Jesus' Last Week in Jerusalem: The Countdown to the Passion

The ancients counted without the concept of a zero place-value; therefore, Scripture records that Jesus was in the tomb three days from Friday to Sunday. The Jewish day began at sundown. There were four night watches with daylight hours divided into 12 seasonal hours.  The Synoptic Gospels use Jewish time, but John's Gospel uses Roman time and Roman geographic place-names. Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany...
John 12:1.

Day #1. Saturday, Nisan 9th: Jesus ate the Sabbath dinner at the house of Lazarus and his sisters with His disciples and received His second anointing (Jn 12:1-11).

Day #2. Sunday, Nisan 10th: Jesus made His triumphal ride into the city of Jerusalem, cleansed the Temple a second time.  He taught the people at the Temple (Mt 21:1-17; Mk 11:1-11; Lk 19:36-40; Jn 12:12-19).  At night Jesus left Jerusalem to spend the night at Bethany on the Mt. of Olives (Mt 21:17; Mk 11:19).

Day #3. Monday, Nisan 11th: Jesus cursed the fig tree and cleansed the Temple a third time. The chief priests, scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees challenged His authority as He taught at the Jerusalem Temple (Mt 21:18-23; 22:15; Mk 11:12-19; Lk 20:1).

Day #4. Tuesday, Nisan 12th: Jesus continued to teach at the Jerusalem Temple (Lk 21:37-38).

Day #5. Wednesday Nisan 13th: Jesus' last day teaching in Jerusalem. He condemned His generation, taught about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. He prophesied His Second Advent, the Last Judgment, and that the "hour" (of His Passion) had come.  At the announcement of His coming Passion, God the Father's voice was heard from Heaven announcing His approval of God the Son. It is two days before the Passover (Mt 26:2; Mk 14:1). He had dinner with friends in Bethany at the house of Simon the (former) leper and He received His third anointing. After the dinner, Judas betrayed Him to the chief priests ( Mt 23:34-25:37; 26:1-2, 6-16; Mk 13:1-37; 14:1, 3-11; Lk 21:5-36; 22:1-6; Jn 12:27-33; 13:1-2a).

Day #6. Thursday, Nisan 14th: The day of the Passover sacrifice.  Jesus sends Peter and John to prepare the room for the sacred meal of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Mt 26:12-19; Mk 14:12-16; Lk 22:7-13).

Sundown was the beginning of Friday, Nisan 15th:  It is the appointed time of the sacred meal of the Passover sacrifice on the first night of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  It was during this feast that Jesus celebrated the Last Supper and instituted the Eucharist.  Judas decides to betray Jesus and leaves without completing the meal.  It was that night before dawn when guards arrested Jesus (Mt 26:47-50; Mk 14:43-50; Lk 22:47-53; Jn 18:2-11).  The guards took Him to the former High Priest, Ananias (Jn 18:19-24) before His trial by the Sanhedrin (Mt 26:57-66; Mk 14:53-65). Peter denied Him 3 times before the night watch signal of the cockcrow at 3 AM (Mk 13:35; Mt 27:69-75; Mk 15:66-72; Jn 18:25-27).  At dawn the Jewish leaders took Him to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who reluctantly convicted Him of treason (Mt 27:1-2; Mk 15:1; Lk 22:66; 23:1; Jn 18:28).

From the Crucifixion to the Ascension

Roman time, which is also modern time, began the new day at midnight with dawn the beginning of the 6th hour.  Noon was the 6th hour Jewish time and the 12th hour Roman time.  When John 19:14 records that it was "about the 6th hour when Jesus was with Pilate," it is 6 AM Roman time in agreement with the Synoptic Gospels.

Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead (1 Cor 15:22-28, 51-53; 1 Thes 4:13-17; 2 Thes 1:7-10; 2:1-12).

Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2018 www.AgapeBibleStudy.com