Jesus’ death and resurrection: What days? – Part 2

CLOSE EXAMINATION of the ‘three days’ passages pertaining to the resurrection of Jesus confirms the biblical method of inclusive reckoning. The same statements of our Lord which in Mark’s gospel contain the phrase ‘after three days’ are reported in Matthew and Luke with the phrase ‘on the third day’ showing sameness in meaning.

Mark 8.31 = Matthew 16.21 = Luke 9.22

‘after three days’ ‘on the third day’ ‘on the third day’

Mark 9.31 = Matthew 17.23

‘after three days’ ‘on the third day’

Mark 10.34 =Matthew 20.19 =Luke 18.33

‘after three days’ ‘on the third day’ ‘on the third day’

In Luke 24.7, the followers of Jesus are reminded that He had predicted His resurrection ‘on the third day’. In verse 46 Jesus affirms the same truth to some other disciples. In Acts 10:40 and 1 Corinthians 15:4 the same phrase ‘on the third day’ is used of the resurrection. The sameness in meaning of the two phrases ‘after three days’ and ‘on the third day’ is brought out in Matthew 27:63-64.

In all of Jesus’ predictions concerning His resurrection in Matthew, the phrase used is ‘on the third day’, yet in 27.63 the Pharisees tell Pilate that Jesus had said ‘after three days’.

In v. 64, the Jewish leaders ask Pilate to guard the tomb ‘until the third day’, because they understood the two phrases ‘after three days’ and ‘on the third day’ to be the same in meaning. If this were not the case then they would have been asking for the guard to keep watch for less than the critical period.

The crucial verse that demolishes the argument for a Wednesday crucifixion and Saturday resurrection is Luke 24:21.

It is the first day of the week (Luke 24, 1, 13), two of Jesus’ disciples are discussing the events of the past days and Jesus joins the conversation and asks them about their discussion. They began to explain to him that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, and in disappointment they said, v. 21, “We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this today is the third day since these things were done.”

The third day then was Sunday, the first day of the week, and as Luke 24.29 hints, the statement in 24.21 was made sometime ‘toward evening’ when the first day was ‘far spent’. We again quote the SDA scholar, Samuele Bacchiocchi, “ It is obvious then, that if Christ had been crucified on a Wednesday afternoon, those two disciples could not have referred to that event on a Sunday night, saying; ‘it is now the third day since this happened.’ According to the Jewish inclusive day-reckoning it would have been the fifth day and not the third.” (p.28)

The sequence of the Passion weekend is clearly described in the Gospels as Preparation day (crucifixion/entombment), Sabbath (entombment), First Day (Resurrection). By linking the beginning of the Sabbath to the end of the preparation, and the beginning of the ‘first day of the week’ to the termination of the Sabbath, both Mark and Luke leave absolutely no room for two full days to intervene between the crucifixion and resurrection.

Bearing in mind that the Gospel sequence is Preparation, Sabbath, First Day, then the Sabbath there could not be a Thursday Passover Sabbath because Thursday is not followed by the first day of the week.

In John 19.31 we read, “…that Sabbath was a high day” and in 19.14 we read, “And it was the preparation of the Passover”.

Both passages affirm that the Friday was the Friday of the Passover week and the Sabbath a high day because it fell in Passover week. In John 19.31 the demonstrative adjective ‘that’ before Sabbath confirms it as the weekly seventh day sabbath since it is the only sabbath in context!

“… John 19.14 means that the day of the Lord’s crucifixion was the Friday of the Passover, the Friday that falls during Passover week, i.e., Passover Friday (Good Friday). It is a grammatically correct rendering and all the evidence is in favour of it.” (Norval Geldenhuys, cited earlier, 664)

“ The Sabbath about to open was a ‘high day’ – it was both a Sabbath and the second Paschal Day, which was regarded as in every respect equally sacred with the first, nay more so, since the so-called wave sheaf was then offered to the Lord.” (Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, p. 613)

CONCLUSION

The testimony of the early Christian writers (after the Apostles) reveals unanimous acceptance of a Friday crucifixion, (and) Sunday resurrection. No early Christian writer ever disputed or doubted this sequence.

The biblical record, properly understood in its historical context, clearly affirms a Friday crucifixion and a Sunday resurrection.