First of all, why does matter? It matters because Jesus was very specific when he prophesied in Mat 12:40, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” In Mark and Luke Jesus says “after three days” and in John he says, “on the third day”, but in Matthew he’s much more specific. It’s important that Jesus’ prophesies be proven true in order for him to be the Messiah and not a false prophet. A prophecy not coming true, however closely, is a serious matter.
If Friday is the only choice for the day on which he was crucified, then it’s difficult at best to account for the three days and nights. No matter how loosely or creatively one interprets the prophesies, how does one come up with three nights when there are clearly only two: Friday night and Saturday night? On his website, Dr. Douglas Jacoby says the three days are explained by the way they counted back then, but doesn’t provide an explanation for the three nights (as far as I could tell).
What information is given in the Scriptures about Jesus’ death and resurrection?
- Jesus ate Passover meal with his disciples the evening before (Mat 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, John 18).
- Jesus was crucified on a day of preparation, which was the day before a Sabbath day where Jews would prepare for the Sabbath the following day since no work could be done and food could not be prepared (normally) or sold or purchased (Mat 27:62, Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, John 19:14).
- Jesus’ tomb was found empty on Sunday morning (Mat 28:1, Mark 16:9, Luke 24:1, John 20:1). Note: all passages use the term “first day of the week” but no one disagrees that this was Sunday for the Jews.
- One can also try to count daily events in the Gospel stories from when Jesus arrived at Jerusalem until he was crucified, but this is made very difficult due to the fact that none of the Gospels claim to be chronologically written except Luke; and, unlike today, it was common during this time to not strictly adhere to chronological order in writings. For a more detailed explanation of this, listen here.
Everyone knows that all Sabbaths are on Saturdays, right? The answer is no, actually. There are seven special Sabbaths called High Holy Sabbaths. Two of the seven special Sabbaths occur relative to a regular Saturday Sabbath, but the other five occur in a specific month and a specific day within that month. Leviticus 23 describes all of this.
In the Jewish calendar, months are aligned to the lunar cycle, starting on the full moon. The first month of the year was determined by the barley harvest, which also coincided with the time of year that God had freed them from Egypt. It should also be said that Jewish days start at twilight (specifically once three stars become visible), unlike our days which begin at midnight.
But what is the probability that one of these special Sabbaths occurred when Jesus was killed? 100%. How can I know this? Because the day after Passover begins a seven-day holiday called the Festival (or Feast) of Unleavened Bread. The first and last days of this special week are High Holy Sabbaths. Lev 23:5 says that Passover is on the 14th day of the first month, called Nisan or Aviv (which means barley), and that the Festival of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th.
Therefore since we know Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples and then was killed the next day, we also know that Jesus was crucified on Passover (since Passover starts at twilight the day before and ends at twilight the next day), and that a special High Holy Sabbath would begin that evening at twilight, the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
Since Passover is not relative to a regular Saturday Sabbath (also called a seventh day Sabbath), it could occur on any day of the week. On what day of the week did Passover occur in the year Jesus was crucified? We don’t know since we don’t know the exact year Jesus died, and, even if we did, the records that say the day of the week on which the month of Nisan started have also been lost to time.
In order for the traditional view of when Jesus was killed to be true, Passover would have to have been on a Thursday night into Friday, making the High Holy Sabbath of the Festival of Unleavened Bread start on Friday evening (meaning that it coincided with a regular Sabbath day). While this could be true, it equally could have occurred on any other day of the week.
The Scriptures that make me think this special High Holy Sabbath did not coincide with a regular Saturday Sabbath are John 19:31 and Mat 27:62. In John, why would the Jewish leaders have to go to Pilate to ask to take the bodies down? Were this a regular Saturday Sabbath coming up, Pilate and the soldiers would have known it and there would be no need to get permission–but because it was a special High Holy Sabbath, he and his soldiers would not have known. In Matthew, who do you think would be the first to point out that one of Jesus’ prophesies did not come true? It would be his greatest opponents, the Pharisees! The Pharisees and chief priests acknowledge the prophesies of Jesus here, so they clearly knew not only that Jesus had said he was going to rise again but also that he said he would be in the grave for three days and nights. Had this not been the case, the Pharisees would have trumpeted this to the Jews.
Therefore if Jesus were crucified on Thursday during the day and put in the grave before sunset (in order for Joseph of Arimathea to be finished before the High Holy Sabbath started), and if he rose during the nighttime before sunrise on Sunday (the women got to the tomb before sunrise John 20:1), then the “three days and nights” prophesy of Jesus is easily worked out:
Days: (1) Thursday day from when he was put in the tomb until twilight, (2) Friday all day, and (3) Saturday all day.
Nights: (1) Thursday all night, (2) Friday all night, and (3) Saturday from twilight until when rose early on Sunday morning before sunrise.
P.S. One thing a failed to point out is confusion caused in the Gospels concerning Passover and the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread. If you read through the crucifixion accounts in all four Gospels, you’ll see that sometimes they refer to the first night of the festival also as Passover, which is technically incorrect but apparently accepted and common in their society–even until today. For instance, in John 18:28, why are the Jewish leaders concerned about eating the Passover when the just ate Passover the night before? The answer is because the culture used the terms “Passover” and “the first night of theFeast of Unleavened Bread” synonymously (it’s certainly easier to say!). To be sure, the culture celebrated both days separately as required by the Law and could distinguish one from another through context even though they used the same term. Even today, Jewish people will refer to the Seder meal as Passover but this is incorrect. Passover meal is a special meal occurring the night before on Passover, where a lamb sacrificed and cooked per the Law is eaten along with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. The Seder meal is a much more complicated meal eaten on the first night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is the day after Passover. Although unleavened bread is also eaten here, at least in the time of Jesus, lamb was most certainly not eaten due to the law requiring any leftover Passover lamb to be burned before sunrise. To be sure none of the lamb from Passover was accidentally eaten after Passover, no lamb was served at all at the Seder.