A Real Story in Real Time
Read Mark 15:40-47
It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. –Mark 15:42-43
We are all aware that the date of Easter changes from year to year. But as a pastor, I am often asked why?
The reason is that we base the date of Easter on the timing of Passover. Jewish law commanded that Passover begin on the “fourteenth day of Nisan” (Ex 12:6; Lev 23:5; Num 9:5). The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar—the first day of each month begins when the moon is new, and the fourteenth day therefore falls when the moon is full. The month of “Nisan” is tied to the spring equinox—meaning that Passover always falls on the first full moon after the equinox.
This also means that the feast of Passover can take place on any day of the week—Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and so on. Which in turn helps us to calculate the exact year of Jesus’ death. We know that Jesus was crucified on a Friday, because the Jewish authorities hastened to take him down from the cross before the Sabbath began at nightfall. We also know that Jesus’ death had to take place between 26 and 36 AD (the years of Pilate’s governorship). Within that range, the only year that the Passover fell on a Friday was 33 AD.
In fact, we can determine not only the day of the week that Passover fell in 33 AD, but we can even know the exact date. It turns out that in the year 33 AD, the feast of Passover fell on April 3. Which is today’s date? As we celebrate Good Friday and Easter this year, our celebrations are taking place on the exact dates that they happened nearly two thousand years ago. (Something that only happens on average every 22-23 years.)
Does this really matter? Not really. For instance, we celebrate Jesus’ birthday every year on December 25, but we do not know the exact date of his birth. For that matter, we don’t even know the exact year of his birth. Most scholars argue it took place between 4 and 6 BC (Herod the Great died in 4 BC, and 6 BC is the closest recorded census to that year).
What matters is that these events took place in real time in real space. These stories are not myths or legends that have been passed down to us, but they are real events with real people who were part of them. A man named Jesus lived in the region of Galilee some two thousand years ago, during the period of Roman occupation. He was regarded by many as the Messiah, and for this reason, he was crucified by the Romans. Because Jesus was a wandering rabbi and owned no property of his own, he was buried in a borrowed tomb. But Jesus' story does not end there.
We believe that on the following Sunday, Jesus rose from the grave. And his disciples—ordinary men and women who fled or watched helplessly as he was crucified—those same disciples became witnesses of his resurrection and bearers of his gospel. All this happened in real time and space, and our world has never since been the same.
O Holy and Wonderful God, how amazing it is to know that You entered our world, that You walked among us and knew our joys and heartaches. Even more, you willingly endured our cruelty and suffered our death, that we might know Your unending love and life. Thank You, Father, for the incredible gift of Your Son. May we be faithful witnesses to His story. Amen.
**For this final day of Holy Week, I recommend the song “Sunday is Coming” (Phil Wickham) as a way of reflecting on our shared hope. I hope you have a blessed Holy Saturday and Easter celebration.