Did Jesus partake of the Passover supper on the night of his betrayal? Was Jesus raised from the dead on the third day or the fourth day? Critics maintain that the gospel records are at variance on these matters. If, as is often suggested, at least one of the gospel records is in error in a matter of such importance, then it cannot be maintained that the Holy Scriptures are wholly inspired and infallible.
When was the Last Supper?
We think it important to contend that Jesus and his disciples partook of the Jewish Passover supper at the appointed time, that is, on the 14th Nisan between 6 p.m. and mid-night. This was the time designated in the Law, not the beginning of the 15th day (which would be a feast day) (Ex. 12:6-8; Lev. 23:5). There is no variation in the gospel records. Misunderstandings have been caused by confounding the Passover supper (14th Nisan) with the Passover festival which followed it on the 15th Nisan. The Passover supper was not part of the feast. When making a study of this matter it is sometimes important to remember that italicized words in the gospel translations have no corresponding words in the original record. For word-for-word translations the italics must be omitted. The Passover supper was the memorial of the redemption from Egypt the night before the Exodus.
It was the night of the 14th Nisan. The Passover feast was the anniversary of the actual deliverance from Egypt early in the morning of the 15th Nisan.
Before we consider the alleged discrepancies in the records we will closely examine the records themselves, all of which affirm emphatically that Jesus and his disciples did partake of the Jewish Passover supper on the 14th Nisan as appointed in the Law of Moses. Matthew says, “Ye know that after two days is the Passover and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified … and they consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety, and kill him. But they said, Not on the feast” (26:2-5), i.e. not during the festival of Unleavened Bread. The festival commenced on the 15th Nisan. The 15th would be a public holiday when no servile work would be done. There would be many people about Jerusalem then, therefore Jesus was arrested on the 14th Nisan when the people were all busy preparing the passover lamb. Verse 17 of this chapter tells us that “the first (day) of unleavened bread (not feast) the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?’ “. It was not Jesus that made the inquiry but the disciples, who, with the knowledge of the day (14th Nisan) asked Jesus for instructions. Jesus plainly says to the disciples “I will keep the Passover” (v. 18) and verse 19 says “the disciples made ready the Passover. Now when the even was come (14th Nisan) he sat down with the twelve”. Mark, in recording the occasion (14:12), says it took place on the first day of unleavened bread when the passover must be killed (14th Nisan). There is further confirmation in Luke 22:7, “Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed” (14th Nisan). There is no suggestion whatever of an anticipatory Passover.
The Record in John
However it is alleged that John’s record is in conflict with the Synoptic records. John 13:1 starts “Now before the feast of the Passover”. The scene is the Passover supper on the eve of the Passover feast. All the difficulties are caused by the Passover supper being confused with the feast which followed it. “The Passover” became the common name for both supper and feast. The supper was not part of the feast; “And in the 14th day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord. And in the 15th day of this month is the feast” (Num. 28:16-17). Confirmation of this
will be found in John 13:29, “for some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things we have need of against the feast” (i.e. 15th Nisan which was a holiday when no servile work was done. Trading would be unlawful on that day, but obviously supplies for the feast were procurable late on the night of the 14th Nisan).
Another difficulty in correctly understanding the matter is the assumption that the Jewish day was invariably reckoned to begin in the evening. It must be noted that, although the Passover was eaten between 6 p.m. and midnight, this period was designated in the law not as the beginning of the 15th Nisan but as the evening or the night of the 14th. The feast day was reckoned doubtless from 6 a.m. the following morning, for, according to the Jewish Mishna (treatise Berachoth) the day—i.e. the feast day—began at 6 a.m.
This fact enables us to conclude that the Passover on account of which the Jews refused to defile themselves by entering the judgement hall (Jn. 18:28) was not the Passover supper. That could be eaten right up to midnight, well after the hour when defilement would have lapsed; “And when the sun is down, he shall be clean, and shall afterward eat of the Holy things” (Lev. 22:7). The reference must be to the feast-day offerings. The question still arises, perhaps, whether partaking of these feast-day offerings could be termed “eating the Passover”. The Law of Moses gives the answer, “Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the Lord thy God, of the flock and the herd … seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith” (Deut. 16:2-3).
The Day of the Crucifixion
The events recorded in the 18th chapter of John’s record occurred on the feast day (15th Nisan). The Pharisees were anxious to procure the arrest of Jesus on the night of the Passover supper (14th) because the people would be indoors, and so it was that the accusation before Pilate took place on the feast day, Nisan 15th, as all the gospel records declare. Furthermore it was at the feast that the Governor released a prisoner to the people (Jn. 18:39; Mark 15:6; Luke 23:17). So Barabbas was released and Jesus was crucified on the 15th Nisan, the feast day.
