Three days and Passover dates confusion... let's clear this up

TWO Questions come up in calendar confusion related to Passover. Let's get these sorted and remember what the holiday is all about. And what Christians can learn from this Jewish holiday. But first, what day was it?

Passover is the holiday that celebrates 'once we were slaves, now we are free.' Deliverance after hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt. God rescued the Jewish people and set a date, 14 Nisan, for us to remember the anniversary under a full moon each year.

Christians also have a day in this season related to Holy Week, the time of the death and resurrection of the Saviour Yeshua/ Jesus. 

There is some overlap and then of course, some real questions. Here are two of them asked, and hopefully answered for you.

QUESTION 1:        3 Days and 3 Nights in the grave

People often ask, “If Jesus said he would be in the ground three days and three nights… how does this work if Good Friday was when he was killed and buried to Easter Sunday when he arose?” That’s more like 36 hours.

Here’s the key:
The Bible uses Jewish time reckoning, not modern Western precision. This is not a Swiss watch.
In Jewish thinking, “Passover” can mean more than one thing.

1. The meal itself (the Seder, 15th of Nisan evening) 

1. The lamb sacrifice (14th of Nisan daytime) 

1. The entire festival week (Passover + Unleavened Bread)

the Passover lambs were being sacrificed. Different calendars; one fulfillment.

In Jewish thinking, any part of a day counts as a whole day. So look at the timeline: Jesus is buried on Friday before sunset — that’s Day 1 which includes Thursday night. He is in the tomb on Saturday, the Sabbath — that’s Day 2 which includes Friday night. And He rises early on Sunday — that’s Day 3 which includes Saturday night.
So Friday, Saturday, Sunday… three days.

Now what about “three days and three nights”? Two answers. 1) As I showed you just now, Friday daytime IS part of the same day as Thursday night. And similarly, Saturday day is Friday night. And Sunday day is Saturday night. Three days: Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Three nights, Thursday to Saturday.

But I prefer unpacking this in a 2^nd way. Why? Since this phrase is a Hebraic expression—a common Jewish way of saying a period spanning three days, not necessarily 72 hours. In fact, no matter what day you start with (and some start with Wednesday, you will never get 72 hours on the dot. He died in the afternoon, and he arose early in the morning. 

But the Hebraic expression is not about 72 hours. It’s a common Jewish way of saying a period spanning three days. Esther fasts and leads the people to fast for “three days, night and day” → yet goes in on the third day (not after 72 hours) (Chapter 4, verse 16)

The Bible itself says repeatedly…He would rise “on the third day.” so there’s no contradiction. It’s not about counting hours—it’s about understanding how Jewish people counted time. And when you do…Friday to Sunday fits perfectly. Sometimes the answer isn’t changing the Bible— it’s understanding the culture in which it was written.
 
Question 2… Was the Last Supper a Passover meal? 

People often notice something in the Gospels that seems to be a contradiction, but it isn’t. Let me explain. Matthew, Mark, and Luke say the Last Supper took place on Passover. And many believers see similarities between the Jewish Passover seder and the Last Supper.

But the apostle John seems to say Jesus died before Passover. So which is it? Who is right? Or can both of them be accurate?

Here’s the key:
The Synoptic Gospels are focusing on the meal, that is, Jesus eating Passover with His disciples. But John is focusing on the timing of the sacrifice. In fact, in John’s Gospel, Jesus is crucified at the very time the Passover lambs are being slaughtered in the Temple.

That’s not a contradiction—that’s theology. Jesus didn’t just celebrate Passover. He became the Passover Lamb. It’s very possible that Jesus followed a Galilean reckoning of Passover, celebrating it with His disciples—while the Temple in Jerusalem followed a different schedule, so that when Jesus died, the official Passover lambs were being sacrificed.

Jesus kept the meal… and became the Lamb.

How do we explain the different timings of Passover in the Gospels? 

Here’s a possibility many people don’t know:
In the first century, not everyone kept the calendar exactly the same way. Jesus and His disciples were from up north in Galilee, while the Temple authorities were in Jerusalem. Some scholars believe Galileans may have reckoned the day differently, thus allowing them to celebrate Passover a little earlier.

That means Jesus could eat a true Passover meal, the seder, with his disciples, and then, the next day which was the same Hebrew calendar date, as the official lambs were being sacrificed in the Temple, Jesus is on the cross. So again, not a contradiction, but a convergence. He keeps the Passover meal, and then he becomes the Passover Lamb. Different calendars, one perfect fulfilment.

Wait; were there actually different calendars in Jesus’ day?
The answer is yes. In the first century, not all Jewish groups followed the same calendar. For example, the community at Qumran—the Dead Sea Scrolls group—used a solar calendar, not the lunar one used in Jerusalem.

