Good What Day??

Tradition is pretty heavy and pretty lengthy on the subject of Good Friday (an interesting enigma calling the illegal murder of the Son of God "good" ... and knowing it was). Everyone knows Jesus died on Friday. But ... did He? What do we know and why even ask?

Here's what we know for certain. Jesus rose "after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week" (Matt 28:1). A Sunday morning resurrection isn't just tradition ... it's biblically explicit. Good. Nailed that one down. We know that they had to bury Him quickly because "it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath" (Mark 15:42). And, of course, as we all know, the "Sabbath" is Saturday, so ... we conclude it was Friday ... but ... is it? As it turns out, during Passover, the first day of Unleavened Bread is also a Sabbath (called a "High Sabbath"). So ... it may not have been Friday. It just had to be the day before a Sabbath. And, historically, it might be noteworthy that in AD 30, the first day of Unleavened Bread occurred on ... Thursday. That would make Friday a High Sabbath (John 19:31) and put 3 actual days between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. And Jesus said He would be "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt 12:40).

Friday is the longstanding tradition for the Crucifixion, which aligns days of the week and events as we have them now. A "Thursday" view takes Jesus's words more literally. A "Wednesday" preference gives Him a full 72 hours in the grave. Both Thursday and Wednesday would seem to move events on our "Holy Week." "Palm Sunday," for instance, might be ... earlier. But, given John's "six days before the Passover" (John 12:1), that's not necessary. In Luke's version, the women who had come with Jesus watched where He was buried and "returned and prepared spices and perfumes. And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment" (Luke 23:55-56). In Mark's version, they bought spices "when the Sabbath was over" (Mark 16:1). Doesn't that require a Sabbath, a non-Sabbath, and a Sabbath? That would support a Wednesday crucifixion followed by a High Sabbath on Thursday, a non-Sabbath on Friday, and a standard Sabbath on Saturday. Or ... not ... if the spices they bought were on Sunday early for a "second treatment" as it were. All interesting conjecture.

In the end, it doesn't really matter. Here's what we know. Jesus fulfilled prophecy perfectly. Luke says it was the third day (Luke 24:7, 21). Paul wrote He was "raised on the third day" (1 Cor 15:4). That's how it happened. Luke and Paul were close to it and neither had a problem with when He died and when He rose being "three days" and fulfilling prophecy. We should also note that the Jewish mind didn't tell time like we do. In Jewish time reckoning, any part of a day counts as a whole day (e.g., Esther 4:16-5:1), so Friday ... Saturday ... Sunday count as three days. The whole "three days and three nights" is considered idiomatic and doesn't require a literal "three days and three nights." So ... in the end, it doesn't really make any difference. I just thought it was an interesting investigation worth considering.