It is objected that John 19:14 states that it was “the preparation of the passover” and therefore it must necessarily mean that the day was the 14th Nisan. There is not a single passage in the Scriptures nor in profane writings in which this day is so described. There was only one day known to the Jews as the Preparation Day, and it was the day before their weekly Sabbath. Mark 15:42 confirms this, “and now when even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath (weekly)”, and so does Luke 23:54, “And that day (15th Nisan) was the preparation and the sabbath drew on”. Bearing this in mind we can now compare these references with John 19:14,31, and it will be seen that it refers to passover Friday (Good Friday).
Further difficulty has somehow arisen concerning the fact that in John 19:31 the Sabbath is called “An high day”. However, this does not refer to the 15th Nisan, but to the weekly sabbath the 16th Nisan. It certainly was “an high day” because of the great sacrifices which had to be offered in connection with the feast of the Passover. But in addition to this it was “an high day” because it was the day on which the firstfruits were offered in the temple.
It is very strange that according to the Law of Moses the firstfruits should have been offered on the first day of the week (Lev. 23:5-13), that is, the day of resurrection. According to the law, on this day the barley harvest should begin and the first sheaf gathered should have been taken to the holy place and waved before Yahweh. However, for some unaccountable reason the Jews substituted the empty rite of offering in the temple a measure of meal prepared from corn which in violation of the law had been garnered days before (very significant surely), and this was done on their sabbath instead of the first day of the week.
The Passover Lamb
There is no Scriptural evidence in support of the idea that the death of Jesus was on the same day as the passover lamb was killed. The passover was killed between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on 14th Nisan whereas Jesus died at 3 p.m. on 15th Nisan.
We submit that Jesus partook of the pass-over lamb at the Last Supper. It was as the disciples were eating the passover that “Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:26-28). We would emphasise the words “This is my body” and “this is my blood”. Both Mark’s record and Luke’s record are similar to Matthew’s in this respect. We notice that Jesus had partaken of the Jewish Passover supper which would include the passover lamb. This would be on the evening of the 14th Nisan; the Passover could not be celebrated at any other time. From some of the materials of this supper, namely bread and wine, Jesus inaugurated the Breaking of Bread Memorial Feast.
In the gospel accounts of this occasion we discern some very significant symbols relating to the fundamental truths of our faith; for here, in the upper room in Jerusalem the pass-over lamb is superseded by “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world”. The sins of the children of Israel were covered or passed over under the Mosaic dispensation, but under the New Covenant sins are remitted, that is, put away. Jesus put away sins by the sacrifice of himself. The Old Covenant was ratified by the blood of bulls and goats, but this could not remit sin, it covered or passed over it. The New Covenant was ratified by the blood of Jesus, for by his own blood he entered into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for himself and for us. So then, just as Jesus instituted the Memorial Supper from, or out of, the Jewish Passover, so the New Covenant is developed out of the Old Covenant. “This is my body”, said Jesus when he broke the bread. This is in contrast to the body of the lamb. “This is my blood”, said Jesus, and he said this in contrast to the blood of the passover lamb, i.e. it was the blood of the New Covenant. This is why Jesus said “With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer”—to signify the end of the Old Covenant and the beginning of the New Covenant which remitted sin. Surely to suggest that this was an anticipatory celebration of the passover supper is to doubt the Holy Scriptures. Jesus kept the Law of Moses, and of necessity he would keep the Passover at the appointed time, namely the 14th Nisan in the evening.
Three Days and Three Nights
The only Scripture which presents a real difficulty is the statement by Jesus that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish even so would he be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. But surely we must not set aside the many references to the effect that Jesus partook of the Jewish Passover and that he would rise from the dead on the third day. (It is interesting to note that whilst the AV for Matthew 27:63 and Mark 8:31 reads “after three days I will rise again”, Westcott and Hort’s text from the original Greek renders this “after two days I will rise again”). The one somewhat ambiguous statement concerning three days and three nights must surely be reconciled with the many undeniably plain statements. We think that the terrible agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane corresponds with the first night of Jonah’s three days and three nights. Jonah was not unconscious in the belly of the fish because he prayed to God. If reference is made to Jonah 2 it will be seen that Jonah had in mind the Messianic Psalm 69. Jesus in Gethsemane would also have this Psalm in mind. Spiritually Jesus was dead to this world from the institution of the New Covenant.
It is very interesting to realise that the day of the crucifixion of Jesus was the anniversary of the Exodus from Egypt (indeed it was the day of the Exodus of Jesus) on 15th Nisan, and that the day of the resurrection was the anniversary of the crossing of the Red Sea and also of the resting of the Ark on Ararat (Gen. 8:4; Exo. 14), namely the 17th Nisan.
The Solution