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Provocative question for the Easter season.

Under this theory, Jesus wouldn't have risen on Sunday, so changing the day of worship to Sunday would be in error, right?

Anything that bad probably happened on a Monday.

There have been several documentaries addressing this question. They brought to light some discrepancies in the calendar and the holiday / holyday Jesus and the Apostles were celebrating at the Last Supper. Most of it was very interesting and informative.

The point is, however, is not what day of the week Jesus was killed or rose up. The important issue is that the event took place at all. and Easter is the celebration of the event.

I hope most of you don't really think that Jesus was born on the exact date of December 25. The days / dates of the holidays are twofold, 1. A reference for us, 2. A connections from the older holidays (Jewish, Roman, etc.) to the new Christian holidays.

If the passover sabbath had been on a thursday, as it is this year then Jesus could have been crucified on wednesday afternoon. He would have been buried before sundown and spent thursday, friday, and saturday in the tomb and risen sometime early sunday morning. There would have been two sabbaths that week, the passover and the weekly sabbath, and that's where the "good friday "confusion comes from.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Three days.

Sorry, Charlie. Doesn't work. The old tradition is there for a reason. First, the scripture says--in every Gospel, I think--that Jesus rose on the first day of the week--Sunday. Then you have the problem of scriptural references:

Jn 19:31 The Jews, therefore, since it was the preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a solemn day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken...

Mark 15:42 Immediately after the account of Jesus' death: "Now when it was evening, as it was the Day of Preparation, that is, the eve of the Sabbath, there came Joseph of Arimathea..." to bury Jesus.

Luke 23:55 After seeing Jesus buried, the women "went back and prepared spices and ointments. And on the sabbath day they rested, in accordance with the commandment. But on the first day..."
So unless it took them a half-week to make ointments, this was on Friday afternoon, and the Sabbath prevented them from going back to annoint the body. Jesus would have been buried around 3 pm, not six, since six would probably have been getting too close to dark, which is when the Jewish Sabbath begins.

One explantion offered here.

I don't understand the problem. Thursday, 13 Nissan ended at sunset; Passover supper at the beginning of 14 Nissan, evening after Thursday, 13 Nissan; taken during the night after Thursday and killed and placed in the tomb during the sunlight hours Friday, 14 Nissan, Day One; Day Two, Sabbath, Saturday, 15 Nissan until sunset; Day Three, Sunday, 16 Nissan, starting at sunset after Saturday; in the grave the dark half of the day; risen after sunrise on day three, Sunday. Three days in the tomb; risen on the third day all the way the words read on the paper.

It isn't heretical to believe that Jesus was crucified on Thursday, or even Wednesday. But as far as I know, Chuck Missler has never studied NT Greek, and is one of these guys like Zola Levitt who was something else and then carried that respect over into being regarded as a Biblical authority, without necessarily "paying his dues."

The article makes some erroneous statements. Here are the ones I can answer off the top of my head, at work:

He says "Nowhere in the Gospels does it assert that Christ was crucified on a Friday." That isn't fully true. We read in Matthew 27:62, Mark 15:42, and Luke 23:54 that Jesus was crucified on a day called "preparation." The Greek word paraskeue means preparation for the Sabbath, which is Friday. In fact, in modern Greek that is the word for Friday.

Then he says this:

Further, Matthew 28:1 should read, "At the end of the sabbaths," (which is plural in the Greek), implying there was a plurality of sabbaths that week.

This illustrates why you really shouldn't comment on Greek without actually studying it. It is common in the NT to use the plural form to denote a week. That is the more natural reading here.

The Friday position is actually the better grounded.

Dan
Biblical Christianity message board

Parasceve

"Six Days Before The Passover" (John 12:1).
This Is Appendix 156 From The Companion Bible.

   We are furnished by Scripture with certain facts and fixed points which, taken together, enable us (1) to determine the events which filled up the days of "the last week" of our Lord's life on earth; (2) to fix the day of His crucifixion; and (3) to ascertain the duration of the time He remained in the tomb.
   The difficulties connected with these three have arisen (1) from not having noted these fixed points; (2) from the fact of Gentiles' not having been conversant with the law concerning the three great feasts of the LORD; and (3) from not having reckoned the days as commencing (some six hours before our own) and running from sunset to sunset, instead of from midnight to midnight.
   To remove these difficulties, we must note :-

