REAL (13):Breaking some myths around the crucification and resurrection of Jesus

Breaking some myths around the crucification and resurrection of Jesus

Dr Josimar Salum

“NOW AFTER the Sabbath, near dawn of the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala and the other Mary went to take a look at the tomb.” Matthew 28:1 AMP

Let us also take a look, but on what Scriptures tell about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

In this first verse of Mathew 28 we have to understand that Sabbath starts on Friday around 6 PM and ends around 6 pm of our Saturday. In our calendar (solar) Saturday ends midnight. In the Jewish calendar (lunar) the Sabbath like any other day of the week starts at dusk and ends at dusk, it is not precisely in a specific time, but simply at dusk. 

Let us then assume based in Scriptures that the expression "after Sabbath" meant after the seventh day of that week, on the first day day near dawn (around 6 AM), it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to take a look of the tomb.

“AND WHEN the Sabbath was past [that is, after the sun had set], Mary Magdalene, and Mary [the mother] of James, and Salome purchased sweet-smelling spices, so that they might go and anoint [Jesus' body]. And very early on the first day of the week they came to the tomb; [by then] the sun had risen. And they said to one another, Who will roll back the stone for us out of [the groove across the floor at] the door of the tomb?” Mark 16:1-3 AMP

Jesus died and was buried right before sunset of that evening. The next day Jesus died and was buried was a Sabbath. Jesus died at 3 pm in our calendar. Here it lies a question: In what day of the week Jesus has died? We will see clearly that Jesus had died in the fourth day of that week which would correspond to our Wednesday afternoon and not on the sixth day of the week or in our Friday. Please, keep reading.

“Now from the sixth hour (noon) there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour (three o'clock).” Matthew 27:45 . We have already mentioned intrinsically that in the Jewish calendar a day which begins at sunset complies of night and day and is basically divided in 12 hours of dark and 12 hours of light. 

“When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. 

And Joseph took the body and rolled it up in a clean linen cloth used for swathing dead bodies And laid it in his own fresh (undefiled) tomb, which he had hewn in the rock; and he rolled a big boulder over the door of the tomb and went away. 

And Mary of Magdala and the other Mary kept sitting there opposite the tomb. 

The next day, that is, the day after the day of Preparation [for the Sabbath], the chief priests and the Pharisees assembled before Pilate And said, Sir, we have just remembered how that vagabond Imposter said while He was still alive, After three days I will rise again. Therefore give an order to have the tomb made secure and safeguarded until the third day, for fear that His disciples will come and steal Him away and tell the people that He has risen from the dead, and the last deception and fraud will be worse than the first. Pilate said to them, You have a guard [of soldiers; take them and] go, make it as secure as you can. So they went off and made the tomb secure by sealing the boulder, a guard of soldiers being with them and remaining to watch.” Matthew 27:57-66 AMP

“As evening had already come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, [the day] before the Sabbath, [Deut. 21:22, 23.] Joseph, he of Arimathea, noble and honorable in rank and a respected member of the council (Sanhedrin), who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, daring the consequences, took courage and ventured to go to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.” Mark 15:42-43 AMP

“And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death and [afterward] you hang him on a tree, [Josh. 10:26, 27.] His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day, for a hanged man is accursed by God. Thus you shall not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance. [Gal. 3:13.]” Deuteronomy 21:22-23 AMP

We have just read Matthew and Mark's narratives to help us begin to clarify and break some myths around the crucification and resurrection of Jesus. And we must be open attentively to what they say as it contradicts some centuries of tradition imposed to us even this day. The importance of this is to establish truth and to help us think according to Scriptures as they testify about Jesus.

First let us continue to read the way Luke has written:

 “This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and rolled it up in a linen cloth for swathing dead bodies and laid Him in a rock-hewn tomb, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation [for the Sabbath], and the Sabbath was dawning (approaching). 

The women who had come with [Jesus] from Galilee followed closely and saw the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they went back and made ready spices and ointments (perfumes). On the Sabbath day they rested in accordance with the commandment. [Exod. 12:16; 20:10.]” Luke 23:52-56 AMP

Two expressions got my attention: the day of Preparation and the Sabbath that was approaching. And there is a day between the Sabbath right after Jesus was buried - remember He had to be buried before Sabbath - and the Sabbath, the seventh day of that week.  The women rested on that Sabbath, bought the perfumes on the next day and only went to the tomb before dawn of the first day of the week. Jesus died. On the day 1 they have rested because it was a Sabbath, on day 2 they bought the specialties and you will see that on day 3 it was also a Shabbath (the seventh day of that week) in which they also have rested until they went to the grave before dawn, which it could have been around 6 AM.

