I was debating with another Christian and I stumbled upon a problem: I didn't know when Jesus was crucified. As the timing is integral to my argument, I ask for your help. Was Jesus crucified prior to or after the passover?

"And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified." -- John 19:14-16 (KJV)


"And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?...[The Lord's supper, Judas betrays Him, He's arrested and sentenced to death]...And it was the third hour, and they crucified him." -- Mark 14:12, 15-25 (KJV)

Note: Emphasis mine.

They killed the Passover?? Sure you quoted that right?

"preparation of", "about the sixth hour"

pretty vague wording for you to be calling Biblical errancy over...


"they delivered him to be crucified", "they crucified him"

Do you think crucifying him just took a couple minutes? How about walking the cross beam all the way up to the crucifixion site? Think that might have taken a while? Half a day maybe? Besides, the one that indicates an earlier time (if you want to take it that way) says they delivered him to be crucified, so that could have been any amount of time (a day or two) later that he actually died.

You're really stretching it here...

Okay, John has Jesus being led to crucifixion BEFORE the Passover Meal. How the hell then does Mark have Jesus enjoying the Last Supper DURING the Passover Meal when he's being led to be crucified?!

Mark 14:12-16 (New International Version)

The Lord's Supper

12 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"
13 So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 Say to the owner of the house he enters, 'The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' 15 He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there."

16 The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.



The Passover was a week long, so two different authors referred to different parts of the celebration. There were multiple feasts.

There's a difference in preparing a feast and preparing a table.

Key quote: "And the first day of unleavened bread***, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?"

It seems The author of John has Jesus being led to His crucifixion prior to the killing of the first passover.



***Which brings up another contradiction: How many days should one eat unleavened bread?

"Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God." -- Deuteronomy 16:8 (KJV)

"Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread." -- Exodus 12:15 (KJV)

Why do you insist on using King James Version? It is the least accurate available.

And I have no idea what you are talking about. Killing a passover? WHAT??


Doesn't matter. Jesus' sacrifice made the Old Testament law unnecessary.

The username doesn't ignite any bias or anything

Thinking the same Jack...Hate it when user names are really generic...Jesus Lied For You is such a typical name on forums it's hard to distinguish who's who

With that being said...Am interested in these debates...The man knows his stuff

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the statement implies the killing of the passover lamb. -M






(i agree that the original question appears to be loaded, which is why i haven't answered it... but i may get around to doing it anyway!)

ok... i'll get drawn into this. i'll try to answer the original question tomorrow (no promises) but i'll answer the second right now...

the quote from deuteronomy 16:8 alone gives an incomplete picture of what is being commanded. deuteronomy 16:3 says:

"do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left egypt in haste—so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from egypt."

so... from 16:3, the jews were to not eat leavened bread for seven days. from 16:8, the first six days of that command were reiterated with the additional instruction for a solemn assembly on the seventh. in both deuteronomy 16 and in exodus 12, seven days of unleavened bread are commanded... so there's no contradiction.

-M

ok... i've caught a spare minute to answer the first question. unlike the other perceived contradiction i won't say that this answer is as universally agreed upon... but here's what i think.

first, it must be understood that the jewish culture of antiquity reckoned time differently than we do today. for us, a day starts at midnight and ends at midnight. according to jewish custom, however, a day begins at sunset and ends on the following sunset. that's why the sabbath begins at sundown for jews when it's still perceived as being friday for the rest of us. second, the days of the week are reckoned differently. the days were simply numbered (first, second, third, etc.) except for the sabbath and the day that preceded it. in greek, that sixth day was referred to as "paraskeuh" or preparation. it was so named since food must be prepared that day since none could be prepared on the sabbath itself. in fact, the greek language still uses this name for 'friday' to this day.

now we've cleared that up, here are verses from each gospel that place the day of the crucifixion:

John 19:31-32
"now it was the day of preparation, and the next day was to be a special sabbath. because the jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the sabbath, they asked pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down."

mark 15:42-43
"it was preparation day (that is, the day before the sabbath). so as evening approached, joseph of arimathea, a prominent member of the council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of god, went boldly to pilate and asked for jesus' body."

luke 23:50-56
"now there was a man named joseph, a member of the council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action. he came from the judean town of arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of god. going to pilate, he asked for jesus' body. then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. it was preparation day, and the sabbath was about to begin."

matt. 17:62
"the next day, the one after preparation day, the chief priests and the pharisees went to pilate."


as one can see, each verse places the crucifixion on 'preparation day' or friday. so, when was passover?

john 19:14
"now it was the preparation day of the passover, and about the sixth hour. and he said to the jews, 'behold your king!'"

according to john, passover fell on preparation day or friday. therefore jesus was crucified on the day of the passover feast. however, scripture suggests that jesus ate the passover feast the previous night. here's where the difference in the way that jewish culture reckons time comes into play. since a day begins at sunset and ends on the following sunset, the passover began at sundown of what we would consider thursday. jesus and his apostles ate the passover feast. later in the night, he was captured and brought forth to the sanhedrin. at sunup he was tried by pilate and was crucified later that morning. in the jewish reckoning of time, all these events occur on the same day (friday). the scriptures therefore do not contradict each other here.

so... when was jesus crucified? on passover (which fell on friday), the morning after he had eaten the passover feast with his apostles.

-M

Seems like a pretty rational response to me.

haha... now i get why you bolded that term. guess my initial inclination was right. -M