The week preceding Easter is traditionally referred to a
Passion Week or Holy Week in many churches.
It begins with Palm Sunday which is celebrated as the Christ made His
triumphant entry into Jerusalem. He was
greeted by the people who laid palm branches and even their own clothes on the
path before Him. Then we move to Maundy
Thursday. Traditionally the day He
celebrated the Last Supper with His disciples.
Later He would be handed over to the temple guards to be tried by the
High Priest, and by Pilate, and by Herrod.
The results of these kangaroo courts would be his humiliation and
torture culminating in His crucifixion and death on Good Friday. His dead body would lay in a borrowed tomb
until that first Easter Sunday when He would be miraculously raised from the
dead -
Raised to Die No More!
I have no problem
with any of the events we list as having occurred that first Holy Week. However, the chronology of when they occurred
is another matter. Matthew 12:40 gives
Jesus’ own words concerning these events.
It reads, “For 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.”(NKJV). Jesus tells
his audience this in response to their demanding from Him a sign. He is very specific about three days and
three nights. There is no way to
reconcile the traditional chronology and Jesus’ words in Matthew.
First, when He
says three days and three nights He is referring to any portion of a day, or
any portion of a night. With a Thursday
through Sunday scenario you can fit three days well enough, but there are only
two nights. Definitely different from
Christ’s own words. To fulfill Christ’s
own prophecy, the Last Supper, and the other events traditionally ascribed to Thursday,
would need to take place on Wednesday.
His crucifixion would take place on Thursday, and He would lie in the
tomb part of Thursday as well as Friday and Saturday. Day #1
- The remaining daylight portion
of Thursday. Night #1 -
Thursday night. Day #2 - The
daylight portion of Friday. Night
#2 -
Friday night. Day #3 -
Saturday, and Night #3 - Saturday night. Three days and three nights just as He said.
Many are asking, “What
about Easter Sunday morning? Wouldn’t
that be a fourth day?” John 20:1 says, “On
the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while
it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the
tomb.” (NKJV Emphasis added). Mary
discovered Jesus resurrection before sunrise.
Matthew 28, Mark 16, and Luke 24 all
add varying, but reconcilable, accounts of Jesus’ resurrection being
DISCOVERED. None has Him actually
exiting the tomb.
Let me conclude
with these thoughts. An alteration of
the chronology of these events in no way alters the TRUTH of these events. Christ died as the sacrificial lamb of
God. John the Baptist is quoted in the
Gospel of John as saying, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world!” (John 1:29 NKJV). Of course who hasn’t memorized John 3:16, “For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (NKJV). He was laid in a borrowed tomb. He rose from the dead. Paul gives the following thoughts on the
resurrection. “Moreover, brethren, I
declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and
in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word
which I preached to you unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which
I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and
that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the
Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred
brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have
fallen asleep. After that He was seen by
James, then by all the apostles. Then
last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not
worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” (I
Corinthians 15:1-9 NKJV). Later in chapter 15 Paul adds, “But now
Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have
fallen asleep. For since by man came
death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all
shall be made alive.” (I Corinthians 15:20-22
NKJV).
Altering the traditional
chronology does not alter another set of facts.
For us to be saved by Christ’s sacrifice and to be raised to eternal
life, we must do something ourselves.
1. Accept, by faith, the gift of grace
offered us by Christ - Ephesians 2:1-9
2. Confess you are a sinner -
Romans 3:23; I John 1:8-10
3. Confess Jesus is your Lord -
Romans 10:8-11
4. Repent and Be Baptized - Acts
2:38 & 39
Dr. O
