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You know, Claud....there are many differences in the two events....they are not even similar.

I confess to have no idea where you are coming from with this one. I thought I'd heard everything.

The Passover *was* to be celebrated on the 14th of Nisan. And why? To commemorate the Isrealites' liberation from the bondage of Egypt. That is what a feast is, divine or otherwise. It commemorates an event. Now, if that deliverance should be commemorated with its own day, how much more should the day of Christ's delivering us from the bondage of sin be commemorated with its own feast. Christ's Resurrection was a far more perfect fulfillment of what the Exodus was only the prototype.

So for you to demand that we keep the old feast of the shadow, of the prophecy, and not keep the same, fulfilled feast of the real, true, and most perfect deliverance...well it is quite strange. I do not think you do so intentionally, but you end up wanting to cling to the date of Moses' deliverance over and against Christ's.

And as for Passover being an eight-day affair, obviously you don't have much familiarity with those liturgical churches (Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox) for whom the Easter cycle--to say nothing of Lent--begins with the solemn Palm Sunday liturgy and then Holy Week, proceeds to the sacred Triduum of Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday, and THEN gets its very own 8-day Easter octave of feasts during the whole subsequent week. It was the communities of the Reformation that dwindled it down to one day...we still keep the feast in the old manner.

And you keep saying that "it was not observed by the Apostles". Again, you have absolutely no evidence to say that. It is simply an assumption you are making based on nothing. John seems to have kept the 14th Nisan, but as for the rest? We simply don't know. Here's what Eusebius says:

1. A question of no small importance arose at that time. For the parishes of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Saviour’s passover.1687 It was therefore necessary to end their fast on that day, whatever day of the week it should happen to be. But it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world to end it at this time, as they observed the practice which, from apostolic tradition, has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the fast on no other day than on that of the resurrection of our Saviour.

Furthermore, the modern Passover is not even what it used to be any more. The temple has fallen, ergo no more sacrifices. No more sacrificial lambs. The holiday you claim to follow doesn't even exist as it once did. So I'm bewildered about your continued defense of it.

The Passover *was* to be celebrated on the 14th of Nisan.

Here is a link to A Calendar for the Holy Land for the year 27 a.d. You can change the year and month yourself to see which day Passover, the 14th of Nisan fell on. In year 30 a.d. it also fell on a Wednesday and in year 33 a.d. it fell on a Friday. Between the years 27 a.d. and 33 a.d. Passover fell on a Saturday once, a Wednesday twice, a Monday thrice and a Friday once.

Your Easter story say Christ was crucified on Good Friday at about 3:00 p.m. and was buried shortly before the Sabbath began at sunset. (Year 33 a.d.) It goes on to say He arose at sunrise on Sunday morning and this is one of the reasons for sunrise services throughout Christendom. It is also your rational for the celebration of Sunday as the Christian Sabbath as this was the day of resurrection. This is the gist of the celebration. I won't even get into the other traditions of Easter that we are all familiar with. Mark 16:2 indicates the women arrive at sunrise finding our Saviour arisen and I believe this is where most of the tradition began.

We know that Jesus began his ministry at age 30 because Luke 3:23 says so and Numbers 4:3,23,and 30 verify this. We know that his ministry lasted about 3 1/2 years because John indicates three separate Passover celebrations attended by The Lord in 2:13; 6:4; and 13:1. It is doubtful that Jesus was born in "Anno Domini one". Most historical sources now agree that it was anywhere from 3 to 6 b.c. The calendar we use today is based upon a 33 a.d. crucifixion. It is wrong.

More than likely it was the year 27 or 30 a.d. The reason for this is simple. The crucifixion, burial and resurrection took place over a three day (72 hour) period of time. Matthew 12:40 indicates the time Jesus himself prophesied that he would be in the tomb and we know that the Hebrew idiom that counts part of one day as a full day does not apply in this case. Both days and nights are mentioned eliminating this possibility. Scripture also verifies in four different places how long the entombment would be. Mark 8:31 says "after three days" (at least 72 hours). Matthew 27:63 says the same. Mark 9:31 says "the third day" (at least 48....no more than 72 hours). John 2:19-21 says "in three days" (not more than 72 hours). Scripture therefore says, without a question, the entombment had to have been exactly 72 hours.

In your scenario Jesus would have been in the tomb 36 hours....more or less.

Let's now get back to Mark 16. The first verse indicates the Sabbath is now over and the women are going to purchase some spices to anoint our Lord's body. Mark was not an eyewitness to the events and only wrote down what he had learned from Peter. Please see Papias, section VI for further clarification. When the scriptures were written there were no chapters and verses so the Sabbath spoken of in Mark 16:1 is actually the Sabbath you saw on the calendar earlier indicating the first Sabbath of unleavened Bread....Wednesday evening/Thursday......the Hebrews beginning their days at sunset. The reason we know this is because the women after purchasing these spices go home and prepare them and rest again for another Sabbath [Luke 23:56] this time the weekly Sabbath. The women had purchased and prepared the spices on the non Sabbath day of Thursday evening/Friday and the weekly Sabbath was Friday evening/Saturday.

Now, who are these women in Mark 16:2 that visit the tomb at sunrise? Contrary to popular belief, they are not Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James, and Salome spoken of in Mark 16:1. Mark 16:1 should actually be Mark 15:48....a continuation of the thought process where Joseph of Arimathia was attempting to get the body buried before "that" Sabbath began [John 19:31] and of course this verse is the verification that the Sabbath here was a special Sabbath....not the weekly one. These women after finding the tomb empty run away, frightened....and tell no one (verse 8). In Matthew 28 Mary Magdalene and friends, filled with joy, run and tell the disciples! In Luke 24:9 they tell the disciples! In John 20:2 they tell the disciples!

This brings me to Matthew 28:1. The Septuagint, the Vulgate, The Douay-Rheims and the King James all say "Late on Sabbath....or in the End of the Sabbath." The Greek word "Epiphosko" translated "Dawn" in many translations can also mean "to begin" or "to draw on" like it does the only other place it is used in scripture [Luke 23:54] and the Sabbath was drawing on as Joseph was hurriedly trying to get the body in the tomb. This was taking place just before sunset on Wednesday evening and since we know our Lord would be entombed for 72 hours he would have resurrected Late on Sabbath. In Matthew, Luke and John it is easily verified that the resurrection took place on the Sabbath. Mark 16:2 simply says the tomb was empty Sunday morning.

There is no command anywhere in scripture to celebrate Sunday as the day of resurrection. There is no command anywhere in scripture to do away with Passover. The Apostles celebrated Passover as did our Saviour. The last living Apostle, John, saw to it that his disciples were instructed in the correct manner and all of the early churches in the "East" celebrated the Passover on the 14th. The doctrinal error emanated from Rome and it continues.........