No Such Thing as Good Friday!

By Pastor Steve Feinstein

Did Jesus really die on a Friday? For most of the history of the church, this was assumed and so we have built a structure of holidays such as Good Friday, and Palm Sunday off of this assumption. The question at hand is whether or not the assumption is true. I will answer this in two parts. We need to establish what year Jesus was crucified, and then we need to figure out what weekday Passover was that year. First, in another blog I already established that Jesus’ ministry began in late 26. In early 27, we end up at John 2, which is the first mention of a Passover feast in John’s Gospel. In total John mentions three Passovers (chapters 2, 6, and 13) in his gospel, which makes it the only Gospel useful for figuring out how long Jesus’ ministry was. Passover is an annual feast for the Jews, and the mention of three of them gives us two years (one today, a second one year from now, and the third a year later = 2 years). However, John 5:1 mentions an unnamed feast requiring Jesus to go to Jerusalem. There are only three Jewish feasts that require a trip to Jerusalem, and the only one prominent enough to be mentioned as “the feast” (John 5:1) is Passover. So in John’s Gospel, we have four Passover’s mentioned giving us a ministry of three years and some change (40 days in the wilderness before the first Passover). As a result, if the first Passover mentioned back in John 2, was in the year 27, Jesus’ crucifixion was on Passover in the year 30.

This then brings me to the second part. There is no such thing as Palm Sunday or Good Friday. Jesus did not die on Friday. There are two main reasons. One is Scriptural. Matthew 12:40has Jesus state how long He would be dead for.

Mat 12:40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

If Jesus died on Friday evening, He would only be dead for a few hours of Friday, all of Saturday, and then a few hours of Sunday. That is hardly three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. For Jesus to actually be dead for three full days and to then be raised on Sunday, He would have had to die on Wednesday evening. To Jews, the new day starts at sunset, not midnight. So the second the sun sets on Wednesdayevening, the Jews consider it Thursday. This would leave Jesus in the tomb all day and night Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, allowing Him to raise anytime on Sunday (which to us would be Saturday night). Bear in mind that when the women went to the tomb at sunrise, it was already empty. Looking back in history, of the five surrounding years of A.D. 30, the year 30 is the only year that Passover occurred on a Wednesday. We already know that His ministry began in late 26, and a little over three years later was the year 30. Thus Good Friday is an impossibility. If Christ did not die on Friday, then counting back six days to the Triumphal Entry would no longer be on a Sunday (hence Palm Sunday). Instead, we should be celebrating Palm Friday and Good Wednesday, but since the church did not do its homework on the Jewish roots of this all, they got the days all mixed up.

Of course, I know what you are thinking. In Mark 15:42 and Luke 23:54 and John 19:31 it says that they had to hurry to get Jesus off the cross and buried because the Sabbath was about to begin when the sun set. Thus, they could not do any work and had to get the task done. If that is the case, and Sabbath’s are Saturdays, wouldn’t His death be on a Friday? Well, notice something in John 19:31.

Joh 19:31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.

John tells us this particular Sabbath was a high day. What does that mean? In Leviticus 23, God gives the people ofIsrael all of the rules for their 7 major feasts. In verses 4 through 7 God speaks of regular Sabbaths, Passover, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The day after Passover is the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Lord tells them in verse 7 that they are to treat it as a Sabbath. This is to be treated as such, whether it is Saturday or not. This is what Jews refer to as a High Sabbath. In Leviticus 23 there is a High Sabbath assigned to nearly every major feast making it to where they cannot work. What’s the point? It doesn’t matter what day of the week Passover falls on. The next day automatically is a High Sabbath. The Jews can do no work. Furthermore, John just informed us that this Sabbath was “ahigh day.” So Friday is not necessary for the death of Christ. Any day would work since the next day would be a High Sabbath by default. Furthermore, in the year 30 Passover was on a Wednesday instead of a Friday. So there is virtually no chance that Jesus Christ was crucified on a Friday.

There is one more final clue that seals the deal on this. In Mark 16:1 it tells us that after the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene and Mary mother of James bought spices to anoint the body of Jesus. In Luke 23:55-56 it tells us the women went away to prepare the spices, rested on the Sabbath, and then came after the Sabbath to anoint Him (24:1). Apparently we have a contradiction if Christ died on Friday. Mark says they bought the spices after the Sabbath, but Luke tells us they prepared them prior to the Sabbath, rested on the Sabbath, and then showed up on Sunday to anoint Him. If Christ died on Wednesday, Thursday would be the High Sabbath forcing the women to do nothing, but Friday would be a normal day for them to buy and prepare the spices, Saturday would the regular Sabbath for them to rest, and then Sunday they could show up to the tomb. This makes it possible for them to buy the spices after the Sabbath (the High Sabbath), and yet have them prepared before the regular Sabbath. On top of that, it also allows Christ to be dead 3 full days and nights, and matches with when Passover occurred in the year 30. So Jesus died on a Wednesday. God bless.