When Did Jesus Die?
Today is Good Friday, and we remember (and in one sense celebrate) the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for our sins. I’ll be going to our church in just a few hours to join with the rest of the congregation in a Good Friday service of remembrance.
But Bible students ask some questions when they read the accounts of the Last Supper, arrest, and crucifixion. Matthew, Mark, and Luke say Jesus was crucified on Passover. But John, who has the longest account of the night of his betrayal, puts it before Passover, calling the day of the crucifixion a “day of preparation.” Which was it?
I recently received that question from a friend. Here is his question, and here is my answer.
My friend asks:
Why isn’t the natural reading of the account of Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion interpreted as Jesus was arrested on the first day of Passover and crucified on the day of preparation for the last day of Passover? Matt. 26:17-19, Mark 14:12-16, Luke 22:7-13 are all clear that Jesus celebrated the first day of Passover with his disciples (14th Nisan)...so the first day of Passover preparation had passed. John 19:14 clearly states that Jesus was sentenced to be crucified on the day of preparation for the Passover. If he celebrated the first day of preparation with the disciples. Wouldn’t the only day of preparation left be the second day of preparation for the final day of the seven-day festival(20th of Nisan)?
My answer:
It’s great to remember good times when old friends’ names come up! I’m glad you are digging into the Word like this.
You are correct that isolating when Jesus’ Last Supper occurred is challenging. The Synoptic gospel accounts all say it was Passover, but John says it was Preparation Day.
However, Passover was not a seven-day festival. Passover was only one day, followed by the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We tend to think of them together, but the Jews never called the whole period “Passover,” so this isn’t a good explanation.
The problem stems from the different ways the calendar was followed by the Jews of that time. There were differences between Pharisees and Sadducees, and between Galilee and Jerusalem. For some, each day began with sunset—Genesis 1:5 and Exodus 12:18 could be cited as biblical support. This is the common practice of the contemporary orthodox Jewish community as well. John seems to follow this reckoning in his gospel when he references days. The Sadducees (who were the priests) followed this reckoning as well. This explains why they were so anxious to get the crucifixion over—their Passover was coming!
However, other Jews followed a second way of reckoning days, following the sunrise-to-sunrise method. You can see this in Jewish history in Genesis 8:22 and 1 Samuel 19:11. This was what the Pharisees did, and it was this reckoning that the Synoptic gospels followed. For them, the Last Supper coincided with the Passover.
So, Thursday evening was Passover by the Synoptic/Pharisee reckoning because Nisan 15 had begun at sunset, but the day of preparation by John’s/Saduceean reckoning because Nisan 15 wasn’t until the next sunrise. Jesus was crucified Friday afternoon of Nisan 15, which was still Preparation Day for John, but in the Synoptic reckoning, the Passover had already been eaten earlier in this “day”—after sundown the night before!
Interestingly, there are Jewish historical records that show Passover lambs were being slain on two consecutive days, which makes sense if there were two different evenings considered “Passover” by different groups.
This is only one of the problems of the chronology of the crucifixion. Some scholars argue for the crucifixion occurring on Friday, others on Thursday, and even a few on Wednesday. The last two have to do with the “three days and three nights” reference when Jesus spoke of the sign of Jonah. And there are two years in our current calendar reckoning where Passover and a Sabbath occurred within 2 days of each other—A. D. 30, and and A. D. 33. My own studies have led me to believe Jesus was crucified on Friday, Nisan 15, which would be April 3, A. D. 33, and raised on Nisan 17—Sunday, April 5, A. D. 33. The “three days and three nights” reference, taken with Jesus’ explicit statement that he would be raised “on the third day” should be considered as referring to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but not all of every day. When you and I say “three days ago,” we aren’t necessarily figuring 72 hours ago, and the Jewish people used language in the same way we do. You didn’t ask about that, but I can’t help myself!
