There are some slight variations among the gospel writers on the timing of events, but the order of events is not altered. As you read through the course of events, notice this phenomenon: The chronological order of events is preserved by each gospel writer. Remember, a day begins at sundown and the dates given to each day reflects the presence of two calendars the Creation Calendar and the Babylonian Calendar. The following outline presents the events of the Passion week in chronological order. Knowing there are two calendars in play in Scripture and these two calendars are two days apart, the following is a presentation of the events that occurred during crucifixion week. The Bible clearly states that Jesus ate the Passover with His disciples on Nisan 15 (Mark 14:14-18 Luke 22) and the Bible indicates He died on the cross just before the national Passover which took place on Nisan 15 (John 18:28).Įvidently, the Creator followed the Creation Calendar for determining the date of Passover whereas Jewish leaders used the Babylonian Calendar to determine the date for Passover. The presence of two calendars explains the presence of two Passovers during the Crucifixion week. The celebration of two Passovers is odd because God commanded the observance of Passover on Nisan 15! What happened? (Eusebius, Vita Const., Lib iii., 18-20, insertion mine) He wrote, “They do not possess the truth in this Easter question for in their blindness and repugnance to all improvement, they frequently celebrate two Passovers in the same year. To defend this position, he contemptuously referred to the practice of the Jews observing two Passovers in a year as evidence that one should not trust their calculations for determining the arrival of Easter. Finally, the emperor Constantine decided to end the controversy by disconnecting the time of Easter from the Jewish Passover.
Others, especially Roman Christians, wanted to observe Easter on the Sunday that followed Passover to commemorate the day of Christ’s resurrection.
Some Christians wanted to observe Easter on Nisan 16 the actual date that Jesus arose.
In fact, the national Passover usually occurred two days later than the Passover observed by conservative Jews.įor centuries after the resurrection of Jesus, Christians argued over the observance of Easter. The High Priest waited until the first crescent of the new moon was sighted before declaring the commencement of Nisan 1.īecause the conjunction of a new moon and the sighting of the first crescent of a new moon in Jerusalem is typically 16 to 40 hours later, the celebration of two Passovers on two different days in Israel was not uncommon. Jewish leaders, however, insisted on using the Babylonian method for determining the first day of each month. Some Jews insisted on following Creation’s calendar, that is, Nisan 1 began on the day of a new moon. After the Babylonian exile, the Jews were divided on the date of the observance of Passover.