I've been trying to peice together the various accounts of the events of Holy Week to come up with a clear timetable of events, but I'm finding the biblical evidence somewhat confusing! Can anyone help clarify matters?
In all three synoptic Gospels, we are told that Jesus and his disciples met in the upper room to eat their 'last supper' together on "The first day of unleavened bread" - Mark and Luke add "when it was customary to sacrifice the passover lamb". Comparing this to the Passover regularion in Leviticus 23, this would be the 15th day of Nissan (which begins at twilight of the 14th). Deuteronomy 16 further tells us that the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed as the sun goes down that day - ie at the 'threshold' between Nissan 15th and Nissan 16th. Traditionally, the Christian Church celebrates this institution of the Communion meal on Maundy Thursday - although by celebrating the Eucharist after dark, we are actually (in Jwish terms) meeting on the 2nd day of unleavened bread ...however, Jesus meal with his disciples will have begun one day and continued into the next.
However, John's account of the Last Supper (while not containing the details of the breaking of bread etc., the discourses of chs 13-17 clearly parallel the synoptic accounts) appears to tell us this took place "just before the Passover Feast" (13:1), and, in his account of the Crucifixion, he tells us this happened on the "Day of Preparation" and that the following day was to be a "special Sabbath" (19:31). Mark's Gospel also tells us that Jesus was buried on "Preparation Day (that is the day before the Sabbath)"(15:42), but makes no mention of this being a 'special Sabbath'. So am I correct in assuming that the Preparation Day was to do with the weekly Sabbath, rather than havoing any particular significance to the Passover Feast, and that the Sabbath was only 'special' because it fell during the week of unleavened bread, not - as some maintain - that it was an extra Sabbath peculiar to the Passover celebrations. (Indeed, according to Deuteronomy, such a 'special Sabbath' occurs at the end of the feast of unleavened bread, on the seventh day - ie 22nd Nissan, which would require a space of at least 5 days between Christ's arrest and his execution).
All of which seems somewhat at odds with Jesus own prediction in Matthew 12:40 that he would be "3 days and 3 night in the heart of the earth". Assuming he celebrated the Last Supper towards evening on Nissan 15th, he will have been arrested and tried during the night which begins Nissan 16th, crucified during the afternoon of that day, and buried just before the start of Nissan 17th (which is also the Sabbath), spending all of that day and the night which beings Nissan 18th in the grave, then being found to have risen on the morning of Nissan 18th (the first day of the week, and 4th Day of Unleavened Bread). By my calculations that makes one full day and two nights, plus, arguably, an hour or two of the days on either side - so, at most, three days and two nights (and that's stretching a point!). So an extra 'special Sabbath' would be very convenient to extend Jesus time in the grave for another day and night - but I can't find any record of such a tradition in the Passover regulations of either Leviticus or Deuteronomy.
Any clarification would be appreciated!
Anthony
In all three synoptic Gospels, we are told that Jesus and his disciples met in the upper room to eat their 'last supper' together on "The first day of unleavened bread" - Mark and Luke add "when it was customary to sacrifice the passover lamb". Comparing this to the Passover regularion in Leviticus 23, this would be the 15th day of Nissan (which begins at twilight of the 14th). Deuteronomy 16 further tells us that the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed as the sun goes down that day - ie at the 'threshold' between Nissan 15th and Nissan 16th. Traditionally, the Christian Church celebrates this institution of the Communion meal on Maundy Thursday - although by celebrating the Eucharist after dark, we are actually (in Jwish terms) meeting on the 2nd day of unleavened bread ...however, Jesus meal with his disciples will have begun one day and continued into the next.
However, John's account of the Last Supper (while not containing the details of the breaking of bread etc., the discourses of chs 13-17 clearly parallel the synoptic accounts) appears to tell us this took place "just before the Passover Feast" (13:1), and, in his account of the Crucifixion, he tells us this happened on the "Day of Preparation" and that the following day was to be a "special Sabbath" (19:31). Mark's Gospel also tells us that Jesus was buried on "Preparation Day (that is the day before the Sabbath)"(15:42), but makes no mention of this being a 'special Sabbath'. So am I correct in assuming that the Preparation Day was to do with the weekly Sabbath, rather than havoing any particular significance to the Passover Feast, and that the Sabbath was only 'special' because it fell during the week of unleavened bread, not - as some maintain - that it was an extra Sabbath peculiar to the Passover celebrations. (Indeed, according to Deuteronomy, such a 'special Sabbath' occurs at the end of the feast of unleavened bread, on the seventh day - ie 22nd Nissan, which would require a space of at least 5 days between Christ's arrest and his execution).
All of which seems somewhat at odds with Jesus own prediction in Matthew 12:40 that he would be "3 days and 3 night in the heart of the earth". Assuming he celebrated the Last Supper towards evening on Nissan 15th, he will have been arrested and tried during the night which begins Nissan 16th, crucified during the afternoon of that day, and buried just before the start of Nissan 17th (which is also the Sabbath), spending all of that day and the night which beings Nissan 18th in the grave, then being found to have risen on the morning of Nissan 18th (the first day of the week, and 4th Day of Unleavened Bread). By my calculations that makes one full day and two nights, plus, arguably, an hour or two of the days on either side - so, at most, three days and two nights (and that's stretching a point!). So an extra 'special Sabbath' would be very convenient to extend Jesus time in the grave for another day and night - but I can't find any record of such a tradition in the Passover regulations of either Leviticus or Deuteronomy.
Any clarification would be appreciated!
Anthony
