In these critical last moments of Jesus’ earthly life, He gave His church…
1. A PICTURE THAT ILLUSTRATES (vs 26-27)

In a 2017 lecture, Mark Meynell addressed the connection between identity and memory…
BBC Radio 3, the U.K.'s primary classical music station, ran a fascinating series of articles on music and memory. Adam Zeman, a Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, wrote about amnesia and memory loss and their relationship to epilepsy. Zeman mentioned two patients, Peter and Marcus, who described their amnesia in very similar terms. One said: "My memory of my past is a blank space. I feel lost and hopeless. I'm trying to explore a void." Both described how disconcerting it is to look at photos. Even though they recognize themselves, they have no recollection of the moment. One said that it's like "reading a biography of a stranger." He's conscious of recent memories slipping away from him, like ships sailing out to sea in the fog, never to be seen again. Mark Meynell, "The Pulpit and the Body of Christ," Covenant Seminary 2017 Preaching Lecture

“Bread”—These disciples were used to taking the Passover bread and repeating these words…
“This is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in the wilderness. This the Almighty did for me when I came out of Egypt.”

“Blood” - The separation of the blood from the body pictures a violent death.

In these critical last moments of Jesus’ earthly life, He gave His church…
2. A PURPOSE THAT RESONATES (v. 28)

The forgiveness of our sins has paved the way for amazing privileges.

• By His blood, we have entered into a new covenant with God. In fact, our relationship with God is a permanent one!

• Now we not only have the privilege of knowing about God; we can really know Him in deeper and more meaningful ways than ever before.

Michael Green wrote:
The death of Christ atoned for all the sins of all the sinners who had ever been or ever would be, as well as those who were alive at the same time as He. The sacrificial system pointed forward to that sacrifice of Christ, but could not itself (Hebrews 10:1-4) take away sins. (BST, p. 276)

In these critical last moments of Jesus’ earthly life, He gave His church…
3. A PROMISE THAT MOTIVATES (v. 29)

Michael Green wrote:
The kingdom had already come: the broken body and the shed blood which are recalled at every communion service demonstrates it so graphically. But the kingdom was yet to come in all its fullness. Jesus longed for the day when the kingdom would be completely realized. And the holy communion bears testimony to that too. It anticipates the heavenly banquet, ‘the wedding supper of the Lamb’, as the book of Revelation puts it. (BST, p. 277)