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When Jesus was asked for a sign, he said he will give no sign but the sign of Jonas. This was to be the sign that he is Messiah. Nevermind the miracles. Jesus said we could do those, and greater, if we had the faith.
What was the sign of Jonas? Jesus said that Jonas was in the belly of a fish three days and nights, so shall the son of man be dead three days and three nights. Why do i bother to bring this up? To mention a curiosity. Lots of folks celebrate good Friday to Easter Sunday, supposing Jesus rose on sunday morning. Let’s look at the numbers. Jesus was killed Friday afternoon, about 3ish. Let me be generous and say that is one day and one night, taking Friday night to be the first night. The Jewish day is from evening to evening, so according to Jewish counting, that would be one night. But I am giving it the whole day, to accommodate the faithful. Saturday and Saturday night is 2 days and nights. Sunday morning is half a day, at best. That leaves us short one big fat night.
So, was Jesus kidding? Or wrong? Or did the faithful condense it cause they has to work on Monday and to make things easy, just celebrate on Sunday? Another thing that might have confused the issue is, that the Catholic church changed the sabbath to Sunday from Saturday. Saturday being the traditional sabbath, kept by the Jews til this day. That’s not so big an issue. But for the bible scholars, I thought I’d bring this up because no one else has said, Hey, where’s the third night? So, either make it Good Thursday or make it Easter Monday. To be more exact, that is.
I would have to say if we must move one direction or the other, we will have to initiate a Good Thursday. Matthew 28 pretty clearly gives us the day of His resurrection as “the first day of the week (Sunday).
The question then becomes “what was the Preparation Day mentioned in John 19:14?” People with much more wisdom (and time on their hands) than me conclude that the Passover coinciding with this particular Sabbath would have seen the Feast of Unleavened Bread fall on Friday. Here’s one person’s take. http://gracethrufaith.com/selah/holidays-and-holy-days/solving-the-three-day-three-night-mystery/
For me though, I’m content to know something of much more significance than the days of the week… the tomb is empty! We serve a risen and living Lord and Savior. Blessings, friend.
Yes, the tomb is empty, thats really it. Salvation doesnt depend on celebrating events. But its curious that no one steps up and says…Wait, were missing a day! When i was young, i remember thinking..Gee, thats not 3 days and nites, but i didnt care enough to make a stink.
Thursday – Friday – Day 1
Friday – Saturday- Day 2
Saturday – Sunday – Day 3
The Jewish new day started at sunset (for religious purposes it still does), although the hours didn’t start until 6 am, hence Jesus died at the 9th hour (3pm on our clock)
Jesus was taken on Thursday evening, it must have been after sunset otherwise it would have been 4 days but we know this because it was after the Passover meal, and he died Friday afternoon, this according to Jewish practice was the first day, he was in the tomb on Saturday, Shabbat day two and rose Sunday morning on day three. It was not Jewish practice to measure a day by insisting on the passage of 24 hours, the event and the time was sufficient to determine ‘a day’.
The real question is why did Jesus have his Passover meal on Thursday night as stated in the synoptic Gospels, and not Friday night which According to John, Passover fell on Saturday, which is why he refers to it as a “great Sabbath day” (cf. John 19:31)? There is a perfectly good explanation but I’m sure you can figure it out.
And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.
Luke 18:33 (KJV version)
This seems to be what actually happened.
In jewish thought of the day, the soul did not leave the body, until the third day, so for jesus to be seen to have been truly dead he had to be in the grave three days. It does not matter to those who were not there that he had been whipped, or a spear had been put into his heart, he could still be alive. So three days means in jewish thought he was dead. The passover question is a new one I will do some research on the Thursday instead of Friday. maybe JabbaPapa knows saving me some work.