That the first day of each of the three feasts. Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, was " a holy convocation", a "sabbath" on which no servile work was to be done. See Leviticus 23:7, 24, 35. Compare Exodus 12:16.
   "That sabbath" and the "high day" of John 19:31, was the "holy convocation", the first day of the feast, which quite overshadowed the ordinary weekly sabbath.
   It was called by the Jews Yom tov = (Good day), and this is the greeting on that day throughout Jewry down to the present time.
   This great sabbath, having been mistaken from the earliest times for the weekly sabbath, has led to all the confusion.
This has naturally caused the futher difficulty as to the Lord's statement that "even as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights" (Matthew 12:40). Now, while it is quite correct to speak according to Hebrew idiom of "three days" or "three years", while they are only parts of three days or three years, yet that idiom does not apply in a case like this, where "three nights" are mentioned in addition to "three days". It will be noted that the Lord not only definitely states this, but repeats the full phraseology, so that we may not mistake it. See the subject fully discussed in Appendix 144.
We have therefore the following facts furnished for our sure guidance:
1. The "high day" of John 19:31 was the first day of the feast.
2. The "first day of the feast" was on the 15th day of Nisan.
3. The 15th day of Nisan, commenced at sunset on what we should call the 14th.
4. "Six days before the passover" (John 12:1) takes us back to the 9th day of Nisan.
5. "After two days is the passover" (Matthew 26:2. Mark 14:1) takes us to the 13th day of Nisan.
6. "The first day of the week", the day of the resurrection (Matthew 28:1, etc.), was from our Saturday sunset to our Sunday sunset. This fixes the days of the week, just as the above fix the days of the month, for:
7. Reckoning back from this, "three days and three nights" (Matthew 12:40), we arrive at the day of the burial, which must have been before sunset, on the 14th of Nisan; that is to say, before our Wednesday sunset.
8. This makes the sixth day before the passover (the 9th day of Nisan) to be our Thursday sunset to Friday sunset.
Therefore Wednesday, Nisan 14th (commencing on the Tuesday at sunset), was "the preparation day", on which the crucifixion took place: for all four Gospels difinitely say that this was the day on which the Lord was buried (before our Wednesday sunset), "because it was the preparation [day]" the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, "for that sabbath day was a high day", and, therefore, not the ordinary seventh day, or weekly sabbath. See John 19:31.
It follows, therefore, that the Lord being crucified on "the preparation day" could not have eaten of the Passover lamb, which was not slain until the evening of the 14th of Nisan (that is to say, afternoon). On that day the daily sacrifice was killed at the 6th hour (noon) and offered about the 7th hour (1 p.m.). The killing of the Passover lambs began directly afterwards. Thus it is clear, that if the killing of the Passover lambs did not commence until about four hours after our Lord had been hanging upon the Cross, and would not have been concluded at the ninth hour (3 p.m.) when "He gave up the ghost;" -no "Passover lamb" could have been eaten at the "last supper" on the previous evening.
With these facts before us, we are now in a position to fill in the several days of the Lord's last week with the events recorded in the Gospels. By noting that the Lord returned to Bethany (or to the Mount of Olives) each night of that week, we are able to determine both the several days and the events that took place in them.

