Passover, the Passion, Good Friday and Feasts

[SteelYankee]

In studying the Feasts of the Lord, most writers teach us that the spring Feasts prophesy and detail the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. They say that Christ was crucified on Passover, in the tomb during Unleavened Bread and resurrected on Firstfruits.

I have read that Christ died at 3:00 PM on the afternoon as the Lambs were being killed in the Temple courts and the shofar blew.

Question: If Christ was killed on Friday (we can discuss that as well) as the Passover lambs were being killed, then what was the purpose of the meal they had the previous night (which has so many obvious Passover elements)?

 

[pastorway]

quotes from two posts in another thread:

posted by Dan....
Was the Lord's Supper instituted at Passover, or was it prior to Passover?

According to Leviticus 23, Passover was the 14th day of the First Month (23:5). The following day was the first of the feast of unleavened bread, which went for seven days (23:6).

Hence:
Nisan 14 - Passover
Nisan 15-21 -Unleavened Bread.


According to the gospel of John, 13:1,4 says that the supper was prior to the feast of Passover. 19:14 show Jesus before Pilate (day after the supper) on the day of preparation for Passover. If this was the 14th, then the supper would have been on the 13th, hence, prior to the Passover.

However, per Matt 26:17,20,26 the supper was on the evening of the first day of Unleavened Bread.

?????

posted by pastorway
that confusing fact is due to the calendar of the day!

Due to the captivity of Judah and other factors, the calendar for Galilee (to the north) and Judah (to the south) were a day apart! One calculated days from sunrise to sunrise (north), the other from sunset to sunset (south).

Interestingly, this allows for Jesus (from the north, Nazareth of Galilee!) and His disciples to lawfully partake of the Passover one day before the official observance in Jerusalem (in the south)!

Fascinating. So the Supper was instituted on the Day of Passover according to the northern calendar and the day before Passover on the southern calendar. This means that Jesus had the Passover on the right day for those from the north and then on the next day, the Passover for the southern region, at the very hour the Lamb's were being slain for the Passover observance in Jerusalem, He was nailed to the cross and died!

He really was the Passover Lamb!

(for more information see the notes in The MacArthur Study Bible in the introduction to the Gospel of John, interpretive challenges)

from the MacArthur Study Bible

The chronological reckoning between John's gospel and the synoptics presents a challenge, especially in relation to the time of the Last Supper (13:2). While the synoptics portray the disciples and the Lord at the Last Supper as eating the Passover meal on Thursday evening (Nisan 14) and Jesus being crucified on Friday, John's gospel states that the Jews did not enter into the Praetorium "lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover" (18:28). So, the disciples had eaten the Passover on Thursday evening, but the Jews had not. In fact, John (19:14) states that Jesus' trial and crucifixion were on the day of Preparation for the Passover and not after the eating of the Passover, so that with the trial and crucifixion on Friday Christ was actually sacrificed at the same time the Passover lambs were being slain (19:14). The question is, "Why did the disciples eat the Passover meal on Thursday?"

The answer lies in a difference among the Jews in the way they reckoned the beginning and ending of days. From Josephus, the Mishna, and other ancient Jewish sources we learn that the Jews in northern Palestine calculated days from sunrise to sunrise. That area included the region of Galilee, where Jesus and all the disciples, except Judas, had grown up. Apparently most, if not all, of the Pharisees used that system of reckoning. But Jews in the southern part, which centered in Jerusalem, calculated days from sunset to sunset. Because all the priests necessarily lived in or near Jerusalem, as did most of the Sadducees, those groups followed the southern scheme.

That variation doubtlessly caused confusion at times, but it also had some practical benefits. During Passover time, for instance, it allowed for the feast to be celebrated legitimately on two adjoining days, thereby permitting the temple sacrifices to be made over a total period of four hours rather than two. That separation of days may also have had the effect of reducing both regional and religious clashes between the two groups.

On that basis the seeming contradictions in the gospel accounts are easily explained. Being Galileans, Jesus and His disciples considered Passover day to have started at sunrise on Thursday and to end at sunrise on Friday. The Jewish leaders who arrested and tried Jesus, being mostly priests and Sadducees, considered Passover day to begin at sunset on Thursday and end at sunset on Friday. By that variation, predetermined by God's sovereign provision, Jesus could thereby legitimately celebrate the last Passover meal with His disciples and yet still be sacrificed on Passover day.

Phillip