been her enduring concern
since her very first visit to the tomb. And the depth of her
grief is likely due to the high priority that the Jews placed
on proper burial. And Mary now is offended by someone
moving, relocating, her friend’s body, her Lord’s body. And if only she could figure
out where the body is, she is more than eager to take care
of it, that she would carry out the purpose, she would see to
it that the body was properly cared for and buried. And so we note, first of all,
As Mary begins to grow in her own knowledge and faith in the
Lord Jesus, we see how devoted Mary Magdalene was in her grief over a missing dead body. She rose early. She gave of her
own expense in the purchase of these spices. She labored to
involve others, Peter and John. She abided at Christ’s last known
place like many mourners would do. She wasn’t even impressed
with the presence of holy angels. Jesus Christ and Him alone was
her only focus. And I want you to note this.
Mary Magdalene, in her grief, was devoted to a missing dead
body. How devoted are we to a risen
Savior who sits at the right hand of God? The glimpse gets a little clearer
for Mary. Look at verse 14, where we see
not only a woman standing in her grief, but a woman turning
to her Lord. Verse 14 says, when she had said
this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there and did
not know that it was Jesus. What’s interesting here is that
the angels make no reply to her complaint, the missing body,
None is recorded anyway. Maybe she hastily pulled back. These guys don’t know anything.
They’re not going to tell me anything. She pulls back from
the tomb because the very next verse presents her also as turning
again. Why did she turn around? Maybe
she became aware of a presence behind her. Maybe she turned
away in half disgust that these angels wouldn’t share with her
where her Lord’s body was. Maybe the angels gestured to
someone behind her, hinting that Mary needed to take heed. Maybe Mary heard a noise behind
her, a shuffling, clearing of the throat. Maybe she became
almost half conscious that something or someone was behind her. One
commentator offered a very plausible explanation. Maybe the angels
bowed in adoration when they saw the Lord Jesus Christ, and
that to me is the most plausible of all. They bowed in adoration when
they saw the Lord Jesus Christ, and Mary couldn’t help but turn
to see who it was behind her. We don’t know. But Mary must
have turned. That when she turns, she doesn’t
even recognize the very one who she loved, the very one whom
she was seeking. Perhaps Christ’s body was changed,
changed to a form that she didn’t recognize at first. It could
have been that He wore a hood. It’s possible. It’s possible. On one occasion presented a ring
to a young lady who because of the tears couldn’t see the ring
Maybe her tears blurred her eyes One commentator said we need
not hesitate to believe that he could assume such an appearance
that even a disciple like Mary didn’t recognize him at first
and or that he could cause her eyes to be unable to distinguish
him even when close to her. It was the same Lord Jesus. He is in the flesh. It is a risen
body that he has adorned. And yet some way, somehow, God
has fitted him to be able to mask his identity. And there
were many instances in the Gospels that are very similar to this
post-resurrection experience. John 21 for a little fishing
trip right the Apostles go on a fishing trip courtesy of the
SS Peter and it says that when day was now breaking Jesus stood
on the beach yet the disciples did not know it was Jesus people
can be a long way off we can see their form we know how they
walk we know how they carry themselves and yet the Apostles themselves
couldn’t have been that far off of shore The apostles themselves
didn’t know it was Jesus. Luke 21, their eyes were prevented
from recognizing Him. Luke 24, 37, they were startled
and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. Matthew
28, when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some were doubtful.
Even some disciples, when they saw Jesus face-to-face, still
didn’t believe it. And so Jesus engages this woman,
much like what the angels did. Mary, rather, isn’t particularly
impressed with this being either, as we’ll see. Jesus said to her,
woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? She doesn’t
take him to be an angel. She thinks he’s the gardener. Supposing him to be the gardener.
