In John 10:17-18 Jesus said “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from Me but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My Father.” As we study the death and burial of Jesus tonight I want us to measure everything that we see, all of His words, all of the actions of men, nature and the Father against that one truth; Jesus didn’t lose His life and He didn’t get killed, He laid His life down. Even His last breath was described in Matthew 27:50 this way, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit.” Mark doesn’t tell us nearly as much about how Jesus died as he tells us about what was happening around Jesus’ death. We will see the sun stop shining, Jesus pointing to and fulfilling prophesy, continuing to be unrecognized by those that were unwilling to see with their hearts instead of their minds and the Father, in my mind, not forsaking the Son but glorifying Him even further than ever before. In the midst of this Mark also shows us some of the people that were present in the midst of all of these miraculous moments, again those that were blind in their spirits but also a soldier who had his heart opened, a religious leader that had his courage rise within him and a group of women that in the midst of their heartbreak still could hear Jesus’ first words to each of their hearts, “Follow Me.” Even though He was dead, even though hope as they understood it was lost, their love for Him and I believe His love for them would not allow them to stop following. My prayer tonight is that we will each remember that two-word command that we have all heard and that in the midst of every detail of our lives we will choose to simply keep following.