The Day od the week of Jesus' Crucifixion and the Apostolic Constitutions

Does it matter?

 

Yes, it matters. Because Jesus rose after three days. If He was crucified on thursday, then the "Lords day" would be on Sat, therefore everybody would still be going to church on the Sabbath. (saturday!!)

Selah,

Tam

 

I do think Jesus was crucified on a Thursday. He said He would spend three days and three nights in the tomb. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are the days. Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night are the nights.

"Sabbath" did not refer to one day only for the Jews. There were double Sabbaths, week-long Sabbaths, etc.

 

I believe Jesus was crucified on Wednesday. If Christ was crucified on Friday, then how could He have been in the heart of the earth three days and three nights as He prophesied He would be?

The Jewish Sabbath begins at 6:00 on Saturday evening. So Christ had to be resurrected sometime between 6:00 Saturday evening and sunrise on Sunday. He was to be in the grave for 3 days and 3 nights. The prophecy is fulfilled by 6:00 on Saturday evening. Count back three days and three nights and Christ has to be in the grave by 6:00 on Wednesday evening/Thursday morning.

John 19:31 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.

I believe this particular Sabbath that is mentioned in John 19:31 was on Thursday.

 

I've always thought Good Friday was His crucifixion day, I also knew this day is controversial among Christians. After investigating I concur with Gerhard and Helen.

Here's how I connected the dots:

For certain the slaughter of the Passover lamb took place near the close of Nisan 14 by Jewish reckoning, Thursday afternoon. The Passover meal was eaten at the beginning of Nisan 15, between sunset and midnight Thursday evening.

Jesus also had to be crucified near the close of Nisan 14, which he was "about the ninth hour" or 3:00 P.M., Thursday afternoon (Mt. 27:46). Jesus would not of been alive for the Passover meal Thursday evening, therefore he held the Last Supper with his disciples after sunset Wednesday Nisan 14.

The term "Passover" includes the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread which began on the first day of the feast when the Passover lamb was sacrificed (Mk. 14:12). Having the Last Supper after sunset on Wednesday, Nisan 14 before His crucifixion on Thursday, Nisan 14 kept it within the week of Unleavened Bread and Passover.

Timeline:

Passover meal or Last Supper Wednesday after sunset on Nisan 14.

Jesus arrested that night on Mount of Olives (Mt. 26:20,31,34).

Jesus nailed to the cross the sixth hour (noon) and died the ninth hour on Thursday, Nisan 14 (Mt. 27:45-46).

Jesus in the grave three days and three nights - Thursday (laid in the tomb before sunset), Friday, Saturday and resurrected on Sunday the first day of the week.

 

Then you have 3 hours on Thursday.
6:00 PM began Friday.
24 hours brings us to 6:00 on Saturday.
24 more hours brings us to 6:00 Sunday.
Jesus rose very early in the moring on the first day of the week.

We now have:
Friday -- Friday night
Saturday -- Saturday Night
Sunday -- ???

We are still missing one night unless you count the three hours on Thursday as a whole night.

 

Actually, I don't think Jesus said three days. I believe his exact words were "on the third day." Thus day 1 was Crucifixion, day 2 he was in the grave, and day 3 He rose. Also, the Bible says that they laid him in the tomb on the day of Preperation. The day of preperation in was Sundown Thursday to Sundown Friday. It is more likely that he was crufied on Friday. Another reason Christ had to have been crucified on Friday, is that he rose on the first day (Sunday) which was the third day. So the Apostolic Canons, IMHO, are vindicated in their positioning of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

 

Another thing, did y'all know that for the past few centuries, we have been celebrating Easter on the wrong day according to the most ancient authority on the subject. According to the ancient Canons, Easter was to be celebrated the Sunday after the first full moon after Passover. The date was to be determined by the leaders of the Church in Alexandria and sent out into the world.

