Keeping track of time…timing is everything…

1. When was the Last Supper (Matt 26:17, Mark 14:12, and Luke 22:7)? Does John 13:1 place the Last Supper on the same day?

Note the following:

1) There are 3 different concepts of a day. A new day starts: a) Pacific Standard Time at midnight, b) Galilean Time at sunrise, and c) Judean / Roman Time at sunset.

2) The hour of the day starts from 3 different reference points. The hour starts: a) Pacific Standard Time at midnight and noon, b) Galilean Time at sunrise and sunset, and c) Judean / Roman Time at sunset to sunrise.

3)In the year Christ died, the priestly calendar commission agreed to the Sadducees preference to have Pentecost fall on a Sunday. The Pharisees meanwhile followed the normal course of time, which had the month start one day earlier. Hence, Passover occurred on two consecutive days.

4) Matthew, Mark, and Luke were based on Galilean Time and John was based on Judean / Roman Time. When considering the different time zones, the Matthew, Mark, and Luke accounts of the Last Supper was indeed the Passover supper, and in John's account the Last Supper was indeed the night before the Passover Supper.

5) The Gospel of John portrays the crucifixion as occurring during the slaying of the Passover lambs!

2. Study the account of the death and resurrection of Christ in Mark 15:21-16:6. What day was Jesus crucified? What time did He die? Assuming that Mary Magdalene and Salome visited the tomb at 7am, how many hours passed before the tomb was discovered empty? Matt 12:40 Jesus himself says, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." What’s wrong here?

1) Friday. Christ was crucified Friday at 9 am (3rd hour) and died at 3 p.m. (9th hour). Mark was using the Jewish method of counting hours from sunrise (6 am) and sunset (6pm). His body was placed in the tomb on Friday evening. Friday was the Day of Preparation before the Sabbath.

2) Saturday. Saturday was the Sabbath and known as the day of rest.

3) Sunday. The tomb was found empty Sunday morning. Approximately only 40 hours has passed from Jesus’ death to resurrection.

Consistently throughout the Old and New Testament, part of a day is counted as a whole day. Mark, in his narration, used the Pharisaic method of time, which considered a day from sunrise to sunrise (6 am). Matthew 12:40 is an idiomatic expression for three days not a literal 72 hours (i.e. see Esther 4:16-5:1); in all Biblical accounts, Christ rose on the third day not the fourth.

For a more thorough analysis of this challenging anachronism, see Harold Hoenhner's book: Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ.

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