That meant their festivals—like Passover—could fall on completely different days. Other groups, including those connected to the Temple, followed the official lunar calendar. So when we read the Gospels, we’re stepping into a world where more than one way of counting time existed.

That helps explain how Jesus could share a Passover meal, and still be crucified at the very time
Because no matter the calendar—Yeshua is the Lamb. History may have had multiple calendars…but God had one perfect timing.

500 years of ghetto... are we out yet?

This article highlights what happened 500 years ago last month. The senate of Venice mandated "that all Jews residing in the city live together in a monitored and gated area, separated from the Christians; thus Jews were relocated to a small island encircled by walls, where a foundry used to be (in the Venetian dialect, ‘ghetto’ was the word for foundry)."

Ever since then we have been seeking our freedom from such governmental action, and looking at the Christian power elite as 'them' who would use any opportunity to incarcerate 'us' again. Of course, today we celebrate Passover, the quintessential holiday of Jewish freedom from slavery in Egypt. We had been jailed, incarcerated if you will, in the detention centre known as the land of Goshen, for hundreds of years under one Pharaoh or another. So being in a ghetto was not a new experience for us as Jewish people.

At the time of Haman, many Jewish people were living in Shushan in Persia. At the time of the captivity of the northern 10 tribes (not really 'lost') into Assyria, our experience was anything but freedom. 140 years later, the Babylonians captured the two southern tribes, and took us away. Release came later, but for a while we all were in about one spot. In the first century, many Jewish people were living in what we call Israel today, but not all of us. At the time of Rashi, many Jewish people were living in France and throughout Europe. But in 1516, the Jewish people, who had already been kicked out of Spain (1492) and the entire Iberian peninsula in the late 15th century, were now being pushed to another limitation. Ghetto might be a kind of music or culture today, but then it was simply a culture of prevention.

We were prevented from choosing our own lodging. We were prevented from travel. We were prevented access to universities and certain professions. Our buildings had limitations. The Christian leadership throughout Europe had a serious negative impression and interaction with Jewish people in those days. And many Jewish people despised those who dominated us. No collegiality. No relationship.

Prevention is not welcome to any group or society. Freedom to express ourselves, freedom to enjoy sunshine or beaches, freedom to join other groups or movements-- that's welcome. But prevention? Not at all. Who wants that?

The ghetto remains as an almost-haunted location. My wife and I stood there in July, 2003, and I'll never forget the eerie feeling. I wish for my people to come out from there to this day. The 'sounds' of silence in that place, early that summer morning were chilling. I couldn't shake the memories that I had never personally experienced from those 16th century moments. The gate at the front of the ghetto was 4 inches thick. Preventing to be sure.

Now to be fair, we are not without freedoms here in Australia, or in Israel or in the US. But the real freedom that God wants us to have, each of us, is the freedom on the inside. I mean, a jailed person really can be free. A jailer or any person outside of prison can still be 'in prison' in a way. They can be full of bitterness or lack forgiveness. Their hatred can be a prison itself. What then allows a person real freedom?

I believe real freedom comes from knowing the Prince of Life, whose execution nailed non-forgiveness for eternity. When Yeshua died on the Roman cross, his murder accomplished what no human martyrdom could ever attain. He died for the sins of the world. He died to give everyone freedom on the inside. He was the one who said what has adorned libraries and churches and halls of learning for centuries, "You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free."

What is the difference between a gated senior community and a ghetto? Answer: Who holds the keys. If you have the keys, you can come and go at will. If others have the keys, then you do as they require.

So what will get us out of the ghetto? The One who died for our sins and rose from the dead. Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah died to set us free. No matter where we live. With whom we live. In or out of jail. We can live. You can live. Be free today on your hospital bed, in the detention centre, in Patmos, Bora Bora, Sydney or Perth. How? Receive Yeshua as your Lord and Saviour. Be born again. You will know freedom then. Passover or any day.

Are we out yet?

2016: The year without an Easter

The airplane took off to the south quite normally, in fact smoothly, like a hot knife through butter, beginning the 23-hour journey to the land Down Under. My speaking tour in Houston, Texas had finished the night before, and all I had to do was some shipping of materials and final post office visit, then I was ready. The Thrifty rental lady drove me back to the airport, check in was seamless, and I was on my way home. No rain; no weather to speak of, and a great feeling of satisfaction. Traveling is fairly easy for me, although there are weeks when I feel it a little more than other times. Turning 64 might be some of the cause of that one.

I get to visit the US several times a year, to San Francisco and points beyond, for meetings, for family visits, to preach and teach, and anything else I can make into such a trip. So this was not exceptional in any regard. I do remember my first visit to Australia, and that trip was exceptional.

