How could Jesus be crucified on Friday and resurrected on Sunday if....?

Question

...If scripture says he was dead for 3 days and 3 nights? My theory is that he ate the Passover on Wednesday night, was crucified Thursday, and was dead from Thursday night to Sunday morning. That's the only way to get the 3 days and 3 nights. (Keep in mind that the Hebrew "day" began at sunset and ended at sunset the next day.) Also, because Wednesday was the passover, there was a High Sabbath that week. Leviticus 23:7 says that the 14th day of the first month is the Passover; the next day, the 15th, is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is also a yearly sabbath; nobody works on that day, which would explain why there was a multitude clamoring for Jesus' crucifixion - nobody was at work. The weekly sabbath would have begun Friday at sunset. Jesus would have arose sometime between sunset Saturday and sunrise Sunday. What are your thoughts on this? Serious responses only, please.

Answer 1

He was not crucified on Friday, there is nothing in the text that says this. I believe it was a Weds.. Keep in mind, a Jewish day is from sunset to sunset. So, Tuesday, the 13th of Nisan, was the preperation day, at sunset, the Passover began (Wed.). The events of the passion began on Wed.. That evening, after the passover was celebrated, He was arrested. He was tried Wed. morning, and crucified around noon. Between 3 and 6, Joseph of Arimathea requests and is given permission to remove the body. Remember, they had to remove the bodies before the high holy day (Thurs), which was the beginning of the feast of unleavened bread. Thurs. evening, Jesus is laid in the tomb. Thursday, being the high holy day, no work could be done. Jesus is in the tomb Wed. night and Thursday, 1 day and 1 night. Thursday night (Friday) the women buy the spices and the chief priest and Pharisees meet with Pilate to have guards placed at the tomb. Remember, according to Jewish law, they could not enter the house of a Gentile on the Sabbath or a high holy day. Jesus is in the tomb Thursday evening and Friday, 2 nights and 2 days.
Friday evening (Sat.) begins the weekly Sabbath. Jesus remains in the tomb Friday night and Saturday, 3 days and 3 nights. After Nisan 17, (Saturday night) Jesus rose from the dead, Sunday, Nisan 18 was the feast of first fruits. The women found the tomb empty, He had arose from the dead.

Answer 2

I agree with your theory.

The Jewish Passover is also considered a Sabbath, and that year the eve of Passover would have to have fallen on a Wednesday. Jesus shared his last meal on the Eve of Passover, then he was arrested that night, followed by a "kangaroo court" and was crucified sometime during the morning hours on Thursday .

Thursday being the 2nd night of the Passover, it was also considered a Sabbath of rest, so they had to remove Jesus from the cross before the evening set in so as not to violate the Sabbath, or the "day of preparation".

He was buried Thursday; Thursday to Friday was the first day; Friday to Saturday was the second day, then Saturday evening was the beginning of the third day, so early Sunday morning was the morning of the third day.

It's really a question of how the Jews view the calendar. A day begins at sunset when three stars are visible, assuming it's not a cloudy day.

Answer 3

The Wednesday View. Those who advocate a Wednesday Crucifixion base their opinion on Matthew 12:40 [Matt. 12:40]. They note that Jesus died about 3:00 p.m. (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34; Luke 23:44), and they believe he was dead for exactly three days and three nights, and so conclude that the Resurrection occurred in the afternoon. Because the Savior had risen by Sunday morning, they place the Resurrection on Saturday and the Crucifixion on Wednesday.

This view seems untenable because the disciples were witnesses that Jesus actually did “rise from the dead the third day” after his crucifixion (Luke 24:46–48), and the day they saw him is identified as Sunday, the third (not fourth) day since the crucifixion (see Luke 24:1, 13, 20–21). Moreover, the fact that the women came to the tomb on Sunday morning to anoint the body after having had to rest on the Sabbath seems to nullify this view, because under no circumstances could there have been a three-day Sabbath to prevent them from coming sooner.

The Thursday View. Proponents of a Thursday Crucifixion also feel that a Friday death does not allow enough time to fulfill Matthew 12:40 [Matt. 12:40]. That is, even though there may be parts of three days between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning, there are only two nights. They solve this problem by placing the Crucifixion on Thursday afternoon and the Resurrection on Sunday morning; and thus they are forced to propose a two-day Sabbath, as discussed above.

The Friday View. Scholars who advocate a Friday Crucifixion point out that the arguments for Wednesday and Thursday are based almost entirely on one interpretation of an isolated verse (Matt. 12:40), rather than on the many statements that Jesus would rise the third day. Although we might count Sunday as the third day after Thursday, they note that it is clear from many other passages in the Old Testament and rabbinic literature that the Jews counted inclusively (10)—that is, in counting three days after a Friday death, they would have counted Friday as the first day, Saturday as the second, and Sunday as the third. (See Luke 13:32–33; Luke 24:7, 21, 45–48.) Moreover, according to Jewish custom, any part of a day was reckoned as an entire day (including the night)(11); hence, part of Friday, all of Saturday, and part of Sunday would have been counted as three days and three nights.

