When did Jesus die?
Two difficulties have been raised concerning the timing of the death of Jesus. First, since Jesus said he would be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, and scripture indicates he arose on Sunday sometime before sun up, it appears He was crucified on Thursday, to yield Thursday day before 6 PM, Friday night starting around 6 PM. on our Thursday, Friday day, from around 6 AM to 6:00 P.M, then Saturday night (6 PM to 6 AM) then Saturday day (6 AM to 6 PM), then Sunday night (6 PM to 6 AM). Jews considered a day to start near sundown and run until the next dusk, so their Friday begins on our Thursday evening either at sundown, twilight or late afternoon, at the whim of whoever is making the call in an age before wristwatches. But the difficulty is that most people accept that Jesus was crucified on Friday, not Thursday.
The answer to Matthew 12:40 (three days and three nights) is to accept that Jesus was using a colloquialism, three days and three nights only referring to three days or part days rather than 72 literal hours. In 1 Samuel 30, verse 12, the account of a starving servant is recorded as follows: “…For he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights.” But in verse thirteen, his problem had started three days ago. This passage therefore suggests, and I accept that “three days and three nights” is a figurative reference to days or parts of days and not to a literal 72 hours or a literal three daylight periods and three darkness periods because three days ago would only include two darkness periods. If you compare 2 Chronicles 10:5 (return to me in three days) with 2 Chronicles 10:12 (came to Rehoboam on the third day) you will see that three days and on the third day mean the same thing, indicating that both inclusive counting was used and parts of days were counted as days in the pre-scientific culture. Inclusive counting means that you count today as the first day when saying something happened three or any number of days ago or in the future. Therefore, “three days and three nights” is a figurative reference to three days ago, and three days ago is the day before yesterday or literally only two nights ago. The point of Matthew 12:40 was not to create conflict with the many scriptures that say “on the third day” but only to draw a parallel with Jonah by using the terminology of Jonah 1:17.
Similarly, the reference to “after three days” in Mark 8:31 refers to parts of days such that the hours between His death and sundown represents one day and the hours of darkness on Sunday until He arose before sunup represents the third day. Using this interpretation the idea that Jesus was crucified on Friday can be supported. Note that the parallel passages to Mark 8:31 in Matthew (16:21) and Luke (9:22) say “on the third day.”
The idea that “on the third day” refers to the day after tomorrow (Friday to Sunday) is supported by Luke 13:31 to 33. Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem (v. 22) and says in verse 32 that He will reach His goal (reach Jerusalem in my opinion) on the third day. Jesus then clarifies His itinerary in verse 33 by stating, “I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.” Therefore, in the idiom of the day, “on the third day” means the day after tomorrow or in our period of interest, from Friday to Sunday.
The second difficulty is with the Last Supper. Jesus and His disciples ate a Passover meal, the Last Supper, the night before the day of His crucification but John says the people testifying against him after sunup were planning on eating the Passover meal.
The answer is that more than one meal can be called the Passover meal. This Passover, Nisan 14, started at sundown on our Thursday. The Last Supper was eaten after sundown in the first hours of Nisan 14, the Jews Friday. Friday is also called preparation day because the Jews had to get ready for the Sabbath, a day when everything pretty much shuts down. Also note that Saturday, Nisan 15 is a high Sabbath because of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was this feast, this Passover meal that the Pharisees were preparing to celebrate (John 18:28). Note that at the Last Supper, the disciples considered the need to buy things for the feast (John 13:29), clearly indicating two separate meals
Lets start with Mark 14:12 which says, “And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover was being sacrificed, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?” This verse is very difficult to understand in a way that does not create the difficulty. First, the phrase, “when the Passover was being sacrificed” indicates this is the day before the Passover meal where the lamb is eaten, rather than the day of the meal. This is because the lamb is killed in the afternoon, which is the end of the day. The meal is eaten in the first few hours of the next day, which begins at sundown. So this question was asked of Jesus on our Thursday right about sundown or the start of the day (Friday) when the Passover lamb is killed.
Now lets consider whether the lamb could be slaughtered after sundown in the first hours of Nisan 14 rather than in the afternoon. We must consider this because the term “evening” is used both for the last hours of their day (late afternoon) and the first hours of their day (after sundown). Exodus 29:38-39 indicates that on a “day” (about 12 hours of darkness followed by about 12 hours of daylight) one lamb shall be offered in the morning (after the 12 hours of darkness had passed) and one lamb shall be offered at twilight (prior to sundown and the start of the next day).
Now lets consider Mark 14:17, which says, “And when it was evening He came with the twelve.” This verse appears to indicate that the meal was prepared before evening (on their Thursday) but such an understanding is not necessary. All it might indicate is that Jesus joined the twelve after sundown, because some of them (perhaps including Peter and John) had gone to the house and prepared the Passover, which did not include lamb. Viewed in this light, the Last Supper could have been prepared “on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover was being sacrificed....” Thus, and consistent with Exodus 12:18, the first meal that occurs on the Lord’s Passover, Nisan 14, is comprised of unleavened bread but not the Passover lamb which is killed in the afternoon of Nisan 14 and eaten on Nisan 15. Hence the Last supper occurred on our Thursday night, in the evening (after sundown), which is the Jew’s Nisan 14, a Friday and a preparation day for the high Sabbath where the roasted Passover Lamb is eaten. It should be noted that about the time the Jews were killing their unblemished lambs, about the ninth hour, our Jesus died on the cross. Behold the Lamb of God.
