The Good Friday Paradox

Apr 3 22:05:03 View QTML

Soon after I became old enough to sort of understand the order of service, an apparent contradiction bugged me. At times I heard that Jesus was in the grave for three days. Other times I heard that He rose "on the third day." These ideas do not match!

According to the standard Church calendar, Jesus died late on a Friday afternoon. By Sunday morning He had already arisen. While you can count that as rising on the third day -- barely -- you cannot count it as three days. From late Friday afternoon to just before Sunday morning is a day and a half, using a modern 24 hour day.

According to Matthew, Jesus promised to arise after three full astronomical days; that is, three days and three nights: [King James Version unless otherwise stated]

Mat 12:38  Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. 

Mat 12:39  But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 

Mat 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. 

See also Matthew 16:4 and Luke 11:29-30, which also use the Jonah metaphor, albeit without the "three days and three nights." But such references to Jonah do reference this passage:

Jon 1:17  Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 

So either Jesus prophesied incorrectly, Jesus was referring to some other event, or Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday afternoon, not a Friday.

Is it possible that Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday? Let's dig deeper.

The Day of Preparation

All four Gospels agree that Jesus was crucified on a "day of preparation." But did this definitely mean Jesus was killed on a Friday?

For the Synoptic Gospels it does appear that way on the surface. But the Gospel of John clearly tells a different story. Let us look at how John described the day of preparation:

Joh 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. 

Joh 19:32  Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. 

Joh 19:33  But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: 

Joh 19:34  But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. 

Joh 19:35  And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. 

Joh 19:36  For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. 

Notice that bit about the "high day." There are seven high days in the Hebrew calendar: the first and last Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, and the first and last days of the Feast of Tabernacles. You can read all about them in Leviticus 23. Let's focus on the two associated with Passover:

Lev 23:4  These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. 

Lev 23:5  In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover. 

Lev 23:6  And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. 

Lev 23:7  In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 

Lev 23:8  But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. 

On the first Day of Unleavened Bread, no [servile] work was to be done. This is rather like a sabbath. Similar commands apply to the other high days. The Day of Atonement was actually called a sabbath day:

Lev 23:27  Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 

Lev 23:28  And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God. 

Lev 23:29  For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. 

Lev 23:30  And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. 

Lev 23:31  Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 

Lev 23:32  It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath. 

So when John was writing about a day of preparation, he was talking about preparing for a high day, and that high day need not be a weekly sabbath. Indeed, most aren't, as the annual holy days are based on a lunar calendar, and a lunar month is about 29 1/2 days.

Let us turn back to Exodus for some details on Passover:

Exo 12:6  And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 

Exo 12:7  And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 

Exo 12:8  And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 

So if Jesus was killed just before the high day, then he was killed at the same time that Passover lambs were being killed for the Passover feast. This fits well with what Paul wrote concerning Christ being our Passover.

But it doesn't fit well with the Synoptic Gospel accounts, which indicate that Jesus celebrated the Passover, as the Last Supper. Not only that, according to Matthew, he ate it late:

Mat 26:17  Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover? 

Mat 26:18  And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.   Mat 26:19  And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover. 

Mat 26:20  Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. 

In order for Matthew and John to agree, Jesus and his disciples would have had to eat the Passover meal early. Either the Gospels disagree, or there is a missing preposition in the passage above which means something like "before." (Some commentators write that the discrepancy arises because the for the civil calendar the days begin at dawn vs. the days beginning at sunset. I leave it to the reader to figure these things out.)

Reconciling the Gospel Accounts

If we stick just to John's account, then a Wednesday crucifixion is possible, and the Sign of Jonah could have been fulfilled. But can we make this work with the other Gospels, if we assume that Jesus ate the Passover early? Let's have a look at Luke:

Luk 23:50  And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just:   Luk 23:51  (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. 

Luk 23:52  This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.   Luk 23:53  And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.

Luk 23:54  And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. 

Luk 23:55  And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. 

Luk 23:56  And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. 

A straightforward reading of the passage above would be that the women followed Joseph of Arimathaea to the tomb, and then prepared spices and ointments until nightfall.

But there is a problem with that straightforward reading. Passover is held close to the spring equinox, so a day would be 12 hours. Jesus died around the ninth hour of the day. This leaves 3 hours to visit the tomb and then prepare embalming ointments.

Suppose they observed the First Day of Unleavened Bread [Thursday?] and then prepared the spices and ointments on the next day [Friday], and rested on the sabbath [Friday sunset through Saturday day]. This gives plenty of time to buy and prepare ointments. But perhaps too much time. Why didn't they go to the tomb on the same day as they prepared the ointments?

Let's turn to John:

Joh 19:38  And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.   Joh 19:39  And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. 

Joh 19:40  Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. 

Joh 19:41  Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. 

Joh 19:42  There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand. 

According to John, Nicodemus already had ointments ready. One hundred pounds! if the King James translation is correct. Either the Gospels outright disagree or the women mentioned in Luke kept their distance and didn't know about Nicodemus' preparation. That would definitely push the women's ointment preparation to the day after the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

But it still leaves open the question as to why they waited until Sunday morning. Not very far open, mind you. If it took smashing up a hundred points of aloes to and mixing the juice with myrrh or other spices, then this might be an all day task. Then again, there is another reason for waiting. From Matthew:

Mat 27:62  Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, 

Mat 27:63  Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. 

Mat 27:64  Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. 

Mat 27:65  Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. 

Mat 27:66  So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch. 

If the guards were still awake and on the bounce on the same day that the women prepared the herbs, then there was a reason for waiting until Sunday morning.

Conclusion

If we lean more heavily on John's account, we can get an account which is consistent with the Sign of Jonah. But the amount of detective work needed to make it all work out is somehow unsatisfying.

On the other hand, maybe this all important sign was hidden from many genenerations so it would be fresh for a new adulterous generation: ours.

If will leave you with one last indicator that this piece-together is on the right track. Note Matthew 28:1:

Mat 28:1  In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. 

OK, that looks like what most Christians were brought up with. But let's look at that same verse using Young's Literal Translation:

Mat 28:1  And on the eve of the sabbaths, at the dawn, toward the first of the sabbaths, came Mary the Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre, 

Note the plural: sabbaths. I believe I first encountered this plural on Howard Camping's web site, back when he was incorrectly setting an exact date for the end of this world. (It may have been someone else's site; my memory is foggy on this.) The argument I read then was that this was proof of the end of seventh day sabbath keeping.

I think that plural has a different meaning: there were two sabbaths between Jesus' death and the discovery of the empty tomb: the annual First Day of Unleavened Bread, and a weekly sabbath.

(For the record, I did not come up with the line of reasoning in this post. I heard about these things after joining an extreme sabbath-keeping denomination. I'm just trying to re-create the arguments of others here. I may have missed or botched a few things. Please discuss in the comments.)