There are a number of traditional beliefs and practices that many Christians accept without considering whether they are true or not. Some believe they don’t really matter. This Easter season has called attention to one such belief.
It is generally accepted that Jesus was crucified on Good Friday. He was crucified and the sun was darkened from about noon until about 3:00 pm., Shortly after that, he was declared dead, and Joseph took his body for burial. A hasty burial in Joseph’s tomb ensued because it was close and at sunset the day officially changed.
All the gospels record that Jesus was raised very early Sunday morning. John 20:1 is most specific. “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.” Jesus was already raised before sunrise Sunday morning.
In Matthew 12:40 Jesus declared that he would spend at least part of three days and nights in the tomb. “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.” He made a similar statement in Mark 8:31. “And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”
The chief priests and Pharisees were familiar with his statements, referring to them in getting Pilate to post guards to prevent the theft of his body in Matthew 27:62-64. “Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. 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.”
No matter how I figure it, I cannot come up with more than two days and two nights between Friday and sunrise Sunday. According to Deuteronomy18:21-22, the proof that a prophet was from God or not was whether the prophecy happened. “And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.” In fact, they were to take him out and kill him for his blasphemy according to earlier verses.
If tradition is correct, and Jesus was crucified on Friday, he did not spend three days and three nights in the tomb. Instead he was a liar, claiming to speak for God, and could not be the messiah, or our savior. While it seems a minor point, it is critical to what we believe.
If we accept that he was crucified on Thursday instead, a number of problems disappear. First, we have the proper number of days involved. Secondly, breaking the malefactors legs to hasten their death in order to get them off the crosses before the Sabbath makes more sense since they would have had twenty four hours to die, rather than just a couple.
The rush to get Jesus buried would have been less urgent, because Friday would be the preparation day, starting at sundown Thursday. No work or business was permitted on the Sabbath, and this would also allow the ladies to do what is described in Luke 23:54-56. “And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.” It seems obvious that Jesus was crucified on Thursday rather than Friday as tradition teaches.
While it appears a minor distinction on the surface. In reality it raises the question as to whether the Bible can be trusted or not, and whether our salvation is real. This is too important to ignore, in my opinion. What do you think?
My recollection is that he was said to rise on 'the third day'. Ie, crucified Friday, day one. Stayed put on Saturday, (I guess even rising from the dead was 'work') day two, then rose on Sunday, day three.
ReplyDeleteI respectfully contend that the Bible is so packed with 'Chinese Whispers' that to waste our time agonising over whether He rose on the third day or after three days is like fixing your lipstick before you flee the house fire! :-)
You either 'have faith' or you don't and no amount of agonising over precise meanings will change that.
What that level of search for detail produced in my church was predictions such as the precise date of the next second coming. The next one is due later this month. For some reason, the most recent past second coming was in May too!
When scripture was so specific about three days and three nights, it kind of limits the possibilities. It's more like saying it's okay to have just some air in your tires rather than maintaining the proper pressure. It may work okay for a while, but it increases the risk of problems down the road.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree with this article!!!
ReplyDeleteJesus Christ was crucified on a Thursday, not on a Friday.
Hence the three days and THREE NIGHTS as predicted by the Lord himself were true - the three days were Thurday afternoon, all day Friday, all day Saturday. The three nights were as we would call them; Thurday night, Friday night and Saturday night.
But we must understand the defining of the days and the nights according to the Jewish definition. The day ended at sundown and the new day begins then. So we must understand that the evening of the last supper (NOT the Passover meal) and the Garden of Gethsemane arrest took place after sundown on that Thursday, the day of preparation for the Sabbath, a high day. It was on that same day that He was tried and sentenced to be Crucified, and died - at the same time all the Passover lambs were slaughtered among all Jewish households. The Passover meal was then eaten after sundown of the Friday, which was the First Day of Unleavened Bread, therefore a high day. The next day, Saturday was the normal weekly Sabbath. Jesus rose from the dead before dawn on the Sunday morning. Remember, Sunday began at sundown on the Saturday.
Thus, the Lord's prediction were fulfilled exactly.
Dfish, I came back to see what discussion ensued. It seems to me the rules of logic have been ignored. Frank may be right and you too, but to shift the day from that identified by people writing their accounts in the first century following his death to an earier day seems too convenient. It would be more reasonable to say it indicates the Bible is probably incorrect.
ReplyDeleteAccording to I John 1:1-3, The apostles were eyewitnesses of what they recorded. It seems illogical to me to discount eyewitness testimony solely on the basis of hearsay accounts.
ReplyDeleteRay, christians typically do all sorts of contortions to get the bible to agree with their beliefs. It's nothing new. When you're trapped by declaring something to be perfect and without error, you're sort of stuck then reconciling any issues no matter how serious they may be. There are errors aplenty within the bible, that doesn't stop anyone from considering it a perfect and innerant document from God himself. I've seen some amazing things that completely went against logic to make sure the bible stayed true to the course..
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