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Triumphant Week
The DayThe ancient Roman method of starting and ending a day at midnight has become the practice of the world. However it wasn’t always that way in all cultures, including the ancient Jews. Many Christians and Jews know the early Jewish day started in the evening at sunset, just after the sun descended past the horizon. Today we have clocks that accurately measure time, but ancient Jews did not. Therefore they divided the day and night into two twelve-hour periods. Evening sunset would start the new 24-hour day regardless of the season and it would also start the 12-hour night. Daybreak would start the 12-hour day. That shouldn’t be confusing because we do the same thing. We refer to a day as 24-hours, which includes both day and night. We also refer to daylight as “day” and the darkness as “night.” The Jews did that, too; they called the 24-hour period a “day” and they also called daylight “day.” The way we know the difference, in their culture and ours, is by the context in which the word is used. The difference is, the Jews started their 24-hour day at the evening sunset, (approximately, on the average, around 6:00 PM) whereas we start ours at midnight. Some Jews did, anyway. The Jews in Jerusalem did. They started their day at the evening sunset. The Jews in Jerusalem owned the religion and called the shots. Because of that, most of the Christian understanding of Jewish life comes from the ancient Jews living in Jerusalem around A.D. 30. But the Jews in Galilee started their 24-hour day at the morning sunrise, or approximately at 6:00 AM. The people of 2,000 years ago did not have world-wide regulation as we do. Why is that important to this discussion? It’s important because of Passover.
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household... That very night they were going to be kicked out of Egypt, and they had to be ready to go. Therefore they were instructed to be ready to run, “with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste.” That is like telling us to have the car gassed up, our luggage already in the car, the engine on and idling. The last thing we have to do is eat the Passover, run out the door, jump in the car, and scram. God instructed the Jews to do it in that sort of hurry. This instruction is very important to the Galilean Jews, who observed the new day at daybreak. If the Israelites had to eat the Passover at night and if they were going to be running as soon as the 14th day of the month Abib (approximately our March) arrived, then they had to eat it the evening of the 13th. The Galilean Jews ate their Passover meal one day before the Jerusalem Jews did. This explains why Jesus and his disciples ate their Passover the evening before his crucifixion, which marked the beginning of the Jerusalem Passover. Let’s take a break here for a little side conversation. Do you remember the scripture I quoted, Romans 15:4? For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. We have just touched on something very important that we can apply to our Christian lives. The Jerusalem Jews observed the Passover on the evening of the Abib 14th, whereas the Galilean Jews observed it on the evening of Abib 13th. The Bible is very clear and specific when it should be observed and God commands the Jews to be careful in this matter. Yet, when different Jews divided the day in different ways, they got two different times to observe the Passover. Which one was correct? We call Jesus our Lord, Savior, Master, Messiah, Christ and Son of God. If anyone knew when the proper day to cerebrate the Passover was, he did. Jesus was Galilean and he celebrated it on the 13th. Yet we find no condemnation or instruction anywhere in the Bible as to which group was right. Jesus dealt with both groups as if both were right, or either one was OK. The Bible also gives other instructions in the same manner. It was illegal for anyone but the priests to eat showbread from the temple, yet David ate it and gave it to his army to eat, and nobody – even God – disapproved of that. Even Jesus used that example to explain to the Jews something very important about God, which is what I’m trying to explain now: it’s not the outward show but the inward heart that truly concerns God. Likewise the Sabbath was supposedly broken by Jesus and his disciples, but he instructed the Jews that in God’s eyes, one could break the Sabbath in order to do good. What can we learn from that? That it is wrong to harm other people by obeying God’s commands. God doesn’t want us harming other people to keep a doctrine. If keeping the Sabbath harms someone else, then help that person instead. That is God’s standard for keeping his word. The people who love God will keep his Sabbath holy because they want to, and they will know when to break it. People who are looking for excuses to break the Sabbath will break it for any reason, and it doesn’t really matter which excuse they use. In the same way, I’m saying to you, in any religious doctrine, practice, belief, observance and wisdom that we allow to become a block, a barrier and a detriment between us and our family members and friends, we are doing wrong. It is a sin. Even if it is specifically commanded by God. Some people love God and some people hate God, even from the same family. Those who hate God usually hate those who love God. That brings a barrier between the two. That is not what I’m talking about. Broken fellowship will occur, but don’t let it be because of your doctrine. For a Christian to break fellowship with another, especially a family member, over a doctrine of interpretation of scripture, baptism, observance of a sabbath, or which Bible to read, it is a sin. That is against God and the clear teaching of Jesus. It is God who is the judge, and it is God who judges the person’s heart, not his outward appearance. So, how does this explanation of a “day” help us understand the events that transpired during Jesus triumphal week? It helps us understand what Jesus said and meant. After his entry into Jerusalem, which we call Palm Sunday and Triumphal Entry, Jesus spent four days as the Passover lamb being inspected by all major parties, the priests of the Jews, the Pharisees, the lawyers, and the Roman (gentile) authorities. I say it was “four days” for two reasons: Jesus said,
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 The Jews have the same way of reckoning time as we do. A “day” could be a 24-hour day which includes the day and the night. It could be the daylight hours. It could be a partial day. For example, if I say I’ll see you in two days that means I’ll see you the day after tomorrow. It doesn’t mean I’ll see you in exactly 48 hours to the minute. The church myth that says Jesus was crucified on Friday (a.k.a. “Good Friday”) accounts for one whole day, two whole nights and a smidgeon of daylight at either end. They say that is the “three days Jesus was in the tomb.” But the phrase “three days and three nights” does not allow that meaning. It means the daylight hours and then the night hours and then the daylight hours and then the night hours and then the daylight hours and then the night hours. Although at the end of time it may not be exactly 72 hours on the nose, it will be close to it. That phrase cannot possibly mean “one whole day, two whole nights and a smidgeon of daylight at either end.”
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