Following without thinking

Why doesn’t anyone ever question the Good Friday tradition?

It is common knowledge that Jesus was in the grave three days and three nights. It is also common tradition to celebrate the death of Jesus on Friday and His resurrection on Sunday. So if He dies about three o’clock on Friday and goes into the tomb, He would be there Friday night, Saturday, and Saturday night for a total of one day and two nights. That falls short of three days and three nights by two days and one night.

So why do we celebrate Good Friday? Because that’s what we’ve always been told to do.

Why doesn’t anyone ever challenge it? Because “they” must know more than we do. Even when it comes to something as simple as counting to three.

For those of you wondering about the actual timetable of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, here goes:

First – the Bible nowhere says or implies that Jesus was crucified on a Friday – it isn’t in there.

The idea for this comes from Mark 15:42 where it says, “And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath.” The Hebrew sabbath began at sundown on Friday night and went until sundown on Saturday night. Days begin and end at sundown rather than sunrise as we view them here in the West.

The problem with viewing this sabbath as the day of rest is that it isn’t taking into consideration the fact that the first day of a Passover week, regardless of the day of the week it came, was a sabbath.

The Passover sabbath in the year that Jesus was crucified was on Thursday, the 15th of the month Nisan. This would mean that Jesus was crucified on Wednesday. We are told in Mark 15:34, that just after the ninth hour, or three o’clock our time, Jesus died. Joseph of Arimathaea requested His body to place it in the tomb.

So Jesus goes into the tomb and is there, Wednesday night, Thursday, Thursday night, Friday, Friday night and Saturday. Jesus then rose from the grave Saturday night. We know this because at daybreak, Mary went to the tomb, found the stone rolled away from the entrance and Jesus gone.

Three days and three nights.

Something else noteworthy to consider is that Jesus was crucified on the day of preparation and offering for the Passover. The Passover required the slaying of a lamb without blemish. John the Baptist said when he saw Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world!” So Jesus, the Lamb of God, was slain on the very same day as the Passover lambs. His blood was spilled and applied to the mercy seat in Heaven.

One more thing is that the Passover lambs were to be chosen on the 10^th of the month – 4 days before they were slain. Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem occurred on Saturday, four days before His crucifixion. He perfectly fulfills every detail regarding the selection and slaying of the Passover lambs. Had He been crucified on Friday, none of this would have been true.

There is nothing in scripture supporting a Good Friday view. Everything in scripture points toward a Wednesday crucifixion.

So again, why does Good Friday even continue to be observed?

Following without thinking.