WHAT DAY OF THE WEEK WAS GOOD FRIDAY?
What day of the week was Good Friday, the day Jesus died? Is that a trick question? Like "Who is buried in Grant's tomb?" Actually, no. Good "Friday" was a Wednesday.
Okay. I'll explain.
Three Days and Three Nights
According to Matthew 12:40, Jesus was buried in a grave for three days and three nights.
| For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. |
Matthew 12:40
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And John 20:1 says he the tomb was empty on the first day of the week, which, in Jewish tradition, is Sunday.
| Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. |
John 20:1
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But if Jesus died on a Friday, there is no way to squeeze three nights between Friday and Sunday. There's the night of Friday/Saturday and the night of Saturday/Sunday, and that's it. There are no other nights between Friday and Sunday.
The First Night of Passover
This page explains that the last supper, which occurred before Jesus was buried, was eaten on the first evening of Passover according to the Essene calendar. It also says that Jesus died and was buried on the day before Passover on the temple calendar. Remember that, in Jewish tradition, days began and ended at sundown instead of midnight. So Jesus was buried before sundown on the day before the first evening of Passover.
The last supper was eaten before Jesus was buried. And Jesus was buried sometime between that evening and the first day of the week. Therefore, the first evening of Passover on the temple calendar occurred after the first evening of Passover on the Essene calendar and before Sunday.
The following information is copied from here. It shows that there is no year near 30AD in which the Essene Passover began before the temple Passover on the same week, except for 30 AD. It also shows that, in 30 AD, Passover began on Tuesday evening on the Essene calendar and on Wednesday evening on the temple calendar.
| Gregorian dates | ||
| Year | Essene** | Temple |
| 26 AD | April 2, Thursday | March 20, Friday |
| 27 AD | April 3, Saturday | April 7, Wednesday |
| 28 AD | April 2, Sunday | March 27, Monday |
| 29 AD | April 2, Monday | April 14, Saturday |
| 30 AD | April 2, Tuesday | April 3, Wednesday |
| 31 AD | April 3, Thursday | March 24, Monday |
| 32 AD | April 2, Friday | April 12, Monday |
| 33 AD | April 2, Saturday | April 1, Friday |
| 34 AD | April 2, Sunday | March 20, Monday |
| 35 AD | April 3, Tuesday | April 9, Monday |
Therefore, the last supper must have occurred on a Tuesday evening, and the day Jesus was buried was a Wednesday.
Three Days and Three Nights
Now let's count the three days and three nights beginning just before Wednesday evening and ending before Sunday morning. Assuming we only count complete days and nights, we won't count the end of the day on Wednesday as one of the three days, and we won't count the night of Saturday/Sunday as one of the three nights. Then the days are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and the nights are Wednesday/Thursday, Thursday/Friday, and Friday/Saturday. That's three days and three nights. And therefore, Good "Friday" was actually a Wednesday.
** Assume Essenes "set" their calendar to 1 Nisan Wednesday on the Vernal Equinox
References
NIV
New International Version. 1984. International Bible Society.
https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-International-Version-NIV-Bible/