How long was Jesus dead?

Recently we've been reconsidering many of the things we thought we understood regarding doctrine and faith. We have begun to question certain beliefs, church structures, and practices of the western church. Too often we have discovered unbiblical doctrines and activities. This causes us concern. We have deemed this our “Rethink.”

Our questions include, how did we arrive at our doctrines? Does the Bible really teach what we think it teaches? Why do churches do what they do? What is the biblical basis of church leadership structure? Why do certain traditions get entrenched?

It's easy to be spoon fed the conventional wisdom, but it's an entirely separate thing to search these things out for one's self. In the past we have read the Bible with these unexamined understandings and interpreted what we read through those lenses. We were lazy about our Bible study, assuming that pastors and theologians were telling us the truth, but we rarely checked it out for ourselves. 

Therefore, these Rethinks are our attempt to remedy the situation. We should note that we are not Bible scholars, but we believe that one doesn't need to be in order to understand the Word of God.

The tradition of much of the Church is that Jesus was crucified on Friday and rose again on Sunday morning. But some have objected that if Jesus was crucified on Friday, and the Sabbath was the next day (Saturday), and that he arose before sunrise on Sunday, then he could not have been dead for three days and three nights. Jesus tells us:

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

And,

Mk. 8:31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.

After three days.

People have tried to explain the date problem in various ways. The most typical explanation is the idea that the Jews consider a part of a day as a full day. So under this scenario we would have part of Friday (day one), Saturday (day 2), and part of Sunday (day 3). 

That sort of takes care of the three days, but even then we still are left with fewer than the required 3 nights.

The Biblical Timeline

Scripture tells us that Jesus was crucified on Preparation Day:

Mark 15:42 It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath)...

Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus' body (Mk. 15:45), put it in the tomb, and a large stone was rolled in front of the entrance (Mk. 15:46). 

The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate (Mt. 27:62), where he agreed to their request to make it secure until the third day (Mt. 27:64).

Mark tells us what the women did:

Mk. 16:1-2 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb...

The women bought spices when the Sabbath was over, which would be Sunday. But also, very early on the first day of the week (again Sunday) they went to the tomb. Wait. That doesn't make sense, because they went to the tomb just after sunrise on the same day they bought spices. That isn’t possible.

Now let's go over to Luke 23:54-56:

54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. 55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. 56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

Previously Mark told us they bought spices after the Sabbath (When the Sabbath was over...), but Luke says they prepared spices before the Sabbath (...they went home and prepared spices… But they rested on the Sabbath...). How is it possible the women prepared spices to anoint Jesus' body before the Sabbath, but did not buy them until after the Sabbath (the first day of the week)?

Then they went to the tomb:

Lk. 24:1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

So the women prepared spices on the day before the Sabbath (Mark), and came to the tomb very early on the same morning (Mark and Luke)?

How do we reconcile this?

Fixing the Problem

Ordinarily the Sabbath is the sixth day, Saturday. But there are other Sabbaths that do not necessarily occur on Saturday, yet they are referred to as Sabbaths (Examples: Leviticus 16:29-31; 23:24-32, 39).The Feast of Unleavened Bread was one such Sabbath, and it was one of two Sabbaths during the week Jesus was crucified (Mt. 26:17). 

There were two Sabbaths that week.

This means that there was a Day of Preparation on Wednesday [the crucifixion day], the feast Sabbath on Thursday, the next preparation day on Friday, the regular Sabbath on Saturday, and the resurrection on Sunday. 

The two women went to the tomb on the first day of the week after the two Sabbaths.

So under this scenario the events proceed as follows:

• Wednesday afternoon, the first Day of Preparation: Jesus was crucified and buried late in the day.
• Wednesday night sunset, the beginning of Thursday, and the beginning of night one.

• Thursday day - the beginning of day one.
• Thursday, the Feast of Unleavened Bread Sabbath (Mt. 26:17). The women rested.
• Thursday night sunset, the beginning of Friday, and the beginning of night two.

• Friday day - the beginning of day two.
• Friday, the second Day of Preparation, the women bought and prepared the spices.
• Friday night sunset, the beginning of Saturday, and the beginning of night three.

• Saturday day - the beginning of day three.
• Saturday Sabbath. The women rested.
• Saturday night after sunset, the beginning of Sunday, Jesus rose.

• Sunday before sunrise, the women brought the spices and perfume to anoint Jesus' body and instead found the open tomb.

This provides three full days and three full nights, without need of partial days. Based on this we believe that Jesus was crucified on Wednesday.