What Day was Jesus Crucified?

There seems to be much confusion between the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) and the Gospel of John. This is because the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke tell much of the same story (hence the nickname Synoptic) while the Gospel of John seems to have a much different style. Some people, including some scholars, even claim that the Synoptic Gospels contradict the Gospel of John in many places.

This posting will deal with the claim that the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John do not agree on the day in which Jesus was crucified. The week leading up to the crucifixion, now honored as "Holy Week" in the Christian religion, was the week leading up to the Jewish Passover.¹

According to the Gospels, Jesus was crucified on Preparation day which was the 14th of Nisan which was the day in which the Passover lamb was slaughtered and its blood was smeared on the door posts of Jewish homes so the spirit of the Lord would "passover" their homes. Jesus Christ was the Passover lamb for the world.

This Preparation day occurred between sundown Thursday and sundown Friday, but was considered the Jewish Friday, because Jewish days are from sundown to sundown.

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" - Mark 14:12

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. - Luke 22:7

It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. "Here is your king," Pilate said to the Jews. - John 19:14

The actual Passover began Friday at sundown until Saturday at sundown which also happened to be the Sabbath. Scripture makes it clear that Jesus died and was buried on Preparation Day before Sabbath which started at sundown.

59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. 61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
The Guard at the Tomb
62 The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. - Matthew 27:59-62

42 It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. - Mark 15:42-43

54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. 55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. - Luke 23:54-55

31 Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews 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. - John 19:31

The Gospels clearly agree that Jesus died and was buried before the start of Sabbath.

So where does all the confusion come from? People seem to get tripped up over the Last Supper, and whether the Last Supper was the actual Passover. Indeed, the Gospels do make it sound like they were eating Passover dinner together.

17 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" 18 He replied, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.' " - Matthew 26:17-18

We know that it is not possible for Jesus to share the actual Passover Feast with his disciples as he died before Passover started. The only explanations are either Jesus and his disciples (who were life long Jews) did not know when the actual Passover took place, or the much more likely answer, Jesus wanted to have Passover dinner with his disciples, but could not, since he knew when and how he was going to die. So they shared their Passover dinner the night earlier.

15 And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." - Luke 22:15

Interestingly enough, the answer to this so-called contradiction was in the Bible in plain view all along.

Many Blessings.

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¹ - Jewish Passover