I'm confused... when was Jesus crucified (the day BEFORE or the day AFTER Passover)?

Question

John seems to say the day before
19:14-16
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.


And Mark, the day after
Mark 14:12
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?
15:25
And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.

Answer 1

John wants to equate Jesus with the Passover Lamb. He is the only Gospel writer who calls Jesus "The Lamb of God." And therefore, he has Jesus being crucified on the evening of Passover, the 14th day of Nissan, when it was traditional to sacrifice a lamb. Jesus was therefore, the "lamb" that being sacrificed at the appropriate time.

Since all 3 of the other Gospels say it happened rather on the 15th of Nissan, I would guess that they are the ones who are telling it accurately. And they did not "need" Jesus to be sacrificed on the 14th, because they did not formulate that theology, like John did. So they probably just told it like it happened, moreso than John.

Also consider that John is the latest of the Gospels to be written.

Therefore, my guess would be that he was crucified the day after.

Ancient biographies were not like our modern biographies. They told things the way they ought to have been, to make a certain point, instead of the way they necessarily were.
So, I think we just have to view the stories as metaphors for something spiritual, and not insist that they be 100% historically accurate.

Answer 2

a pair of dates greater healthy each and all of the familiar data for Christ's dying, which got here approximately at Passover on a Friday (the gospels tutor that the subsequent day became a Saturday--the Jewish Sabbath). this might propose Christ's dying fell on the 14th or fifteenth of the Jewish month Nisan. (In Exodus God commanded the lamb to be slain on the 14th of Nisan however the Jews in Jerusalem reckoned their days from sunset to sunset, making some war of words as to whilst the 14th ended and the fifteenth began). Jesus' ministry began after John the Baptist had come. (Luke dates this interior the fifteenth year of Caesar Tiberias). Jesus became then approximately thirty years previous and had probable taught for 3 and a 0.5 years. Combining a majority of those factors, we can say that that's maximum probable that Jesus went to the flow sometime between the years 27 and 34. Passover Friday fell on the fifteenth of Nisan in a.d 30 and 33. the 1st of those dates became in this present day, April 7, 30.

Answer 3

When the events you mention in John occurred it was mid morning on Friday, Nisan 14.
Jesus has been up since early Thursday morning. On Thursday evening the fresh Jewish day begins, so Nisan 14th - the passover - began Thursday evening.
All day Friday it is still Nisan 14, still the passover day, until Friday evening.

As for the account in Mark and the third hour you queried.
The days were generally counted from sunrise to sunset, or from about 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. So, “the third hour” would be about 9:00 a.m

I hope I have explained well enough.

Answer 4

*** it-2 pp. 505-506 Nisan ***

The first of Nisan’s festivals was the Passover, originally celebrated in Egypt; it came on the 14th of the month and included the sacrifice of the paschal lamb. (Ex 12:2-14; Le 23:5; De 16:1) The following day was the beginning of the week-long Festival of Unfermented Cakes, running from the 15th to the 21st of the month. On the 16th of Nisan came the offering of the firstfruits of the barley harvest.—Ex 12:15-20; 23:15; 34:18; Le 23:6-11.

Lord’s Evening Meal Instituted. Over 15 centuries after the Exodus, on Nisan 14 of the year 33 C.E., Jesus gathered with his 12 apostles in Jerusalem to celebrate the last valid Passover, and then, having dismissed the traitorous Judas, he proceeded to institute the memorial of his death by means of the Lord’s Supper, or Evening Meal. (Mt 26:17-30; 1Co 11:23-25) Before Nisan 14 passed, he died as the Lamb of God. On Nisan 16, the day the priest at the temple waved the firstfruits of the barley harvest, Jesus, as the firstfruits of the resurrection, was raised up to life again.—Lu 23:54–24:7; 1Co 15:20.

In obedience to Christ’s instructions, “Keep doing this in remembrance of me,” the 14th day of Nisan continues to be observed by his followers till this day as the time for memorializing Christ’s death.—Lu 22:19, 20; see LORD’S EVENING MEAL.

---The above text taken from the cited publication, indicates that the passover was already celebrated. In reading the prior chapters in both John and Mark the sequence of events indicates that the passover was already celebrated. Preparations for the passover at John 19:14-16 could be refering to the Festival of Unfermented Cakes that was closely linked to the Passover.---

Answer 5

Same day, different account.

