Was Jesus in the Grave for Three Days? - by Gabriel N.E. Fluhrer

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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The Church has traditionally taught that Jesus was crucified on Friday and rose on Sunday morning. This teaching creates a time problem. 

The author is going to supply us with the conventional apologetic for the problem of how long Jesus was actually in the grave by counting partial days. However, this explanation does not account for required three nights. 

Our full solution to this problem appears at the bottom.

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...the biblical authors taught that Jesus was in the grave for three days. The Gospels tell us He was crucified on Friday and rose from the grave on Sunday (Mark 15:42–47; 16:1; Matt. 27:57–61; 28:1; Luke 23:50–56; 24:1; John 19:38–42; 20:1).

But there seems to be a difficulty which surfaces when we compare these accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection and our Lord’s words in Matthew 12:40: “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Critics allege that we cannot reconcile Jesus’ words with the Gospel accounts of His death, which place it at the “ninth hour” (Mark 15:34), or 3 p.m. in modern terms. If Jesus died at 3 p.m. on Friday and was raised early Sunday morning, how can we square those facts with Jesus’ statement in Matthew 12:40? The Scriptures seem inconsistent here. Skeptics have long seized on this seeming contradiction to discredit the doctrine of biblical inerrancy.

The difficulty is apparent, not real. Returning to our earlier discussion on the nature of time, we need to step back and recognize that the Jews of the first century counted days differently than we do today. According to their understanding of days, part of any day counted as a full day. Again, most of us do not mark time like this. If, for example, a newspaper report describes a certain person doing something for three days, we immediately think of three, twenty-four-hour days.

But once we understand how Jesus and the majority of Jewish people around Him understood days, the seeming contradiction vanishes. Jesus’ death at 3 p.m. on Good Friday counted as one day, His entombment all day Saturday counted as the second day, and His resurrection on Sunday morning counted as the third day. Therefore, Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 12:40 and the facts of His crucifixion, burial, and resurrection are not at odds, but simply reflect the common way of understanding days in the first century. 

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Yes, the author's theory sort of explains the days but not the nights.

He quoted the verse Matthew 12:40: “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Friday and Saturday night are not three nights. 

Let's take a closer look at the accounts. Please be patient as we explain. 

Scripture tells us that Jesus was crucified on Preparation Day, the day before the Sabbath:

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).  This all happened on Preparation Day.

Mark then 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...

We see that the women bought spices and went to the tomb when the Sabbath was over, which would be Sunday morning. 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.

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...). 

And again, very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb with the spices they had prepared. 

Wait. That doesn't make sense, because they went to the tomb just after sunrise on the same day they bought spices which they had earlier prepared. How is it possible the women prepared spices to anoint Jesus' body before the Sabbath, but did not buy them until after the Sabbath? 

That isn’t possible.

How do we reconcile this?

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, another preparation day on Friday, the regular Sabbath on Saturday, and the resurrection on Saturday night. 

The two women bought and prepared spices after the first Sabbath, rested on the second Sabbath, and 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, the first Day of Preparation: Jesus was crucified, then buried late in the day.
• Wednesday night sunset, the beginning of Thursday.
• The beginning of night one and the first Sabbath.

• Thursday morning - 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.
• The beginning of night two.

• Friday morning - 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
• The beginning of night three, and the second Sabbath.

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

• Sunday early morning, 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.