This year also feels extraordinary for the Jewish and Assyrian communities of faith, as for the first time since 33 A.D., the Pesach Seder (Passover Dinner), which corresponds to the Last Supper in Catholic traditions, fell on the exact same day (Wednesday evening). 2026 marks the first such occurrence in the modern era under the calendars of both faiths, given there have been no instances of the full triple alignment (full moon + Pesach/15 Nisan beginning at sunset + Holy Thursday in the earlier Catholic sunset reckoning) on a Wednesday night since 33 A.D.
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This is the Wed crucifixion theory, which as you state it is the same as the Fri crucifixion theory two days off during Holy Week, and then with the early morning Sun resurrection. There are problems with this that I've laid out here. Brief version:
If we were in the original culture we'd all understand that "on the third day" and "three days and three nights" mean the same thing, portions of three days, Fri to Sun; there is tremendous linguistic evidence for this.
The 15th of the month was indeed a rest day, but it was never called Sabbath in that era and there's no textual reason for it to have been Thu rather than Sat. In the most favored year, 33, it was Sat and agreed with the weekly Sabbath. Putting it on Thu also changes the year to 31, which is well behind 33 and 30 in preferability. The Wed people are required to make this a named "Sabbath" (rather than an annual miqra rest day) to make their system work, against the evidence.
The Wed crucifixion was proposed by people who thought Sun was too pagan for Jesus to rise upon, so they moved his resurrection to Sat against the tradition, and then moved the crucifixion to Wed because they didn't understand the cultural idiom. This belies them as literalists because they reject the many more texts saying "on the third day" as not being literal, and also belies their method of restoring Hebrew roots because Lev. 23:11 specifically affirms that Firstfruits (Resurrection Day) is to be on a Sunday, the day after Sabbath.
[For SDA folks, it's also hypocritical to say we must have 3 full nights and 3 full days, because they calculate from spring 457 BC to spring 31 BC as 486.5 years when it's actually 487.0 years. So all of a sudden they are not counting the correct number of springs and falls even as they insist on counting the "correct" number of nights and days.]
So the Wed people are understandably working from a goal of honoring 7th-day Sabbath and Hebrew roots, but then they fail to honor all the Hebrew roots by focusing wrongly on one section and making wild inferences out of cultural context. I'll be happy to explain details to those interested.
u/Bluridgegirl
All this is nice to have a friendly discussion but it does not matter. The resurrection is the most important thing. I was not there for the "original culture" but the ONLY "sign" Jesus gave that He was the Messiah was the sign of Jonah. As Jonah spent 3 days and 3 night in the belly of the fish---The Wednesday crucifixion was not "proposed" by a group of people because of Sunday. Jesus was fulfilling the Feast of Firstfruits just like He fulfilled the Passover Feast. Firstfruits was always the "day after the Sabbath after Passover". It is not hypocritical to say we must have "3 days and 3 nights" unless you are saying Jesus is a hypocrite! He said it---not me. As far as the calendar relates to 33AD or other dates that long ago, who know? The Hebrew calendar always started on a Sunday as the 1st of the month and 7th as the Sabbath. This would mean that Firstfruits was ALWAYS on the 15th of their monthly calendar. ALl this is not worth the time to argue over. It does not matter which day you believe. The reality os in Jesus' death and resurrection. Amen
Oh, I thought you weren't defending the Wed crucifixion because of your language. Agreed the resurrection is the most important.
The passage given may be the "only" sign to the scribes and Pharisees only (Matt. 12:38-40). But a sign to Herod was "on the third day" (Luke 13:32), and this is the expression used much more often. Another sign to all "the Jews" was "in three days" (John 2:18-19, not what we'd call "after three days"). It's not useful for people to insist that their meaning of "only" and "sign" automatically judges the case.
It's unlikely Jonah spent 72 full hours in the fish anyway, as this is also an assumption that doesn't deal with the context.
If you can find me someone proposing the Wed crucifixion who doesn't reject 1st-day rest as a motivation, let me know; I've never found one.
The fact that Firstfruits is always the day after the Sabbath indicates a Sun resurrection, which for Wed people would be a fraction of the fourth night. I too could say the 72-hour view never made sense to me because they don't begin and end exactly at sundown (since everyone else says Fri not making sense to them is a valid evidence).
If you want "three days and three nights" to mean literally what we mean by that in modern English, why don't you want "on the third day" and "in three days" to mean what we mean now? How do you reconcile the transfiguration between "after 6 days" and "on the 8th day"? The same tension is at work. There are many such cases and I haven't listed them all in one place (someday I will).
The math of Lev. 23 is that Firstfruits is on whatever "Sunday" occurs between the 16th and the 22nd of the moon. So there you've just made a hasty statement about the 15th, it appears. (Modern Jews have Firstfruits always on the 16th, but they admit they're redefining the text, and Moses taken literally doesn't authorize that.)
Perhaps I shouldn't argue. If a person wants to believe something inessential and they don't want to work through what appear to me to be mistakes, they can have that. But I do speak what I see to be true in case someone wants to hear, and also in case I'm wrong and need to be corrected myself. So I wish you a blessed Holy Week and celebration of Jesus's death and resurrection in any case!
It's unlikely Jonah spent 72 full hours in the fish anyway, as this is also an assumption that doesn't deal with the context.
The Bible says he did and Jesus said He did. That is good enough for me.
When Jesus rose from the grave He descended into the earth and preached to the prisoners according to Peter.
In English the 3 days and 3 nights is not nearly as precise as the Greek in which it was written.
In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover. Yes I made a hasty statement, The next day would be the holy day of the unleavened bread and the next Sunday would have been Firstfruits. Sorry about that.
I am not defending either way as you seem to be bent on a Friday crucifixion. I don't know and many Christian scholars have argued the point for centuries for and against but it does not matter. The END of the matter!
No, the Bible and Jesus don't say "72 full hours". That's an interpretation taken from a modern view of the meaning of three days and three nights. Consider the Egyptian who fasted "three days and three nights" but was only deprived as of "hayom shlishah", lit. "the third day" [ago], aka the day before yesterday (1 Sam. 30:12-13; "three days" NET, YLT).
I appreciate your link as I have great respect for Missler. If he came out for Wednesday crucifixion I'll need to look at him carefully (separately). I usually agree with him but not always.
A great study!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyIz4oj_U6A&t=540s