Therefore, the Jewish manner of reckoning both nullifies the objection to Friday and also implies that Sunday would have been counted as the fourth day after a Thursday Crucifixion.

Accordingly, Wednesday seems to be entirely excluded and Thursday is unlikely because its support lies almost wholly in one verse which strains the interpretation of many others. Thus, while Thursday is possible, it is proposed that the day of the Crucifixion was probably a Friday.

Harold Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1977);

10. For instance, in Lev. 23:15–16 the interval of seven weeks, “from the morrow after the sabbath” to “the morrow after the seventh sabbath,” is counted as fifty days. We would count forty-nine days. See also Hoehner, p. 73.

11. See Hoehner, p. 66

Answer 4

There is no where is Scripture that says that Jesus would be dead for 3 days and 3 nights. Only 3 days.

Answer 5

I think that since He had the last supper on Thursday, and the last supper was a commemeration of the crusafixion, that was like a death of Our Lord before His actual passion. The death of his feeling the presence of God within Him. Then He would have been dead , in a sence, on thursday night too. Good question.

Answer 6

My thoughts are your thoughts. Although I do not argue with my brothers and sisters in Christ about it.

I don't condone all of the teachings of this site, but I do like this graph and personally believe in its accuracy.

Bro JC is the man; Mat 12:40 For as Jonah 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.

Answer 7

I heard someone say that Jesus and the disciples ate their Passover meal a day before everyone else.

Answer 8

Jesus was crucified and died on Thursday the day of preparation, not on Friday as the traditions of men have told you.

Why do men call it "good Friday" they lie.

Answer 9

Good question.
you can make theories as you like, but the fact remain unchanged that the Bible has contradictions.
Seeking truth is the very good sign of a true believer of God.

Answer 10

The author of Matthew quotes Jesus as saying to the scribes and Pharisees: "For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40; cf. Jonah 2:1 [1:17 in some versions]. This reference to Jonah supposedly foreshadows the burial and the resurrection of Jesus. Yet there is an essential difference between what occurred to Jonah and Matthew's resurrection account. This difference destroys Matthew's attempt at an analogy.

According to all four Gospels, the crucifixion took place on a Friday and the resurrection on the following Sunday. From this it would seem that Jesus was buried for three days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). Thus, Luke writes that according to prophecy, Jesus was to rise on the third day: "Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and he said to them: 'Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise from the dead the third day'" (Luke 24:45, 46; see also Matthew 16:21; Mark 8:31, 10:34; Luke 9:22, 18:33). While it is true that according to Jewish law part of the day is equivalent to a full day, Matthew's Jesus promised to be buried specifically for three days and three nights. By the use of the phrase "three days and three nights," Matthew's Jesus indicated that he expected to be buried for three consecutive periods between dawn and dark (day) and dark and dawn (night), or approximately seventy- two hours. The Scriptures employ the phrase "three days" in a more general sense than that expressed by "three days and three nights." For example, "three days" does not necessarily include the period of day or night at either the beginning or end of the total time to be indicated. Therefore, when the phrase "three days" is meant to specifically include three days and three nights, and this is not evident from the text, it must be stated as such: ". . . neither eat nor drink three days, night or day . . ." (Esther 4:16). However, when the phrase "three days and three nights" is stated, it includes either all three days and all three nights or can be deficient in only parts of a day or night at the beginning or end of the entire period, but never of a full segment of day or night out of twenty-four hours (1 Samuel 30:11-13). Although Jesus did not have to be buried exactly seventy-two hours, he did have to be buried at least on parts of three days and three nights. Jesus died on a Friday at the ninth hour, which corresponds to about 3 P.M. The claim is made that Jesus rose three days later, on a Sunday. This would mean that he was buried during the daylight hours of three different days. If this was true, he was buried for only two nights.

The Gospel of John indicates that Jesus' promise to rise after being buried three days and three nights was never fulfilled. According to Matthew, the women came to the tomb "as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week" (Matthew 28:1), Mark says "they came to the tomb when the sun had risen" (Mark 16:2), and Luke says it was "at early dawn that they came to the tomb" (Luke 24:1). But in John it clearly states that it was not yet dawn when the body of Jesus disappeared from the tomb: "On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb" (John 20:1). Thus, John says that Jesus, having risen before the dawn of Sunday morning, was buried for only two days and two nights, i.e., one full day (Saturday), part of another (Friday), and two nights (Friday and Saturday nights). This contradicts the assertion that in fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus was buried three days and three nights. The New Testament evidence simply does not add up to three days, i.e., daylight hours, and three nights, as specifically promised by Jesus. Therefore, Jesus did not fulfill his very own prediction.