Yep, this is one of the things that seperate John from the synoptic gospels. The Orthodox church says the Last Supper was the day before passover...and therefore use leaven instead of unleaven bread.
WRONG! This is a perfect example where laziness and negligence and lack of expertise in the Christian scholarly community shows up and gives the Bible a bad reputation for being contradictory! John is NOT contradicting the other gospels in the time of Passover. Here are the basics:
1) First get the passover celebration correct. PASSOVER is eaten after 6 pm on the FIRST DAY OF UNFERMENTED CAKES which is a sabbath day. Check Exodus 12 and you'll see that the Passover week is seven days with two sabbath days, the first and the seventh. Passover is the first part of that first day of unfermented cakes. Thus the SEVEN DAYS begin not on Nisan 15th but on Nisan 14th in the evening.
2) Wake up and get it right! The Jews as well as the Egyptians when the Jews first left Egypt used Egyptian concept of the DATE though they established a new "day" for themselves beginning from nightfall to nightfall, except for the sabbath day that began at sunset. That means that the DATE, NISAN 14TH did not change until Midnight to the 15th. THAT's why the celebration at Noon of the Festival of Unfermented Cakes is celebrated on the 15th, but Passover is celebrated on the 14th. Same with Atonement. The main day-time celebration was on the 10th but it official began on the 9th at sundown. So you must understand that the Jews DAY reflected two calendar DATES. From 6 to Midnight was one date and from Midnight to nightfall was another date. Thus PASSOVER is celebrated on the first sabbath day of passover after sundown on NISAN 14TH and ENDS AT MIDNIGHT. The Jews left AFTER MIDNIGHT on the 15th. Sorry NON-NEGOTIABLE folks so don't even think about it, this is researched. It doesn't matter what superficial concepts later came into practice, this was the ORIGINAL application.
3) JOHN is specific as to when Jesus' trial was and it is not understood how the subtle use of "de" (English translated as "but" or "not" or "yet") is used in relation to times of the day, or watches of the day. When "de" is used with a reference to a segment of the day, it means "just before". If it's missing it means that part of the day is in progress. The term often translated as "immediately" in Greek means more appropriately "immediately after". Thus when a reference is made to Jesus being resurrected "but early" it meant just before the "early" watch of 3am to 6am. When Mary Magdalene showed up at "early" it meant DURING the early watch, while still at night AFTER 3am. Now: if you simply compare the reference at John 19:14 with other references to "preparation" you'll note that "but" is used here but not elsewhere. Thus when Jesus was said to be put into the grave during "preparation" there is no "but" in front of that reference since this was during preparation just before the sabbath. However, at John 19:14 the reference to "but preparation for passover" means "just before preparation for passover". "Preparation for Passover would begin later that night at nightfall. The Noon-time trial was thus the afternoon "before preparation". It is called "preparation for passovelr" because preparation is always a reference to the day before a SABBATH. There are two SABBATH DAYS connected with PASSOVER and thus two days of "preparation for passover", being a reference to the sabbaths of Passovers. Therefore, John 19:14 is actualy saying this was the DAY BEFORE PREPARATION FOR PASSOVER. The choice here is either Nisan 13th for Jesus' trial at Noon, which we know is not correct since this happened after Passover...OR, the second "preparation for Passover" which is the day before the second sabbath day of Passover on Nisan 21st! Preparation would have been Nisan 20th. So the Noon BEFORE PREPARATION ('but preparation") would be Noon on the 19th.
THEREFORE, there is NO CONTRADICTION in scripture between the synoptic gospels and John. The synoptic gospels show Jesus eating Passover and being arrested afterwards. John, though specifically gives us the precise time of his trial, which is Wednesday, Nisan 19th at Noon.
4) IMPALEMENT AT THE THIRD HOUR, 9 AM OR PM? Jesus per Matthew 15:25 was impaled at the "third hough" which is 9 o'clock, either am or pm. This is obviously PM since Jesus' trial was at Noon. Thus Jesus was taken out to Calvary after his trial and being teased by the soldiers that afternoon for a night-time impalement at 9 PM. He was on the torture state with the other impalees all that night up until the next morning and up until Noon when it got dark. NOW HERE IS WHERE LOGIC COMES IN. You have the Bible telling us that it gets dark from Noon to 3 pm just before Jesus dies, yet John says he was on TRIAL at noon. ???? Something is wrong. Plus he is IMPALED at 9 o'clock. That's either 3 hours before the Noon trial, which is impossible, or 9 hours after the trial. But there is a total conflict to Have Jesus still on trial at noon in one gospel and already impaled in another. At this point it should be figured out that MORE THAN ONE DAY MUST BE INVOLVED, and it is. Jesus did not die on Nisan 14th but on Nisan 20th.
