Preparation Day

Q

I have been reading your answers to Passover questions and articles. In one you confidently assert that the Preparation day on which Jesus was crucified was the day before Nisan 15, not necessarily a weekly Sabbath. Your conclusion was that Jesus died on a Thursday, Nisan 14. I tend to follow this logic as well, but am looking for sources that verify that the preparation day could mean a day other than Friday. What are your sources that say in Jesus time the preparation day was a designation of the day before any holy convocation, not only a weekly sabbath, as Friday proponents claim?

A

In the Bible the term “Preparation Day” is only used in reference to the day of the Lord’s crucifixion, which took place on the day before the “special Sabbath” (John 19:31) which was the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Had the crucifixion been on Friday the next day wouldn’t have been called a “special Sabbath”, It would have just been called “the sabbath”.

In addition, the two disciples who encountered the Lord on the Emmaus Road on the same day as the Resurrection (Luke 24:13, 20-21) clearly state that it was the third day since the crucifixion. Had the crucifixion taken place on Friday, they would have said it was the second day since.