Jesus was buried at the evening of the first day after He died. It was the day of preparation for the Sabbath, a special Sabbath. By now I presume you have began to figure out that it could not been Friday (or the sixth day) the day Jesus died because the next day He died there was a Sabbath, but not one they had to observe on the seventh day.  

Please, keep reading what John has written. These words has blew my mind long time ago because if Jesus died on Friday afternoon how He could have been buried for three days if He was risen  at dawn of the first day, the day we call Sunday?

 “When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, It is finished! And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. Since it was the day of Preparation, in order to prevent the bodies from hanging on the cross on the Sabbath–for that Sabbath was a very solemn and important one–the Jews requested Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away.

And he who saw it (the eyewitness) gives this evidence, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he tells the truth, that you may believe also. For these things took place, that the Scripture might be fulfilled (verified, carried out), Not one of His bones shall be broken; [Exod. 12:46; Num. 9:12; Ps. 34:20.] And again another Scripture says, They shall look on Him Whom they have pierced. [Zech. 12:10.] 

And after this, Joseph of Arimathea–a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews–asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate granted him permission. So he came and took away His body. 

And Nicodemus also, who first had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, [weighing] about a hundred pounds. So they took Jesus' body and bound it in linen cloths with the spices (aromatics), as is the Jews' customary way to prepare for burial. 

Now there was a garden in the place where He was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever [yet] been laid. So there, because of the Jewish day of Preparation [and] since the tomb was near by, they laid Jesus.” John 19:30-31, 35-42 AMP

Remember that according to Scriptures Jesus should have been buried 3 days or He would be raised from the dead on the third day. Definitely He could not have died on Friday or on the sixth day of that week. And He could not have resurrected on Sunday or on the first day after the week He died. 

Some say that this does not matter, so I ask: Truth doesn't matter? Of course it matters and it is essential to break religious mindsets that altogether with many myths clouds the mind to perceive that Truth that sets people free.

“For I passed on to you first of all what I also had received, that Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for our sins in accordance with [what] the Scriptures [foretold], [Isa. 53:5-12.] That He was buried, that He arose on the third day as the Scriptures foretold, [Ps. 16:9, 10.]” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 AMP

In that expression "for that Sabbath was a very important Sabbath" shines light so we may understand well all these Scriptures. 

“On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover. On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. [I Cor. 5:7, 8.] On the first day you shall have a holy "calling together;" you shall do no servile or laborious work on that day.” Leviticus 23:5-7 AMP

So here are my conclusions I would like to submit to you:

Jesus died on the first month of the Jewish calendar which does not correspond either to March or April of our calendar. 

Jesus died before Passover which is easy to conclude. But Jesus died before that holy "calling together" which was also a Sabbath as Jews should not "do no servile or laborious work on that day."  

Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had already all the products to prepare the body of Jesus to burry Him and they surely did right after the day He died, in the evening of the following day. Yes, they have buried Jesus in that evening, in the beginning of the Sabbath which was not the seventh day of that week, but the special Sabbath they had on that week before Passover. Sabbath is a day of rest and not necessarily the seventh day.

Jesus definitely did not die on the sixth day of that week because Mary Magdalene also wanted to purchase more products to cover the body of Jesus and they had to wait the Sabbath until the following day to be able to buy the products. That Sabbath was not a referral to the seventh day because on that week they had two Sabbaths, one after the preparation for Passover, a very important one like John described and also the regular seventh day, the Sabbath in which Jesus was raised from the dead. 

Why Jesus was raised from the dead at the end of Sabbath, which it correspond to our Saturday late afternoon, before dusk. Jesus was not raised from the dead on the first day of the week.

It is also true that when Mary Magdalene  went to the sepulcher for the second time - the first time was when she saw where Joseph and Nicodemus laid the body of Jesus, and then the second time when she went before sunshine on the first day of the week and Jesus was already resurrected. 

The myth of Sunday morning that centuries of religious traditions have perpetuated can not resist the Truth Scriptures brings. Even so Jesus was raised from the dead in any time of the day around the world, because all times, all parts of the day, either dusk or dawn are experienced all day long by all peoples.

“But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not risen; And if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is in vain [it amounts to nothing] and your faith is devoid of truth and is fruitless (without effect, empty, imaginary, and unfounded).” 1 Corinthians 15:13-14 AMP

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