Comparative Theology · Internal Contradictions
The Day and Hour of the Crucifixion
Handle with care. Some manuscripts read 'third hour' in John, and Roman versus Jewish time-reckoning is a genuine scholarly debate. Lead with the day, which is the stronger point, not the hour.
In short
- 1.Synoptics: the Last Supper is the Passover meal; Jesus dies the day after
- 2.John: Jesus dies on the day of Preparation, as the lambs are slaughtered
- 3.Mark: crucified at the third hour. John: still before Pilate at the sixth hour
The claim being examined
The date of the crucifixion is the anchor of the Christian calendar. Mark and John place it on two different days relative to Passover, and give two different hours.
The Islamic position
Islam does not stake a claim on the hour, precisely because the sources are irreconcilable. Q 4:157 describes a matter over which people fell into dispute and followed only conjecture.
Analysis
In Mark 14:12 the disciples prepare the Passover and Jesus is crucified the following morning, the 15th of Nisan. In John 19:14 Jesus is still on trial at noon on the day of Preparation, the 14th, so that he dies at the hour the Passover lambs are killed — a theological point John makes explicitly by calling him the Lamb of God. Mark 15:25 places the crucifixion at the third hour, roughly nine in the morning, which John's chronology makes impossible. Scholars widely accept that John altered the day for symbolic reasons; that is an admission that at least one Gospel is not reporting history.
Side by side
| Mark | 14:12; 15:25 | The Last Supper is the Passover meal; crucifixion at the third hour. |
|---|---|---|
| Matthew | 26:17 | Follows Mark: the Supper is the Passover meal. |
| Luke | 22:15 | Follows Mark: 'I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you.' |
| John | 19:14 | Day of Preparation, about the sixth hour — before the Passover meal. |
From the Qur'an
Qur'an 4:157
وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ
Those who differ over it are in doubt about it.
From the Bible
John 19:14
ἦν δὲ παρασκευὴ τοῦ πάσχα, ὥρα ἦν ὡς ἕκτη
Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour.
Read it in their BibleSources
Raymond E. Brown, The Death of the Messiah · E. P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus
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