THE SIXTH DAY BEFORE THE PASSOVER, THE 9th DAY OF NISAN. (Our Thursday sunset to Friday sunset.)
	MATTHEW.	MARK.	LUKE.	JOHN.
The Lord approaches Jerusalem from Jericho.			19:1-10
He passes our Thursday night at the house of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:5) And delivers the Parable of the Pounds.			19:11-27
He proceeds toward Jerusalem.			19:28
He sends two disciples *apenanti* for an "ass" and a "colt" (two animals).	21:1-7
And makes His first entry from Bethphage (not Bethany) (Appendix 153).	21:8,9
He is unexpected, and they ask "Who is this?"	21:10, 11
He cleanses the Temple.	21:12 - 16
HE RETURNS TO BETHANY.	21:17			12:1
THE FIFTH DAY BEFORE THE PASSOVER, THE 10th DAY OF NISAN. (Our Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.)
	MATTHEW.	MARK.	LUKE.	JOHN.
The Lord passes the Sabbath at Bethany; and after sunset (on our Saturday), the first of three suppers was made, probably at the house of Lazarus, in Bethany (Appendix 157).				12:2
At this supper the first of two anointings took place (Appendix 158).				12:3 - 11
THE FOURTH DAY BEFORE THE PASSOVER, THE 11th DAY OF NISAN. (Our Saturday sunset to Sunday sunset.) the Gentile "Palm Sunday".
	MATTHEW.	MARK.	LUKE.	JOHN.
The second, or triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He sends two disciples (*katenanti* for a colt (one animal). (See Appendix 153).		11:1 - 7	19:29 - 35	12:12-
The Lord starts from Bethany (not Bethphage) and is met by multitudes from Jerusalem (Appendix 153)		11:8 -10	19:36 - 40	12:12 - 19
He weeps over the city.			19:41 - 44
He enters the Temple, looks around.		11:11-
And RETURNS TO BETHANY		11:-11
THE THIRD DAY BEFORE THE PASSOVER, THE 12th DAY OF NISAN. (Our Sunday sunset to Monday sunset.)
	MATTHEW.	MARK.	LUKE.	JOHN.
In the morning (our Monday a.m.) the Lord returns to Jerusalem.	21:18	11:12
The Fig - tree cursed.	21:19 - 22	11:13 , 14
The Temple. Further cleansing.		11:15 - 17	19:45, 46
In the Temple. Further teaching, "Certain Greeks".			19:47-	12:20 - 50
Opposition of Rulers.		11:18	19:-47, 48
He goes out of the city (probably to Bethany; see Luke 21:37, 38 below).		11:19
THE SECOND DAY BEFORE THE PASSOVER, THE 13th DAY OF NISAN. (Our Monday sunset to Tuesday sunset.)
	MATTHEW.	MARK.	LUKE.	JOHN.
In the mornig (our Tuesday a.m.) on the way to Jerusalem, the question of the disciples about the Fig Tree.		11:20 -26
In Jerusalem again: and in the Temple.	21:23 - 27	11:27 - 33	20:1 - 8
In Jerusalem teaching in Parables; and questions.	21:28 - 23:39	12:1 - 44	20:9 - 21:4
The first great prophecy, in the Temple (Appendix 155).			21:5 - 36
(Parenthetical statement as to the Lord's custom during the last week).			21:37, 38
The second great prophecy, on the Mount of Olives.	24:1 -51	13:1 - 37
The second great prophecy, continued (see Appendix 155).	25:1 - 46
"After two days is the Passover".	26:1 - 5	14:1, 2
HE RETURNS TO BETHATNY, and is present at the second supper in the house of Simon the leper. The second Anointing. See Appendix 157 and Appendix 158.	26:6 - 13	14:3 - 9
THE DAY BEFORE THE PASSOVER, THE 14th DAY OF NISAN - "THE PREPARATION DAY" - THE DAY OF THE CRUCIFIXION. (Our Tuesday sunset to Wednesday sunset.)
	MATTHEW.	MARK.	LUKE.	JOHN.
The plot of Judas Iscariot to betray the Lord.	26:14 - 16	14:10, 11	22:1 - 6
The "preparation"for the last supper.¹	26:17 - 19	14:12¹ -16	22:7¹ - 13
"The even was come" (our Tuesday after sunset) when the plot for the betrayal was ripe for execution.	26:20	14:17
The last supper, commencing with the washing of the feet.				13:1 - 20
The announcement of the betrayal, etc..	26:21 - 25	14:18 - 21		13:21 - 30
The supper eaten, the "New Covenant" made (Jeremiah 31:31). The lamb abolished, bread and wine substituted.	26:26 - 29	14:22 - 25	22:14 - 23
The first prophecy of Peter's denials (Appendix 160).				13:31 - 38
The strife; who should be the greatest, etc..			22:24 - 30
The second prophecy of Peter's denials (Appendix 160).			22:31 - 34
The final appeal to His first commission (Luke9:3).			22:35 - 38
The last discourse to the eleven, followed by His prayer.				14:1 - 17:26
They go to Gethsemane.	26:30 - 35	14:26 - 29	22:39	18:1
The third prophecy of Peter's denial. (Appendix 160).		14:30, 31
The agony in the garden.	26:36 - 46	14:32 - 42	22:40 - 46
The apprehension of the Lord (Appendix 165).	26:47 - 56	14:43 - 50	22:47 - 54	18:2 - 11
The escape of Lazarus (see notes on Mark 14:51, 52).		14:51, 52
The trials: continued throughout our Tuesday night.	26:57 - 27:31	14:53 - 15:19	22:54 - 23:25	18:12 - 19:13
About the sixth hour (our Tuesday midnight) Pilate said "Behold your King".				19:14, 15
Led away to be crucified.	27:31 -34	15:20 - 23	23:26 - 31	19:16, 17
And "led with Him" two "malefactors" (*kakourgoi*) (Appendix 164).			23:32, 33	19:18
Discussion with Pilate about the Inscriptions (Appendix 163).				19:19 - 22
The dividing of the garments.	27:35 - 37	15:24	23:34	19:23, 24
"It was the third hour, and they crucified Him" (our 9 a.m. Wednesday).		15:25, 26
"Then were there two robbers" (*lestai*) crucified with Him"(Appendix 164).	27:38	15:27, 28
The revilings of the rulers, both "robbers", and one "malefactor".	27:39 - 44	15:29 - 32	23:35 - 43
The Lord's mother and John.				19:25 27
"The sixth hour" (our Wednesday noon) and the darkness (Appendix 165).	27:45 - 49	15:33	23:44, 45
"The ninth hour" (our Wednesday 3 p.m.) and the expiring cry (Appendix 165).	27:50	15:34 - 37	23:46	19:28 - 30
Subsequent events.	27:51 - 56	15:38 - 41	23:47 - 49	19:31 - 37
Buried in haste before sunset (our Wednesday about 6 p.m.), before the "high day" (the first day of the Feast began), our Wednesday sunset.	27:57 - 66	15:42 - 47	23:50 - 56	19:38 - 42

