Good Friday, or Good Wednesday? - E-book - ePub

Jesus prophesied that just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, his body would be in the grave for the same period. So if Jesus was buried on Wednesday night, which was the start of the fifth day of the week (Thursday) in the Jewish calendar and rose on Saturday night, which is the beginning of the first day of the week (Sunday), he would have been in the grave for three nights and three days, and not just the two nights and one day if he were buried on Friday night.
The main clues to this are provided in Luke's gospel (23:55) and Mark's gospel (16:1). Luke says that on the day of the Preparation for the Sabbath some women prepared spices and fragrant oils for Jesus dead body, then they rested on the Sabbath. Mark says that when the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might come and anoint Jesus. What seems to be overlooked is that there were two Sabbaths (rest days) that week.
There was the feast of the Passover, which, like one's birthday, can fall on any day of the week, and there was the seventh day of the week, which is always observed as a Sabbath. John's gospel (19: 31) states that the Sabbath following the crucifixion of Jesus was a special Sabbath