Follow up- Did Jesus die on a Friday? Does it matter?
✨👉🏼 Last week I sent out an email that started like this…
Resolve these 2 scriptures from the crucifixion account:
Mark 16:1- When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body.
Luke 23:54-56 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
Which is true? Mary, Jesus’ mother, and Salome bought the spices to anoint Jesus’ body AFTER Sabbath or BEFORE?
Is this an error? Have you noticed this contradiction before? Before today, I had not…
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🙏 ✨ The answer to the question is that the seemingly contradictory scriptures are NOT contradictory! Mark and Luke spoke of the same day!
How is this so?
Mark describes the women’s activity AFTER the special “High Sabbath” mentioned by John in 19:31-
Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down.
The special Sabbath here is the Sabbath that occurs the day after Passover which is to be celebrated on the SAME day every year,
Leviticus 23:5-
- On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD’s Passover.
That day landed on a different day every year. The week Jesus was crucified, that 14th day apparently landed on a Wednesday.
Jewish days BEGAN when the sun was setting, which is very different than our Western mindset of the day beginning when the sun rises. Both times can be known as twilight, but we know from God’s instructions that the Passover meal is eaten at night, and in haste, Exodus 12:10-11.
Jesus ate the Passover meal with His disciples, Matthew 26:18 & Mark 26:12-15-
It was the first day of the Festival of Thin Bread, and the Passover lambs were being killed. Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to prepare the Passover meal?” Jesus said to two of the disciples, “Go into the city, where you will meet a man carrying a jar of water. Follow him, and when he goes into a house, say to the owner, ‘Our teacher wants to know if you have a room where he can eat the Passover meal with his disciples.’ The owner will take you upstairs and show you a large room furnished and ready for you to use. Prepare the meal there.”
This would have been Tuesday night to us, but the beginning of Wednesday to the Jew.
That evening Jesus is arrested in the garden.
The next morning into day (Wednesday in the day), He suffers and dies upon the cross.
The following day (Thursday), is a special Sabbath for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Leviticus 23:7.
Friday would be one day after the Special Sabbath of Feast of Unleavened bread, but ALSO one day before the regular Sabbath that would begin at sunset on Friday and go until Saturday at sunset!
Mark says the women went to get spices after the Special Sabbath, whereas Luke says they go get spices before Sabbath. Both are talking about Friday!
Jesus was already crucified!
This is how we can see Jesus’ words of being in the belly of the earth for 3 days and 3 nights is true! So, when the women went to His tomb very early on the first day of the week (Sunday), Jesus had already risen!
It’s so important that we see that scripture is without error! It is God-breathed, 2 Timothy 3:16! What we may perceive as inconsistency or confusing is opportunity to go deeper! The Bible is an ancient Eastern culture book written by our Hebrew Messiah, so we must approach the Word in His language!
I share this for those of you that want to have assurance of the scriptures!
✨HIS WORD IS TRUE!
✨This strengthens our conviction and deepens our dependence on His promises!
✨It affects our prayer language and blesses our time with Him!
✨When we meditate on the word of God and study it, our soul prospers and is set on success, Joshua 1:8!
(Final note- Of course there are others who have known that the timing of Jesus’ death was not a Friday. If you are interested in a couple of articles, here are 2 for reference…)
http://thewayofthemessiah.org/tsp.html
https://www.eaec.org/bibleanswers/passover-week-two-sabbaths.htm
❤️🔥💯 We serve a LIVING God!
Luke 24: 1On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” 8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
Spend time with Him using the exercises in the podcast! Find the podcast here or your phone app!! Blessings in His presence!