"THE FIRST DAY OF THE FEAST" - "THE HIGH DAY" (Yom tov) - THE 15TH DAY OF NISAN.
(Our Wednesday sunset to Thursday sunset.)
THE FIRST NIGHT AND FIRST DAY IN THE TOMB.

THE SECOND DAY OF THE FEAST - THE 16TH DAY OF NISAN.
(Our Thursday sunset to Friday sunset.)
THE SECOND NIGHT AND SECOND DAY IN THE TOMB.

THE THIRD DAY OF THE FEAST - "THE (WEEKLY) SABBATH" - THE 17TH DAY OF NISAN.
(Our Friday susnset to Saturday sunset.)
THE THIRD NIGHT AND THIRD DAY IN THE TOMB.

"THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK" - THE 18TH DAY OF NISAN.
(Our Saturday sunset: "the third day" of Matthew 16:21, etc.;
not the third day of the Feast.)

	MATTHEW	MARK	LUKE	JOHN
Thus, the Resurrection of the Lord took place at our Saturday sunset, or thereabouts, on "the third day"; compare "after three days" (Matthew 27:63. Mark 8:31).	28:1 - 10	16:1 - 18	24:1 - 49	20:1 - 23

[For the sequence of events connected with and following the Resurrection, see Appendix 166.]

   It will be seen from the above that we have neither power nor authority to alter or shift any day or date; or to change the order or position of any of the events recorded in Holy Writ.
   Each day is marked by a return to Bethany during the last week (up to the Preparation Day); and each day is filled with the recorded events.
   It follows, therefore, that the Lord was crucified on our Wednesday; was buried on that day before sunset; and remained "three days and three nights" in the tomb, as foretold by Him in Matthew 12:40; rising from the dead on "the third day", "the first day of the week".
   The fixed days and dates, at either end, hold the whole period as in a vice, and place the whole subject on a sure foundation.

NOTE

¹ The words in Mark 14:12 and Luke 22:7 refer to "the first day of unleavened bread", which was the 14th day of Nisan, and therefore "the preparation day". That is why the Lord goes on to tell the two disciples to go and make preparation for the Passover.

The Council of Nicea outlawed celebration of the Resurrection at Passover.

Maybe they had daylight savings time and they lost a day somehow. Sping ahead...fall...or is if fall ahead...something's missing.

There's no problem with Friday. He rested on the Sabbath.

Genesis 2:1-3

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

As far as this one is concerned...

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. -Matthew 12:40

1) It is an assumption that He was referring to Himself and His crucifixion (cf. Rev 11:7-11). There's more than one 'son of man' in Scripture. Ezekiel comes to mind. Daniel is also addressed by that title (Dan 8:17). The passage is futuristic, and the context could very easily been seen as an event far removed from the 1st century. That generation is also 'this' generation: the evil, wicked, adulterous, unbelieving generation.

2) It is only an interpretation that the 'heart of the earth' is a grave. Maybe it is, but the verse does not say that. It looks more like a metaphor for Jerusalem and/or Babylon.

Matthew 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

Well this event makes a few merrymakers take notice:

Revelation 11:11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Revelation 11:12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

While one lone verse [Matthew 12:40] is spun out of control, several authors state that Jesus rose 'the third day' [e.g. 1 Cor 15:4; Acts 10:40; Luke 9:22; 18:33; 24:7, 46; Mark 9:31; 10:34 etc.]

In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

Speaking of the 'third day', it might also mean that He'll come back on Tuesday (Hebrew Yom Shlishi, lit, 'third day'). Hehehe...