The first time was 1995. Patty, my wife, was with me on the journey from Washington, DC. It was a cold January, so I didn’t mind going to a summer scene in the Southern Hemisphere. We crossed the date line and lost a day, guaranteed by the people who knew that we would get it back soon enough, on return. We stayed in a modest motel in Melbourne and then stayed with new friends in their modest home in Sydney. We had no real money to spend, and I wasn’t even sure if we should raise funds from any contacts we made during those ten days.

We handed out Gospel tracts on the streets, met up with Jewish and Gentile believers, and even conducted a visit or two with Jewish enquirers in their homes. Some churches were very welcoming and others were keen to conduct an inquiry into who we were and what we intended. I had no intention of anything beyond a survey of the country, as I had never been on such a mission before. Yes, we had opened a new branch in NYC in 1980 and again in Washington, DC in 1989, but this was a foreign place, and took 24 hours to get there.

That final day was eventful as we prayed with a Gentile woman to get saved, right on the streets in Sydney, under the statue of Queen Victoria. We considered that, along with many other factors to be God’s nod, an affirmation of His intention, and along with the almost Macedonian call of others in ministry, particularly Jewish ministry, we felt the mission to Jews conducted by Jews for Jesus would be welcomed in Australia.

The final day was 2 February 1995, when Patty and I walked along the beach early morning, then evangelized in the City, had a bit of final shopping for mementos, and we got to the airport in Sydney for the midafternoon flight. After the short 14-hour flight we landed in Los Angeles, at 7 a.m., literally before we left, on 2 February 1995. That date line thing, aha! Whoever established the end of the day by charting on maps in a somewhat vertical line the International Date Line, caused us to experience that day a second time. For Americans this is especially ironic, as six months before we took that trip, the movie “Ground Hog’s Day” starring Bill Murray had opened. That movie featured a newsman awakening every day for an undisclosed amount of months, on the same day, Ground Hog’s Day, which is 2 February. Irony indeed!

Over the years we have experienced similar situations. One time we missed our anniversary (1 January) because of the westward flying from the US; another time I missed Good Friday for the same reason. But this year, I ended my tour on Friday, flew on Saturday and arrived today, on Monday. What was 27 March? Easter 2016. Maybe that’s why the flight was so light on passengers. But wait, I missed Easter.

Not that I grew up knowing anything about Easter. I was raised an Orthodox Jew in the middle of the US, in Kansas City. And the holiday looked like a spring festival with pastel flowers, eggs, chocolate bunnies, and not much else. I didn’t know the story of Yeshua; I hadn’t heard about a cross, an empty tomb, or anything associated with the religious aspect of the holiday. As Jews we had an egg in our Passover celebration, and a lamb shank bone, but nothing painted, and certainly nothing as silly as chocolate bunnies.

I wonder today if people walking through the stores like Target, Kmart or Wal-Mart would know what Easter used to be about. There are aisles of sweets, lollies, candies of all sorts, eggs from the grocery department, dyes, and cards in pastel colors, and the rite of spring is celebrated. It’s no wonder that some are confused.

The stories of Passover and Easter actually dovetail. Passover marks the annual retelling of the story of the Jewish people in our exodus from Egypt, after being enslaved for 400 years. Moses led us out, after a year of ten plagues hit the Egyptian people, and finally we were allowed to leave. The Red Sea split and we began a 40-year wilderness adventure, the likes of which no Survivor show can depict.

Easter, according to the story, is the culmination of hopes held, then hopes dashed and finally restored. It’s the story of a Jewish carpenter named Yeshua (some call him Jesus) who saw the slavery of the Jewish people to Rome and to a greater evil, sin. He celebrated Passover with his followers, then was captured, tried, and sentenced to death within 12 hours. His crucifixion is a well-known icon of art throughout the world. His burial was legend, with a Roman seal and armed guards to guarantee no one would disturb the scene. He rose from the grave, and was seen alive (and they ate with him) by upwards of 500 Jewish people. That resurrection is the real historical event, which is celebrated on Easter. No eggs, no chocolate, no bunnies. (BTW, bunnies don’t lay eggs)

So this year I didn’t get to celebrate Easter on the day.

And maybe by default many Kmart shoppers didn’t get to celebrate it either.

And maybe you didn’t even know what it was about. But now you do. And now if you want, you may celebrate it as well. Don’t let another year go by with your missing out on the celebration. It’s the hope of every man. It’s the hope of the Jewish people. It’s the hope of all people. Jesus is the real story. Let 2016 be the first year you get to celebrate Easter. Not with eggs or bunnies. But in memory of this Jewish carpenter who died a horrible death and whom God raised from the dead. He conquered death. He conquered sin. Faith is the victory. Let’s celebrate. He is risen; He is risen indeed!