5) "THREE DAYS, THREE NIGHTS", DIES ONE DAY BEFORE A "SABBATH" and RISES one day AFTER A SABBATH. No way no how can Jesus die on a Friday and rise on a Saturday night and be in the grave for "three nights". Further he must die one day before a "high sabbath" and rise one day after "two sabbaths". This doesn't work on the weekend of Nisan 14th, which was a Friday, but it works perfectly the following weekend where you had two sabbaths in a row. The "high sabbath" of passover on Nisan 21st, a Friday followed by the regular sabbath. Therefore, if Jesus dies in the at 3:00 p.m. on the that Thursday, Nisan 20th, then he is in the grave for three nights...Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday night, the night he rose. PERIOD.
Thus John's account is not in conflict with the other gospels since his reference to "preparation for passover" and the trial just before that day ("but preparation") is a reference to the preparation for passover sabbath of Nisan 21st, not Nisan 15th.
Thus when all is understood, Jesus sends out his disciples on the DAY THE LAMBS ARE SACRIFICED which is Nisan 14th at 3:00 p.m. He sent two of them out that morning, one of which had to take the lamb to the temple to get killed and then brought back and prepared for the meal. After 6 pm it BECAME THE SABBATH of the first day of Unfermented cakes. It was still Nisan 14th up until Midnight. The meal ends at Midnight, symbolizing when the angel of death appears. "Do not save anything until MORNING". Morning began a new DATE, Nisan 15th at Midnight. Thus Jesus was arrested on Nisan 15th, a Saturday and a sabbath day. No way could he be killed on this day since they don't have impalements on the sabbath, and no way could he die that day and only be in the grave one night since he rises on a Saturday night!!!
Thus all is shifted to the following weekend. Jesus is tried before preparation at Noon on Wednesday, Nisan 19th. He is impaled at 9 p.m. that night and the following day at Noon it gets dark until 3pm when he dies. He is then in the tomb "three days and three nights" as prophesied. He dies one day before a sabbath, a high sabbath, which is the day before the sabbath of Nisan 21st, then he rises one day after a sabbath, which is the regular sabbath ending that Saturday at nightfall. After being raised on the 23rd of Nisan, therefore and not the 16th, he is around for 40 days and ascends to heaven not ten days before Pentecost, but onl 3 days before Pentecost.
I know it's confusing, but if you are confused realize that the DATES and times now being celebrated by the Jews is exactly how it has been since the first Passover. The DATE changes at Midnight and passover and sabbaths are celebrated the day before after sundown, so the days are split between two DATES. Thus the first day of unfermented cakes, the NIGHT the Jews left Egypt on Nisan 15th is the SAME NIGHT as PASSOVER only Passover is before Midnght on the 14th and the Jews left after Midnight on the 15th. Once you understand that PASSOVER IS EATEN ON THE FIRST DAY OF UNFERMENTED CAKES, Nisan 14/15, then you know Jesus did not die on Nisan 14th but the following weekend and John reflects that when you understand specific time syntax in koine Greek that Greek scholars have missed.
NO CONFLICT IN THE BIBLE HERE. JUST INCOMPETENCE AND NEGLIENCE, AS USUAL in the superfluous scholarship of those examining the Bible incorrectly.
Again, this is NON-NEGOTIABLE AND FINAL. Go to the internet and find as many wrong quotes as you need to to contradict this and it won't matter. The aspect of the ritual of passover is misunderstood at the deepest levels.
If you need a wake-up call, BEGIN with explaining how Jesus' trial at Noon corresponds with it getting dark at Noon after he is already impaled. And sorry, "contradiction between the gospels" is not an option. Jesus trial is at NOON. HIs imapalement is a 9 and it gets dark at Noon. If you can make that work around Nisan 14th, then fine. If you can't, then it's time to face reality and realize Jesus celelbrated Passover on Nisan 14th, got arrested that same night on Nisan 15th, and died the following Thursday on Nisan 20th after which he, indeed, was in the tomb for "three nights".
The problem is not with the Bible...just not-so-bright and biased Biblical students and scholars, including JWs who also have it wrong.
Cheerio.
JC
