Replies

Had Jesus died on Friday, though, He would have been in the grave for portions of only 2 days (the rest of Friday and all day Saturday) and 2 nights (the beginning of Saturday and the beginning of Sunday—see the Holy Week chart). Thus, His own prophecy (“...the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”—Matthew 12:40) would not have been fulfilled.

Yes and No!

If Jesus had died (and was buried) on Friday, he would have been 3 days in the tomb, since the Jews counted as a day even a fraction of that day. And a day begun at sundown. That is, Jesus would have been in the tomb for a very short time Friday, Saturday, and several hours of Sunday. However, I agree that would have been only 2 nights (Fri to Sat and Sat to Sun) and that has bothered me for a while since Jesus Himself said He would be in the tomb for 3 days and 3 nights.

Knowing that the decree to rebuild the temple was most likely issued on 444 BC, and following Daniel's prophecy, it seems that the best guess for the crucifixion is 33 AD. Does anybody know how to find out if Nissan 14 of that year was a Thursday or a Friday?

Actually, the question about whether Passover occurred on the Thusday or the Friday is entirely a legitimate issue, but one which is dealt with in the bible, and incorporated into the Catholic/catholic tradition.

Jesus’ plan is to celebrate Passover with his disciples as a sign to Christians, yet be sacrificed himself later as a Passover sacrifice as a sign to the world. Praise the wondrous workings of God that this apparent contradiction is possible!

It is the passover which Jesus celebrates on THURSDAY evening. The day of unleavened bread was during the day on THURSDAY. Jesus himself is the paschal lamb offered on this feast. He means it when he says, “This is my body... This is my blood,” for it was on this day, THURSDAY, when he, the lamb of God, was consumed by the first Christians. That this is the passover is absolutely attested to:

“So they prepared the Passover. 14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” — Luke 22:13b-16

Matthew is even plainer:

‘18 He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” 19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. 20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21 And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”’ — Matthew 27:18-21.

But how strange is this? The NEXT DAY after the passover meal, the Jews are preparing for the Passover ... again??? For after Jesus is flogged, John tells us “It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.” (John 19:13) Lest anyone have any doubt that the Passover was being celebrated on a Saturday, “Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath.” (John 19:31).

Could Matthew and Luke depict a meal other than the Passover? No, it is celebrated when evening comes, after the Day of Preparation. How is it that John describes the events of the next day, and yet still insists that it is the Day of Preparation for the Passover? Because the Jews had conflicting ways of counting the Passover. The Essenes counted in one manner; the Sanhedrin in another. To this day, the Christian calculation of passover is inconsistent with the Jews.

The gospel is quite plain that Jesus is slain on the Day of Preparation for the Sabbath. That’s a Friday, folks.

Thus, God pulls off what seems to us to be a logical impossibility: Jesus celebrates the Passover meal with his disciples; yet also is himself the Paschal lamb.

Great. I’m glad to see someone got this right after Christians have had it wrong for 2000 years. I am glad in the same way I am that Charles Taze Russell got it right that Jesus died on a “torture stake” rather than a cross as so many stupid Christians believed for all that time, and that also Joseph Smith was told by no less than Kolob-dwelling “Heavenly Father” and Lucifer’s brother Jesus that all the other denominations got it wrong, and that there was need for “another Testament of Jesus Christ.”

Really, what did all those other benighted people do for all those years. Sheesh!