Navigation
- Home
- Introduction
- Sign of Jonah
- Passover Reckoning
- Two Sabbaths
- First Day of the Week
- Mark 16:9
- Calculating The Dates
- Chronology of His Passion
- Supporting Appendices
- Other Sites Of Interest
- Sitemap
- Contact
Introducing the issue of the three days and three nights of Jesus entombment. Discussing the problems with the traditional view and the goals to be attained by this writing.
Dealing with the literalness of the sign, the circumstances in which it was given, and to whom it was spoken.
The meal that Jesus and his disciples took on the night of his betrayal and arrest was the traditional Passover Seder, observed on the 14th day of the first Jewish month, Nisan. Also that John reports the same meal on the same night, but in a different manner.
Stating the fact that during the week of Passover, there were two Sabbaths. This is a key element to a proper understanding of the chronology of events.
The first day of the week must be understood from a Jewish background, and not Roman.
A time-frame based upon the evidence given, and taking into account the full three days and nights of Jesus entombment.
According to the Scriptures, Passover day is the fourteenth of the first Jewish month of Nisan. The day following, according to Leviticus 23, being the fifthteenth, is a Sabbath, regardless of the day of the week. This will be demonstrated in the next chapter. Among many 'scholars', there is a prevalent opinion that the report of John's Gospel differs from that of the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). However, any differences arise only from a misunderstanding of the Hebraic culture, and from John's purpose for writing.
The most common observation is that the meal John reports, was taken earlier than the actual Passover seder, observed on the 14th of Nisan. This is based upon some misunderstandings of time-frames that John uses. These will be addressed shortly.
It is almost without contradiction, that the synoptics report the meal taken before his betrayal and arrest, was the Passover meal, observed on the 14th of Nisan. John 13:1-2 says,
Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him.
What this tells us, is that before this Passover, Jesus knew that it was at this feast, he would meet his death and return to his place with the Father. Then in verse 2, John jumps ahead two days to the Passover feast, after the main meal was finished.
Another verse that trips people up, is John 18:28.
Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.
At first glance, this makes it sound like Passover had not yet taken place. However, this is not a reference to the Passover of the 14th, but to the Chagigah of the 15th.
The Chagigah was a second, or supplemental festive offering to the Paschal lamb eaten on the 14th. Joseph Stallings, in his book, Rediscovering Passover: a complete guide for Christians, states, "the obligatory Passover peace offering . . .of the 15th of Nisan is also referred to as Pesach" 1 .
Alfred Edersheim also notes,
They who had not hesitated to break every law of God's and of their own making, would not enter the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled and prevented from the Chagigah. 2
So this reference to 'passover' in Jn. 18:28, is not referring to the actual Passover feast of the 14th, but to an additional festive offering, held over on the 15th.
Another reference that would seem to lend support to the traditional view of a Friday crucifixion, is John 19:31. It states,
The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
Here, we find John reporting Jesus still on the cross during the time known as the preparation. Every Sabbath had a time of preparation for it. Here we introduce a concept that may be foreign to many. The idea of there being two (2) Sabbaths during the week of Passover. Later, we will explain in fuller detail this idea. Suffice it to say here, that this preparation referred to by John, is not the preparation for the weekly Sabbath, but the preparation for the annual Sabbath of the 15th of Nisan. Jesus was crucified on the 14th of Nisan, and placed in the tomb just before the Sabbath of the 15th commenced.
It is apparent to even the causal reader, that John's Gospel is quite different from the other three. There is a reason for this. John's purpose in writing is different. The early church historian, Eusebius, tells us this,
The three gospels already written were in general circulation and copies had come into John's hands. He welcomed them we are told, and confirmed their accuracy, but he remarked that the narrative only lacked the story of what Christ had done first of all at the beginning of his mission. . . . John was urged to record in his gospel the period which the earlier evangelists had passed over in silence and the things done during that period by the Saviour. 3
Eusebius says that John confirmed the other three gospels' accuracy. What this means to us is that accepting the fact that the synoptic gospels report the Last Supper was actually a Passover Seder Meal, then John is agreeing with that fact. Why would he agree that that last meal was indeed a Passover meal, then contradict that truth in his own writing? That just doesn't add up.
In short, John's purpose in writing, was to supplement what was passed over by the other three gospel writers. If the other three gospels were in general circulation as Eusebius reports, John would feel no need to restate facts that were already common knowledge, i.e., that it was Passover, the 14th, when Jesus was betrayed, arrested, crucified and buried.