She said to him sir if you’ve carried him away Tell me where
you’ve laid him and I will come and take him away The gardener
It’s possible that the only logical explanation is he’s there early
in the morning Wanting to beat the heat of the day to get some
things done in this beautiful garden in which Christ was laid
It certainly makes sense. We don’t know why she thought
he was the gardener But she doesn’t recognize him. She thinks he’s
a gardener and speaks to him and really treats him as such,
as you’ll see in a moment. She doesn’t regard him as her
beloved savior. And even in her loving devotion,
she doesn’t even calculate her own ability. She says, tell me
where he is. I’ll pick him up and I’ll cart
him away. I will see to it that his body is cared for. And note that Mary never refers to Jesus as a dead
body. In verse 13 she expresses the
concern that they, whoever they was, had taken away her Lord. And here in this verse she refers
to Jesus simply as Him three times in rapid succession. It
was still this body, wherever it was, was still Him to her. Jesus engages her further with
one simple word. Verse 16, Jesus said to her,
Mary. That general term of address
when Jesus first called her woman didn’t do anything for her. But
this all of a sudden echoes in her soul. She knows that it’s
her Savior’s voice. And we have immediately the image,
don’t we, of John chapter 10. He who enters by the door is
a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens,
and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by
name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own,
he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they
know his voice. It could have been that there
was an accent. It could have been that there was a certain
tone, a quality of Jesus’ voice that was familiar to Mary. But the truth is, the sheep know
His voice. This is a graphic example. She
knew exactly that it was Jesus by one little word. One pastor said little as she
had shown herself able to understand the great truth of her Savior’s
resurrection, she had at any rate shown that none loved Him
more or clung to Him more tenaciously than she did. One single word
was enough to open her eyes, to let the whole truth shine
into her mind and to reveal to her the great fact that her Savior
was not dead. but he was alive and that he
had won a victory over the grave. And with that, Mary turns to
him immediately and says to him in Hebrew, Rabboni, which means
teacher. And so you have this image in
scripture. It could only be that once she
turned to him initially, she had to have turned away again
because here it says she turns. She turned and looked to him
and looked away from the Savior. looked away from Jesus whom she
thought was a gardener only to hear her voice on his beloved
lips. The literal meaning of this word
is master. And there’s no doubt that her
belief is in a state of maturity. It is still imperfect. She uses
a very human title. She doesn’t refer to him even
as she did when she first noticed the empty tomb. She doesn’t refer
to him as Lord. Mary knew without a doubt that
it was the Lord Jesus. And she calls to him as teacher.
Very common turn in the Jewish society of someone of a higher
rank either socially or academically or religiously. But it isn’t
out of disrespect for Jesus at all. Three times in this short
section, she refers to Jesus as her Lord. She ran and came
to Simon Peter and said, they have taken the Lord out of the
tomb. When the angels ask her why she’s
weeping, because they have taken away my Lord, Mary Magdalene
It says at the very end, goes to the apostles and tells them
very plainly, I have seen the Lord. It’s not just that Mary
was content with Jesus as a teacher. She knew it was the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so I ask, how well do you
know the shepherd’s voice? How eager are you to hear it?
How much do you read His Word and seek His face and seek to
honor Him? In considering one woman’s clarifying
perspective of Jesus, we see a woman not only standing in
her grief and turning to her Lord, But thirdly, a woman clinging
to her mission. Clinging to her mission. Look
at verse 17. This is abrupt. And there’s a
lot in the white space that isn’t communicated to us. Jesus said
to her, stop clinging to me, which means that she must have
at some point jumped up, sprung forward, perhaps even throwing
herself at her feet, although an embrace is not forbidden here
by the text. She could have thrown her arms
around Him or thrown her arms around His ankles. And Jesus said to her, stop clinging
to Me. Talking about something in which
she was already engaged. For I have not yet ascended to
the Father, but go to My brethren and say to them, I ascend to
My Father and your Father and My God and your God. And so we’re
not told how and when She began to cling to him. There’s a similar
verse that occurs, and this has led commentators to equate these
two verses. I don’t think that it’s possible.
In Matthew 28, Jesus met them and greeted them. They came up
and took hold of his feet and worshiped them. That’s what has
led so many people to say that Mary threw her arms around his
ankles and would not let go. The risen Lord is seen and Jesus
greets them and their natural reaction is to fall at his feet
and throw their arms about him. There’s nothing sinful in her
response. There’s nothing sinful that Jesus addresses here. Even
clasping and clinging to the Lord. But Jesus wants to give
her spiritual perspective. He wants her to know him as he
knows her. He wants her to have a more complete
vision, not through a mirror darkly. In Matthew’s account,
Jesus readily accepts this worshipful greeting. It’s not that it was
wrong in Mary’s case, but he wants her to grow. In her case, having lost him
once, even twice, this body, she wasn’t about to lose him
again, and Jesus can’t let her stay there. Jesus said to her,
stop clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Jesus intimates here that there
is going to be a heavenly communion, a heavenly relationship that’ll
be better than what the apostles had while Jesus was on earth.
