One of the most popular stories in the bible is when Jesus resurrected from the dead. It is commonly believed that Jesus died on a Friday, hence, we usually celebrate it as a Good Friday/ The following Sunday, He resurrected and we celebrate it as Easter Sunday.
Despite the traditional celebration of the resurrection of Jesus during that day, there is a controversy that Sunday wasn’t the day Jesus actually resurrected. Some argue that in accordance to the scriptural prophecy that can be found in the book of Matthew chapter 12 verse 40, when Jesus said: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a giant fish, so as the son of God will be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of earth.
If we are going to compare that to our modern way of counting days, Jesus would have been in the tomb from late afternoon of Friday until early morning in Sunday. Even if we count Friday and Sunday as full days, that would mean that He was indeed in his tomb within the mentioned days.
A lot of scholars studying bible and theology state that it was normal among Jews to consider any part of a day to be full night and day. However, some scholars argue that there might also be other confusion over whether the Sabbath mentioned in the bible pertained to in the bible as the day after Jesus was crucified means Saturday.
Therefore, this would be possible that Jesus was crucified and buried on a Wednesday or a Thursday with his resurrection on Saturday night. But since it is a tradition of Jews to consider the next day, the n Sunday would be the considered resurrection.
It is interesting that there are a lot of arguments and dispute about the real timing of Jesus resurrection. But no matter how much we argue, we wouldn’t find the truth as only the disciples know the exact day.
According to scholars, we only have 2 alternatives in this context, It’s either He fulfilled the prophecy written in the bible and remained in the grave for three days and three nights,. Or the second alternative would be – He did not fulfill the prophecy at all.
But regardless of the exact date when Jesus died, buried and resurrected, this is not the main point of all of these after all. Jesus dies for us, to wash away all our sins, and to save us from death. Hence, we should have faith in Him and follow His ways. As what the bible says in John 3:16, For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but will have everlasting life. Therefore, as Christians, we should take a leap, have faith and be the light of this world. We need to live the teachings of Jesus and most importantly, we need to believe in Him. For more information, visit this homepage.