While Christ was being crucified, all the sacrifical lambs were being slaughtered for Passover.

It was the preparation day. Passover would offcially begin at sundown.

That's why Joseph of Arimathea had to work fast to get Jesus into the tomb.

Answer 6

Unleavened Bread happens before the passover, when an actual lamb is sacrificed and eaten I believe.

Answer 7

He was crucified the day before Passover. He died at 3:00 P.M. and Passover started at 4:00 P.M. So at 3:00 P.M. it was technically the day before.

Answer 8

It was after because during the passover Jesus told everyone in the room that someone was going to decieve Jesus and he pointed to Judes He then told Judas to go and do what he was about to do. So then Judas went and told the people where Jesus was and they found him and so the crucifixion started...

Answer 9

Jesus was crucified on the daytime before the Passover meal. The reason why Mark seems to say it was after is due to culteral and contextual reasons.

The evidence from the Gospels that Jesus died on the eve of the Passover, when the Passover meal would be eaten after sunset, is very solid. Before we go into this issue, it is worth noting that Mark 14 records that Jesus does not eat the Passover with his disciples.

Luke 14:12 says it was "the Feast of Unleavened Bread", which is also called "Passover". As the name suggests, part of the Passover meal was to eat bread without yeast. It is a commandment which Jewish people keep even today: "eat bread without yeast. And whoever eats bread with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread. . See also Exodus 12:1-20.

The Greek word for "unleavened bread" is 'azymos'. This is the word used by Mark in "the Feast of Unleavened Bread", chapter 14 verse 12. The Greek word for normal bread (with yeast) is 'artos'. All the Gospel writers, including Mark, agree that in this last meal with his disciples, the bread they ate was 'artos,' in other words, a bread with yeast. "While they were eating, Jesus took bread [artos], gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying Take it; this is my body." Mark 14:22. It is highly probable that this meal was not a Passover meal. The use of the different words in the same passage strongly suggests this. I would have been unthinkable to them to eat something that God had commanded them not to eat (bread with yeast - artos), and not to eat something that they were commanded to eat (unleavened bread - azymos).

So what does Mark mean in verses 12-17? Firstly, we read, "when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb". Exodus 20:1-8 says that this must happen on the 14th day of the Jewish month of Nisan. However, there was dispute as to when this day was, due to the debate on separate calendars which were used for calculating feast-days. It is possible that separate traditions were in vogue in Jesus' life. So it may have been "customary" to sacrifice the lamb on that day for some, although many, probably most, recognized the Passover as being the next evening.

Secondly, the disciples ask Jesus "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" They had no idea that Jesus was going to give his life for the sins of the world like the Passover lamb of Exodus 20 did to save the Israelites from God's wrath upon Egypt. Jesus had explained to them, but they did not grasp it for many reasons, including the hailing of Jesus by the people as Messiah in the Triumphal Entry, which was still 'ringing in their ears'. He does not state that he would eat it with them. He wanted to, but he knew he would not. There is no room for any dogmatic statement that the Passover must be eaten on the same day the room was hired or prepared. Indeed, Jewish people, because of Exodus 12, thoroughly prepared their houses for the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Thirdly, in some ways the Gospels couch the last supper in terms of fulfillment. i.e. Luke 22 records Jesus saying that he had longed to eat "this" Passover meal with them. So, does Luke say it was the Passover meal? It is doubtful, due to the same use of artos and azymos, amongst other reasons. Jesus did make this last supper a sort of Passover meal (but not the real one). He wanted to have this special fellowship with his disciples, his friends, being painfully aware of the agony he would go through, only a few hours later. He also wanted to show his disciples that the Passover spoke of him; that he was the sacrifice that would bring in the New Covenant God promised (see questions #64 and #34) just like the lambs that was killed 1500 years earlier to save the people if Israel from God's wrath. He illustrated through the meal that he is the "Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" as John the Baptist called Jesus (John 1:29). He wanted to eat it with them for he says, "I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the Kingdom of God" (Luke 22:16). His coming death was its fulfillment, "For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed" (1 Corinthians 5:7).

If this understanding is correct (one of two feasible explanations I opted for due to my current research), then there is no contradiction. Jesus died before the Passover meal.

Peace.

Answer 10

He was crucified the day OF the passover. He was the Passover lamb.