Dialogue of Rejector & Rejected
Dialogue between the Rejector & Rejected
Let's take the Lord's Supper together. Paul says that as often as we do this, we proclaim the Lord's death. Let's listen in as Mark simply describes the awesomely horrific event that we remember and proclaim:
Mark describes the even simply in 15:24: "And they crucified him." Mocking yet accurate, a sign hung above his head that read "King of the Jews." And while God the Son to whom all of creation was made to bow hung naked pinned to the wood by nails in his hands and feet between two robbers, "those who passed by derided him" (Mk 15:29) and "the Chief priests and the scribes mocked him" (Mk 15:31). His closest friends had fled, Peter had denied him, and the people whom He had come to save flung words of hatred at him. The eternal and sinless God the Son body was tortured with the slow misery of suffocation and bloodless; the piercing pain of nails in bone and raw flesh making even a moment's rest impossible.
But Jesus doesn't question any of this suffering. Rather He is suffering a punishment far worse than any of these. Jesus had existed in perfect, joyful, unity with God the Father since eternity past. Yet now God the Father, more powerful than we could ever imagine, is pouring out every ounce of His wrath that I and every other person He would save were owed. God the Father was crushing Him; placing all the eternal suffering of Hell on Jesus as He hung there. And Jesus cries out in a loud voice, the Rejected toward the Rejector: "'Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?' which means 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" (Mk 15:34)
What would God answer? Think about it for a second...what was God's answer? Shortly later, Jesus cries out in a loud voice Words that John records, "It is finished!" And then we see the Father's answer:
(Mk 15:38) "And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom." The curtain that God tore once Jesus died was the 80-foot-tall curtain separating the Holy of Holies where God was from the rest of the temple. God was separate from the people. But God replied to Jesus question with this miraculous action: Jesus opened the way through the curtain to God. God tore the curtain to declare to us that Jesus' mission was successful: Man & God were now reconciled through the death of Christ.
That is the death we proclaim as we take the Lord's Supper.
it would not make sense for one to simultaneously proclaim that they do not need Jesus' death and to proclaim His death. We proclaim His death because we recognize there is no other way to God and we have trusted in Christ and Christ alone. Therefore, if you think you are a good person and trusting in your goodness to get you to God let the cup & bread pass. If you are a religious person trusting in your completion of relgious duties to get you to God, let the cup and bread pass. If you do not believe in God or if you do not believe in Hell and therefore do not believe that Jesus suffered Hell in your place let the bread and cup pass. If there is known sin in your life and you refuse to repent of it, let the bread and cup pass The reason that I have encouraged you to let it pass is because this time is for christian who trusts in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. But please, I beg you, repent even now, look to Christ and trust in Him. You can never do what He did in His atoning death, and why do you want to try? He has done it, trust it, and proclaim it with us.