HOW WAS JESUS ABLE TO CELEBRATE PASSOVER AND YET BE CRUCIFIED ON PASSOVER?

While Jesus of Nazareth was not an Essene, the Passover before his crucifixion apparently occurred in an Essene community. The literary evidence is found in the gospels of Luke and Mark. Both state that on the day of the slaughtering of the Passover lambs, which would have been Nisan 14, Jesus instructed Peter and John to enter Jerusalem, presumably through the Gate of the Essenes, and to look for a man carrying a pitcher of water (Luke 22:8-10, Mark 14:13). They were to follow him to where he entered a house and there to inquire of the owner of the house about the guest room where Jesus was to eat the Passover with his disciples.

THE ESSENE PASSOVER

Jesus said "He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there" (Mark 14:15; Luke 22:12). In this ancient culture, the carrying of water in jars to homes was the chore of children and women, not Jewish men. However, an Essene man, typically a celibate monastic, would carry water as a chore since an Essene conclave would have been absent children and women to perform this menial task. The two made final arrangements for the Passover Supper.

In order to reduce the power of the High Priesthood, Herod the Great appointed and dismissed many High Priests, ignoring the hereditary nature of the post. From then on, the High Priest was nothing more than a Roman underling, owing allegiance to Herod and the Roman government. Consequently those appointed priests were not true descendants of the Zadok line and therefore held in contempt by the Essenes.

The Essenes used a solar calendar so that the holidays would always fall on the same day of the week in the same month. The Priests in the Temple in Jerusalem, who were opponents of the Essenes, used a lunar calendar, with holidays falling out on different days of the week, each year. By using a different calendar from the Essenes the Priests would celebrate Passover on a different day from the Essenes.

Jesus and his disciples celebrated the Passover according to the Essene reckoning, which was the day before the Priests and the rest of the Judeans did.

CRUCIFIXION AND BURIAL

We know Christ came to die as the Passover Lamb. Matthew 27:46 says that Jesus died at the ninth hour, which is three o'clock. He died at the exact moment when the slaughter of the Passover lambs began in the Temple.

First Corinthians 5:7 says, "Even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us." Jesus died on the day and time the lambs were slaughtered that He might fulfill every prophecy to the letter.

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. Matthew 27:45

At 12:00 noon, the brightest hour of the day, darkness came over the land. At 3:00 pm when the lambs were being slaughtered, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. The body of Jesus was taken down from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea and placed in his tomb.

Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. John 19:31

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Matthew 27:57-59

The body had to be taken down before Friday at twilight because the next day was a special Sabbath. The day after the Passover (which is celebrated at twilight) is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The weekly Sabbath was also a double celebration because it was the first day of the annual seven day Festival of Unleavened Bread.

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

According to Hebrew understanding, any part of a day, however small, is included as part of a full day.

When Jewish parents count eight days for brit milah (circumcision), they include the day of their son’s birth. Therefore, any part of the day is included as a full day. Whether their child was born one minute after midnight, at noon, or at any time during the day – it counts as a full day.

This phenomenon is exemplified in Scripture in the book of Esther:

"Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way," Esther 4:16

Then, in Esther 5:1 it says, "Now it came about on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace in front of the king’s rooms, and the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room, opposite the entrance to the palace."

We can see that even though the three days and nights had not been completed, Esther went in to see the King on the third day even though she said to fast for three days and nights. We see that “on the third day” is equivalent to “after three days.”

CONCLUSION

Since the Jews reckoned part of a day as a full day, the “three days and three nights” could permit a crucifixion on Friday and that period was reckoned as a full day. He remained in the tomb for the entire second day during the high Sabbath. Finally, Jesus spent the evening and then rose early on the first day of the week which was reckoned as the third full day.

As a Jewish believer in Yeshua (Jesus) as the Son of God and Messiah (Christ), I am sharing my understanding of the natural and spiritual fulfillments that are foreshadowed in the Festivals of Yehovah in a series of posts. If you missed either of my first four posts, please use the links below:

WHY SHOULD CHRISTIANS STUDY THE FESTIVALS OF THE LORD?
https://steemit.com/christianity/@lastdays/why-should-christians-study-the-festivals-of-the-lord

JESUS IS THE PASSOVER LAMB WITHOUT BLEMISH
https://steemit.com/christianity/@lastdays/jesus-is-the-passover-lamb-without-blemish

SYMBOLS OF CHRIST IN THE PASSOVER
https://steemit.com/christianity/@lastdays/symbols-of-christ-in-the-passover

SANCTIFICATION OF THE BELIEVER IN CHRIST
https://steemit.com/christianity/@lastdays/sanctification-of-the-believer-in-christ