When Was Christ Crucified?

The excerpts in this post are taken from Gary M. Burge, John: The NIV Application Commentary, published by Zondervan Academic, Grand Rapids, MI, in September, 2000. All emphasis will be mine.

Here is what Burge says in respect to John 13:1:

The problem of the meal in John 13. John 13 tells us that Jesus is eating a supper with his disciples during his final discourse (13:2). Many readers readily assume that this is Jesus’ Passover meal described in the Synoptic Gospels (Matt. 26:17–19). However, there is a puzzle here that every interpreter must study. Many commentators believe that John is at odds with the Synoptic chronology. But as I hope to suggest, this is not an impossible problem.⁴

In first-century Jewish culture, days began following sunset.⁵ Therefore a day beginning after dusk on, say, Thursday, was the same “day” as the following Friday morning and afternoon. Such days had months and dates based on a lunar calendar (e.g., Nisan or Tishri, 5 or 6). Passover occurred in the springtime month of Nisan. Nisan 14 was the “day of Preparation,” when the Passover lambs were killed; the immediately following evening (a new day) began Nisan 15, when Jews ate their Passover meal. Thus a Jewish family might slaughter their lamb on one afternoon at 3:00 P.M. (Nisan 14) and be eating it four hours later on Nisan 15 (both events happening on different “days”).

According to the Synoptics, Nisan 14 began on Wednesday evening and continued through Thursday. On Thursday morning Jesus told Peter and John to go ahead of him and prepare his Passover (Luke 22:7–13). Thus Nisan 15 (Passover) began Thursday evening with its Passover meal (Mark 14:16) and continued through Friday. Jesus was arrested late Thursday night and crucified the next day (both events occurring on Nisan 15). However, this was an unusual Passover since it came close to Sabbath. Jesus was removed from the cross because Sabbath would begin Friday after sundown (Mark 15:42). Hence on this week, Thursday night/Friday was viewed as a “day of Sabbath Preparation” as well as the Passover. To sum up, the meal of Jesus on Thursday evening was indeed a Passover meal according to the Synoptics.

The main problem in John’s Gospel is that the author says Jesus was crucified on the “day of Preparation”—presumably when the Passover lambs were being killed (John 19:14, 31). Therefore if Friday was Nisan 14 (the day of Preparation), then the meal of Jesus Thursday evening was also Nisan 14 and could not have been his Passover meal. John (by this reading) holds that in this week, Passover came one day later than the Synoptics report.

Solutions to this problem have come in four forms. (1) Some have argued that the Synoptic Gospels have it right and that John has a theological motive for placing Jesus on the cross on Nisan 14 (thereby making him a Passover lamb).

(2) Others argue that John is correct. Jesus was hosting a formal guest meal that night, and the Synoptics have a theological motive for making Jesus’ final meal a Passover meal.⁶

(3) Still others argue that both accounts (though different) are correct. F. F. Bruce, for example, thought that Jesus was hosting an “irregular” Passover meal one day early.⁷ But in order to take this view, scholars have suggested that the Passover was eaten both on Nisan 14 and 15 for a variety of reasons—either because of the congestion in the temple and the number of lambs slain, the proximity of Passover to Sabbath, rival calendars (one lunar, one solar), regional differences (Galilee, Judea), or rival ways to mark days (sunset/sunset or sunrise/sunrise). I. H. Marshall offers his solution succinctly: “Our conclusion is that Jesus held a Passover meal earlier than the official Jewish date, and that he was able to do so as a result of calendar differences among the Jews.⁸ Each of these are plausible suggestions.

(4) There is also a fourth view that many find intriguing and attractive. It is clear that John understands this meal to be the same meal as the Synoptic meal. The reference to Judas Iscariot (13:21–30; cf. Matt. 26:20–25) solidly links the two. John also implies that this was indeed a Passover meal: Pilgrims must eat it in Jerusalem, as the law required (John 11:55; 12:12, 18, 20); it was a ceremonial meal with formal “reclining” (required at Passover); Jesus did not leave the precincts of Jerusalem after the meal (as the law forbade) but went to Gethsemane;⁹ Passover alms were distributed (13:29); and the disciples were in a state of “levitical purity” (13:10) required at Passover.¹⁰ Therefore the Johannine meal clearly suggests a Passover meal.

But what do we do with the passages that imply Jesus was crucified on the “day of Preparation?” The argument that according to John Jesus was crucified on Nisan 14 (the day of Preparation) is anchored to five texts that imply that the Passover had not yet happened when Jesus is crucified.

• 13:1–2: “It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. . . . The evening meal was being served. . . .”

• 13:29: “Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor.”

• 18:28: “To avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.”

• 19:14: “It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour.”

• 19:31: “Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down.”

We will look at these verses later in the commentary, but for now we note that they do not necessarily imply that the meal in John 13 was before Passover.¹¹ In 13:1 “before the Passover Feast” probably describes when Jesus knew his hour had come, and the meal mentioned in 13:2 refers to the Passover itself described in 13:1. John 13:29 records that Judas must make a purchase for the feast, but this may well be something they need at the moment or something needed for the next day. In 18:28 the authorities fear defilement from Gentile contact, but such ritual uncleanness would expire at sundown (if it were Nisan 14). These men likely refer to eating an afternoon meal (the chagiga) on the day following the night of Passover (Nisan 15).¹²

Finally, the “day of Preparation” referred to in 19:14 and 19:31 does not necessarily refer to preparation for the Passover. It may refer to preparation for the Sabbath. In fact, 19:31 makes the connection with Sabbath explicit. Mark 15:42 refers to Jesus’ day of crucifixion (Friday) in this manner as well (“It was Preparation Day [that is, the day before the Sabbath]”). Moreover, we have no extrabiblical evidence describing Nisan 14 as “the day of Preparation for the Passover.”¹³ Many scholars think the phrase may simply be an idiom meaning “Friday of Passover week” (or, “the day of Sabbath preparation within the week of Passover”).

If this fourth line of reasoning is correct (and I am now compelled to think it may be), John’s chronology fits the Synoptic outline perfectly. Thursday evening began Nisan 15, when Jesus hosted a Passover meal; on Friday afternoon Jesus was crucified “on the day of [Sabbath] Preparation of Passover Week.” I recognize that this explanation has been long and perhaps complex. But it is important. In critical discussions of the historical reliability of John’s Gospel, the problem of chronology and the Johannine Passion narrative always come up for examination.

And here is Burge’s commentary on John 19:14:

(2) If we understand that this is the day before Judaism’s Passover meal (Nisan 14), John is pointing to a time when all work would end (the sixth hour was noon), the leaven was gathered out of homes and burned, and countless lambs were slaughtered at the temple. But to hold this view means that Jesus’ meal the night before, Thursday, was not the Passover, as the Synoptics contend. At 13:1 (cf. 13:29; 18:28; and 19:31) I argued that John agrees with the Synoptics that Passover was Thursday night and that Friday morning/afternoon is Nisan 15. The best way to interpret “preparation” (paraskeue) in 19:14 is preparation for the Sabbath, or Friday, as 19:31 implies. Note that Mark 15:42 uses paraskeue in just this way as well: “It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath).” No evidence has shown the words “day of Preparation” as relating to any other day but a Sabbath. Paraskeue means “Friday” and John is telling us that this happened on Passover-Friday, that is, the Friday of Passover week.⁵⁸

Further Reading

Which Day Was Christ Crucified?