Passion Week · About AD 31

The Crucifixion

Wednesday, the 14th · The Preparation · The third hour

Each day begins at even (Leviticus 23:32). Buried as the Preparation ended, risen as the weekly sabbath ended, with the high day between (John 19:31): three days and three nights (Matthew 12:40).

When

“it was the third hour, and they crucified him” Mark 15:25

Where It Is Told

Matthew 27:32–44
32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. 33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, 34 They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. 35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. 36 And sitting down they watched him there; 37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. 39 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, 40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. 41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, Read all of Matthew 27:32–44
Mark 15:21–32
21 And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. 22 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. 23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not. 24 And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take. 25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. 26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 27 And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. 28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors. 29 And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, 30 Save thyself, and come down from the cross. Read all of Mark 15:21–32
Luke 23:26–43
26 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. 27 And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. 28 But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. 29 For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. 30 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. 31 For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? 32 And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. 33 And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. 34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. 35 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. Read all of Luke 23:26–43
John 19:17–27
17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: 18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. 19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. 21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. 22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written. 23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. 24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. 25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Read all of John 19:17–27

The Date

On Wednesday, the fourteenth day of the first month, “the preparation of the passover” (John 19:14), AD 31, about the 25th of April: He was buried before evening, when the high day began, the first day of unleavened bread (John 19:31; Leviticus 23:6-7). Daniel’s sixty and nine weeks, 173,880 days of 360-day years from the commandment of Nehemiah 2:1 in 446 BC, ended the Sunday before, when He came into Jerusalem as King (Daniel 9:25; Zechariah 9:9), and after them “shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself” (Daniel 9:26). The fourteenth fell on a Wednesday in AD 31 only if that year’s first month was the later of the two spring moons, a month added because the barley was not yet ripe; by the earlier moon it would have been a Tuesday in March, and no record shows which the Jews kept. Ussher puts it in AD 33, on the day before the weekly sabbath, Friday, April 3: he brings Jesus to Pilate “(April 3.)” and has the Pharisees go to Pilate on the sabbath, “The next day (the fourth of April)”. The timeline follows the text’s “three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:40), as Difficult Passages answers it.

The Crucifixion on the Timeline of the Bible

Difficult Passages

Was Christ crucified at the third hour or the sixth?

John counts the hours as the Romans did, from midnight; Mark as the Jews did, from sunrise.

In the Harmony of the Gospels

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