BFS450 - WHAT DAY DID JESUS DIE?

Jesus said that He would rise from the dead three days and nights after his death - Matthew 12:40. But it is not possible to fit this period between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning. The Bible never says that He died on a Friday, just that He died on the day before a Sabbath, which is not the same thing. Not all of the “Sabbaths” were the weekly ones (i.e. the seventh day of the week). There were special “Sabbaths” or Holy Days linked specifically to the Feasts of the Lord. These were called “High Sabbaths”. John points out that the Sabbath immediately following Jesus’ death was a High Sabbath - John 19:31. We are able to ascertain that this was the High Sabbath of the Passover or Unleavened Bread - see Exodus 12:16. This was the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nisan.

The Jewish day starts at Sunset (roughly 6pm). We know that Jesus died at 3pm on the afternoon of 14th day of Nisan, which is the Day of Preparation for the Passover. In Jesus’ time this was called the Preparation Day - Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:14, 42. This occurs on the day immediately before the commencement of Festival of Unleavened Bread. On the Preparation Day, the Passover Lamb was slaughtered, prior to the preparation and cooking of the Passover meal (the Seder), which was ceremonially eaten that evening. This was immediately following the commencement of the new day - at 6pm on the 15th day of Nisan, which was the High Sabbath (Holy Convocation, or sacred assembly). Leviticus 23:4-8

Jewish Festivals such as Passover/Unleavened Bread, do not occur on the same day of the week each year, but are known as moveable feasts. We are told that Jesus was risen on the first day of the week - Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:9. There is another festival (Firstfruits - see Leviticus 23:10-11) during the week of Unleavened Bread, which occurs on the day after the weekly Sabbath that occurs during the Week of Unleavened Bread. Thus the Festival of the Firstfruits, a picture of “new life” or “resurrection, always occurred on the first day of the normal week.

Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, while it was still dark, i.e. well before 6am, by which time Jesus had already risen, see John 20:1, thus He would have been risen any time after 6pm on the first day of the week (i.e. on the Festival of Firstfruits), or up to three hours prior to that. Keep in mind the understanding that the Jewish day commences at sunset (about 6pm). So at virtually any time between 3pm on the weekly Sabbath, and say 4am the next morning - “the first day of the week” - Jesus was already risen from the dead. Matthew 28:1 confirms that there was more than one Sabbath day between Jesus' death and resurrection, by the use of the Greek plural sabbatwn (Sabbaths), which is incorrectly rendered singular in our English translations. This verse should read; "Now after the Sabbaths, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb."

Tracking back three days and nights, from 6pm on the first day of the week, or Saturday evening, we come to 6pm - full three days previously - to the time by which Jesus had been hastily buried, having died three hours earlier at 3pm on 14th of Nisan, which was - a Wednesday. Some people, while trying to reconcile the above facts, have claimed that Jesus may have died on a Thursday. However, this cannot be correct because Thursday is one of the three days in the week that the 14th of Nisan does not coincide. According to the standard calculations of the Jewish festival calendar the 14th of Nisan can fall on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday, but not on a Sunday, Tuesday or Thursday.

Matthew 27:62-66 provides further information, pointing out that the Chief Priests and the Pharisees had a meeting with Pilate on the day that “followed the Day of Preparation”. This of course means that they met together on the 15th of Nisan. Matthew is very careful in his wording, and if this were the normal weekly Sabbath he would have said so. In the opening verse of the next chapter, he carefully identified when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, it was “after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week (Sunday) began to dawn (i.e. while it was still dark)” - Matthew 28:1. If the meeting of the Chief Priests and Pharisees with Pilate had taken place on the weekly Sabbath, then Matthew would have said so. We must therefore conclude, that the day that Jesus died and was buried, was not the day prior to the weekly Sabbath. There must have been at least one day between them. They could not have had their meeting with Pilate on the 14th of Nisan, for a meeting with a “gentile” would have defiled them for the coming Passover (Seder) celebrations on the evening of the 15th. So they delayed the meeting until after this crucial event, to a time when it was more acceptable within the context of their warped sense of sanctification. They met, still on the 15th Nisan, i.e. on the day after the Preparation Day when Jesus had died.

