The traditional chronology for the Passion Week is reasoned as follows:
Scripture tells us that Jesus' body was removed from the cross before sundown on the day of his crucifixion because the next day was a special Sabbath. Because it is assumed that the term "Sabbath" can only mean Saturday, the crucifixion itself must be on a Friday.
The verse, "When Jesus rose early on the first of the week..."(Mark 16:9) is a clear indication that Jesus rose from the dead early Sunday morning.
John tells us that, "Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany..." (John 12:1) Since Jesus ate the Passover with his disciples before his crucifixion, the Passover meal can be determined as Thursday evening and so his arrival in Bethany is calculated to be on Saturday.
John next tells us that, "The next day (after arriving in Bethany)Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem" (John 12:12). This places the triumphal entry on Sunday. All other events described occur sometime between Sunday and Friday.
This wonderfully simple scenario has been the heart of mainstream Christian tradition for almost 2000 years.
Before moving forward, I would like you to look back at the traditional rendition and notice how very little Hebrew background is utilized in rendering the chronology. "Passover" is crudely rendered a "day" and the "Sabbath" is casually assumed to be Saturday. Once these assumptions are established, logic is used to rationalize the rest.
The problem exists, however, that many scriptures are not explained by this interpretation. For instance, how do you get three days and three nights from Friday evening to Sunday Morning?
"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." Matt 12:40, see also Luke 11:29
The fact that you can not get three days and three nights from Friday evening to Sunday morning should cause a small crisis in your mind. If Jesus did not fulfill this prophecy accurately, can he be trusted to fulfill other promises accurately? The "scholar's solution" is that the Jews had a habit of counting any part of a day as a full day. This explanation has the effect of defending the traditional view by explaining away the prophecy rather than reconciling the Gospel record in any provable way. I have yet to see any compelling evidence that this habit was actually so and we are still left trying to get three nights from two.
Again, how can Jesus and his disciples eat the Passover and then have the Jewish leadership still waiting to eat Passover the next morning? The traditional commentators offer little comfort here.
"Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover." John 18:28
Again, how can Jesus eat the Passover with his disciples and be crucified as the Passover lamb? Was the Last Supper not really Passover or was Jesus not precisely a Passover lamb?
And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
The traditional view leaves us trying to resolve these sorts of "conflicts". We are left scratching our heads and agreeing with commentators who say, "The Gospel writers must have been confused" or "No one can ever know for sure." At this point many will say, "This issue is not central to my faith, so why worry about it?" What kind of faith requires that I ignore the details of the Gospel story?
A "Different" Perspective:
Let us put away our pride for a moment and imagine that the Bible is not so much a "Christian" book as it is a Jewish book. Let us notice that the Gospels were written primarily to show how Jesus fulfilled the prophetic promises found in the Hebrew scriptures. Let us remember for a moment that Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi (teacher). Two thousand years of Christian interpretation does not change the fact that a Jewish assumption is completely in line with scripture and history.
"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!" John 1:29
When John the Baptist proclaimed that Jesus of Nazareth was the "Lamb of God", he forcefully linked Jesus person and ministry to the fulfillment of God's prophetic promises to Israel. It cannot be denied that prophetic fulfillment is a major theme in all four Gospel accounts. In fact, Jesus himself proclaimed that his very mission was not to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them (Matt 5:17). The theological "hot potato" then becomes "How exactly did Jesus fulfill them?" By understanding how Jesus fulfilled the things written about him in the Law and Prophets, we better understand the significance of his ministry and his death, burial and resurrection. In turn we better understand how to apply the Gospel message in an authentic way to our own faith and practice.
The original context of the Passion Week is a Feast of Yahweh (God) known to the Jews as Passover or the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This "Feast" was not, as it is commonly assumed, a holiday of the Jews. According to the Bible, it is a holy day of Yahweh the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God established it as a holy convocation, memorial, or rehearsal to be remembered and celebrated by God's chosen people "forever".
In the 1st century CE, the Passover Festival was celebrated in Jerusalem at the Temple. In those days, as in days of old, the chosen people acquired a perfect male lamb on the 10th of Nisan, the first Hebrew month.
"Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. (Exodus 12:3)
The little lamb was brought in, cared for, pampered and inspected for four days. It was gentle and innocent. The children became attached to it. During that time, the father taught his household that this lamb must take on their sins and die in their stead. When the hour had come, tears flowed from the children's eyes as the father left for the Temple, the lamb upon his shoulders.
Take care of them (the lambs) until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. (Exodus 12:6).
Thousands were gathered on the Temple mount each with a lamb, a first born male without blemish. That afternoon, before sunset, men laid their hands upon the heads of the lambs, and then sacrificed them by cutting the throat. Golden bowls took the blood of the lambs to be sprinkled on all sides of the altar. As the sun set, the Passover lambs were roasted and eaten in haste along with bitter herbs, and unleavened bread. Israel remembered that God had delivered his people out of bitter bondage in Egypt.
The significance of Passover is found in its themes of redemption and deliverance. God intended the Hebrew nation to annually remember that he had delivered them from bitter bondage in Egypt. Since the Bible clearly portrays Jesus' death, burial and resurrection as a fulfillment of this "rehearsal", it is not possible to understand the full significance of Jesus if we forget the prophetic symbolism fulfilled by the Passover Lamb.
"For Christ, our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth." 1 Cor 5:7-8 |