Well, then Pope Gregory came along, with his new fangled calendar, and he began a new Paschal dating tradition in the West. How his works is confusing, more confusing then the Alexandrian method. That is why we usually celebrate the Resurrection at a different time than the Eastern Churches. In fact, this year Eastern Orthodox Easter (Pascha) was two or three weeks after our Easter.

 

Bob

Time expressed in days is 24 hours a day as in Mt. 27:63.

Time expressed in days and nights is 24 hours divided by daytime and nighttime as in Mt. 12:40.

Both expressions of time cover the same time period.

 

This is really complicated.

When Christ was crucified during the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread, a "special Sabbath" was observed according to the lunar calendar (John 19:31). This special Sabbath of the Passover occurred on the Jewish day of Thursday sunset to Friday sunset after the Passover day of Wednesday sunset to Thursday sunset when Christ died on the cross at 3:00 P.M. Thursday. He was buried before sunset Thursday which was also the Preparation day for the special Sabbath that followed.

Jesus was placed in the tomb on Preparation day for the special Sabbath and not the Preparation day for the normal sabbath of the seventh day based on the solar calendar. The day after the normal Sabbath, Mary visited the tomb (Mt. 28:1; Mk. 16:1, Lk 23:56).

Passover and special Preparation day - Wednesday sunset to Thursday sunset.

Special Sabbath and normal Preparation day - Thursday sunset to Friday sunset.

Normal Sabbath - Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.

 

Maybe the reason it seems complcated is because you don't have all the facts.

Matt 12-40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Jesus was in the earth 3 days and three nights. So even by the calculations you just did, He would have been in the earth until Sunday at six.

Need to back it up a little, to get it to be Sunday morning!! (first day of the week)

Peace,

Tam

 

Hey Pastor Bob

Your view has support from Michael P. Germano, “The Last Seder: Unscrambling the Baffling Chronology of the First Christian Passover,” Perspectives (Jul/Sept 2001). Check it out at http://www.bibarch.com/Perspectives/4.3.htm .

The crux of the matter is that the Essenes had their own calendar. Jesus celebrated the Passover according to the Essene calendar on Tuesday. He was crucified on Wednesday. A literal 3 days and 3 nights leads us to Sunday - just like you posted!

Lloyd

 

Tam

In the Jewish mind of the First Century, part of the day was considered as a full day.

Thursday sunset to Friday was the annual high Sabbath day and cannot be changed to fit just any chronology. The day before, Wednesday sunset to Thursday sunset, has to be the Passover, no exceptions.

Mary "very early on the first day of the week , just after sunrise" went to the tomb to find Jesus not there (Mk. 16:2). Jesus was resurrected approximately 12 hours before Sunday ended at 6:00 P.M. Insisting on full days to make up the 3 days and three nights is not plausible for any chronology for Passion week.

What ever day one chooses for Passover,his death at 3:00 PM and burial and resurrection Sunday sunrise remains constant.

If Christ was buried 6 PM Wednesday:

Thursday 6 PM would be one day.
Friday 6 PM would be two days.
Saturday 6 PM would be three days.
Sunday 6 PM would be four days.

If Christ was buried 6 PM Thursday:

Friday 6 PM would be one day.
Saturday 6 PM would be two days.
Sunday 6 PM would be three days.

Caculating the time between his death and resurrection in full days cannot be done without changing the fixed times of his death and resurrection.

From 6 PM Thursday to 6 PM Friday is one night and one day.

From 6 PM Friday to 6 PM Saturday is two nights and two days.

From 6 PM Saturday to Sunday sunrise is three nights and part of the third day when Christ was resurrected.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essenes

The Essenes (Issi'im) were a Jewish religious sect that flourished from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century AD. The name Essene, itself, is either a version of the Greek word for Holy, or various Aramaic dialect words for "pious", and is probably not what the groups' members called themselves. Many scholars today believe there were a number of different related groups that were referred to as Essenes.