Jesus would be in the grave for three days and three nights (Matt.12:40). He was risen from the dead on the first day of the week, and He died mid-afternoon on the Wednesday, there is ample room to deduce that he actually rose from the dead while it was still the weekly Sabbath, and already risen as the first day of the week commenced.

To assist an understanding of the sequence events running up to, and following, the day that Jesus died, you will find over the page a breakdown of these showing the relationship of the Festival days to the days of the week.

Nisan	Day*	Time	Special	Event
9th		Evening
		Night
	Fri*	Morning		Travelling from Ephraim
		Afternoon		Arrive in Bethany, to stay with Lazarus, Martha and Mary.
10th		Evening	Sabbath	Jesus’ feet anointed by Mary
		Night	Sabbath	Bethany - Night stop
	Sat*	Morning	Sabbath	Triumphant Entry Into Jerusalem - Selection of Passover Lamb
		Afternoon	Sabbath
11th		Evening
		Night		Bethany - Night stop
	Sun*	Morning		Fig tree Cursed. 2nd Purging of the Temple.
		Afternoon		Jesus predicts His death of the Cross.
12th		Evening
		Night		Bethany - Night stop
	Mon*	Morning		Comment on the withered fig tree. Sanhedrin challenge Jesus.
		Afternoon		Mount of Olives Discourse
13th		Evening		Simon the leper’s house in Bethany. Lady anoints his head. Judas’ plots.
		Night		Bethany - Night stop.
	Tue*	Morning
		Afternoon		Preparation for Jesus’ Passover Meal
14th		Evening		Upper Room (Jerusalem) Passover Meal. Jesus Arrested (Gethsemane)
		Night		Overnight in Caiaphas’ House
	Wed*	Morning		6-9am - Trial. 9am to 3pm - Crucifixion
		Afternoon	Preparation	Day of the Passover. 3pm Jesus Dies (as Passover Lamb). Jesus Buried.
15th		Evening	* High Day	In the Tomb
		Night	* High Day	In the Tomb
	Thu*	Morning	* High Day	In the Tomb. (Chief Priests/Pharisees meet with Pilate to set the guard)
		Afternoon	* High Day	In the Tomb
16th		Evening	*	In the Tomb
		Night	*	In the Tomb
	Fri*	Morning	*	In the Tomb
		Afternoon	*	In the Tomb
17th		Evening	* Sabbath	In the Tomb
		Night	* Sabbath	In the Tomb
	Sat*	Morning	* Sabbath	In the Tomb
		Afternoon	* Sabbath	In the Tomb. Resurrection? (anytime between 3pm and sunset)
18th		Evening	* Firstfruits	Resurrection? (between 6pm and just prior to the lady’s coming)
		Night	* Firstfruits	Resurrection? Ladies come while it still dark - before 6am.
	Sun*	Morning	* Firstfruits	Early - Peter and John go to empty tomb. Jesus appears to ladies.
		Afternoon	* Firstfruits	Appears on the Emmaus Road. Appears to Peter. Then the ten disciples.
19th		Evening	*
		Night	*
	Mon*	Morning	*
		Afternoon	*
20th		Evening	*
		Night	*	* Indicates the Feast of Unleavened Bread, commencing at sunset on the
	Tue*	Morning	*	15th Nisan and terminating at sunset on the 22nd of Nisan
		Afternoon	*
21st		Evening	*
		Night	*
	Wed*	Morning	*
		Afternoon	*
22nd		Evening	* High Day
		Night	* High Day
	Thu*	Morning	* High Day
		Afternoon	* High Day
23rd		Evening
		Night		Appears to over 500 believers at one time. Then to James (Jesus’ brother).
	Fri*	Morning		These events occur sometime between the 19th and the 24th Nisan.
		Afternoon
24th		Evening	Sabbath
		Night	Sabbath
	Sat*	Morning	Sabbath
		Afternoon	Sabbath
25th		Evening		Jesus appears to the Eleven (including Thomas).
		Night

* Note: While the Jewish day commences at Sunset, our modern (Western) days commence at mid-night. For comparison purposes, the days shown here, in the second column, identify with our modern days and not according to Jewish reckoning