Good Friday/Thursday
For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 12:40
A question I get asked on occasion by people who are good at math…”If Jesus was crucified on Friday and rose on Sunday morning, how did he spend three days and nights as he predicted?”
“Well,” I answer, “Jesus was crucified on Thursday.”
“Wait! Then why has the church told us for thousands of years that Jesus was crucified on Friday? We have a holiday and everything!”
Good question! Probably part of the reason is they didn’t take Jesus’s prophecy seriously enough to seek out why it was true.
This is important for more than just this scripture, though. Four days before Passover, each family would select the lamb for the Passover sacrifice and set it apart from any of the rest of the flock.
If Jesus was crucified on Thursday, then four days before that is Palm Sunday when Jesus rode into Jerusalem and all of the people said, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes into the world.” Four days before Friday is Monday when not much of interest happened at all.
Not Good Friday
So part of the error is because, once again, our Bible teachers are trying to understand the New Testament without bothering to understand the Old Testament first. When you read about the feast of Passover in the law, you find out that Passover started and ended on a Sabbath, a special Sabbath if it wasn’t a Saturday. So, in an eight day period, there would be three Sabbaths around Passover.
Of the two Gospels written to a Hebrew audience, Matthew and John, John alone tells us what we need to know.
Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would 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
See, John points out that this was a special High Sabbath and not a regular weekly Sabbath. Thus, Jesus died on Thursday, Friday was the special Sabbath at the start of Passover, then Saturday was the regular weekly Sabbath, then he arose on Sunday. Three days and three nights. See? The words of Jesus kept like clockwork. No Good Friday required.