It’ll be better. It’ll be continuous. It’ll be
new and different. But it had not yet begun. Jesus
has to first ascend to his Father and then return But he tells Mary, that is future. It isn’t for right now. Mary thinks that if she could
only hang on to Jesus, he won’t get lost again. She won’t lose
sight of him again, that they can continue this earthly fellowship
forever, as long as she lives. Jesus tells her, not even in
holding on to me, can this earthly relationship continue as it has?
Jesus says to her, stop clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended
to my father. It’s absolutely necessary for
Jesus to go to the father. And so instead, he replaces it
with a command. And this is just remarkable.
Go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my father and
your father, my God and your God. And it’s only here in all
of the Gospels that Jesus refers to his disciples as brothers,
brethren. And when you think of it, that
part of it is astounding, isn’t it? Because the last time we
saw these guys under the cover of darkness, they were scattering
They left Jesus and fled. And here is Jesus, in his tender
mercy, beckoning them back to himself. Jesus thinks first and
foremost of them. He had told the disciples over
and over again that he was going to return to the Father, and
now he wants them to know that this process is now just one
step closer. that He is going back to His
Father and their Father. His Father in a different sense
than theirs. His God in a different sense
than theirs. But just as John 14, 2, as Jesus
had told them, My Father’s house has many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have
told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go
to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to
myself. That where I am there, you will
be also. It’s a promise. And it’s a promise
that’s already in the course of being fulfilled. And so Mary said, I need a break. I need to go think about this
for a time. I need to go on a retreat and
ponder. Let me pray about it, would you,
Jesus? That isn’t what she said at all.
This is what she did. That’s what we might do. Verse 18 is so abrupt. No sooner does Jesus tell her,
go to my brethren and say to them, Verse 18, Mary Magdalene
came announcing to the disciples, I have seen the Lord and that
he had said these things to her. Do you know what has one commentator
commented? She becomes an apostle, a sent
one to the apostles, the sent ones. This is an astounding thing
that Jesus appeared to this obscure woman first. and sent her to
them. And she announced to them that
their Lord had risen and that he was going to ascend to his
heavenly Father. You know what the other gospels
record? Some of these apostles, some
of these disciples didn’t even believe Mary’s report. Luke 24,
these words appeared to them as nonsense. And they would not
believe them. If the order of Matthew’s gospel
is correct here, then only the full presence of the Lord would
prove her statement. And so the Lord comes. Matthew
28, nine, behold, the Lord, behold, Jesus met them and greeted them
and they came and took hold of his feet and worshiped him then
Jesus said to them do not be afraid go and take word to my
brethren leave for Galilee and there they will see me he says
go tell the disciples and so I ask as we’ve seen a
woman devotedly standing in her grief a woman turning to her
Lord and now a woman clinging to her mission not clinging to
the ankles anymore of a physical earthly Savior, but clinging
to the mission that that Savior provided her. And I ask you,
how obedient are you to the Master’s commands? Mary didn’t think about
this. Mary didn’t have to ponder this.
Mary didn’t have to go seek counsel. Mary didn’t have to go on a retreat.
Mary didn’t have to write in her journal and ponder what she
must do. Mary heard the command and obeyed
immediately. How greatly do you desire to
honor Him in all that you do? How much do you seek to do His
will and honor His commands and obey His word? Is it enough for
us to serve Him even if it’s some menial task, some obscure
duty, some mundane job? It wasn’t for Mary. She rose, and she ran, and she
did exactly as her Savior had commanded. What an example we
have in this woman. Let’s pray. O merciful God, we see so much
of ourselves in Mary, caught up in worrying about earthly things,
thinking that this is all there is, even catching a glimpse of you
from time to time, but even when we do, not always responding. Lord, we thank you for this example
of this obscure woman who heard and obeyed, who took up your
cause in this world, in doing simply what you asked her to
do. Lord God, grant us the grace to be faithful in our respective
callings, to be faithful as fathers, faithful as wives, faithful as
students and children, to be faithful employees, to be faithful
supervisors. God, grant us the grace to honor
you in all that we do. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray.
Amen.