The Lord Jesus cannot bear to be forgotten by those He loves to the end. Worthless hearts, some may say truly. Yes, but Jesus cares for them: He has died to make them His, and counts on our remembrance of Him—giving us only that which may be the sweet expression of Him and His death for us. If the Supper of the Lord means anything then, it means this, that we love Him and miss Him in the world that has cast Him out. He invests it with just this character Himself: “For as often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye announce the death of the Lord, until He come.”

It is in a scene that has been desolated for her by the death of Christ, and in which Christ’s Assembly finds no rest for her heart, only lingering around the spot where His cross and grave express the heart of the world towards Him. We know Him by faith in the glory, and have rest in communion with Him there. This only makes us feel the world’s rejection of Him more keenly as we walk our path through it. It makes the cross that by which the world is crucified to us and we to the world. We recoil in our hearts from this blighted scene, and get away in spirit as far as possible from it, for we are only seeking more complete identification with Him in His rejection, as the best and brightest portion He can give us in such a world.

This is not the attainment of an advanced Christian, but what Christ looks for from every heart that loves Him. Hear Him say, “This do in remembrance of Me,” and again, “Ye announce the death of the Lord, until He come.” Is it not as though He were saying, “Do they miss Me? Do they long for Me to come again?” What answer do our hearts give to these challenges of His love?