The Jew
Happy Easter!
For you religious scholars, I have a question. Growing up, I was always taught that Jesus was crucified on Friday and rose on Sunday, three days.
..but the more I read, it seems as if he was actually crucified on a Saturday, because Joseph of Aramathea rushed to get him buried before the Sabbath. So was he actually crucified on a Wednesday?
The Jewish Sabbath was/is on the 7th day, which is Saturday.
In John 19:31, it was called a 'special Sabbath', or in some versions a 'high day'. That says a lot. Several times a year during major feasts, there would be a special sabbath in addition to the normal Saturday sabboth. That means that there were 2 sabbaths that week. Jesus died the day before the special one. It could have been either on Wed or Thur but without knowing the year it's impossible to determine which day it occurred.
Jesus said he would be in the grave for 3 days AND 3 nights. A Thurs execution would have him in the grave for Thurs, Fri, and Sat days and Thurs, Fri, and Sat nights.
Keep in mind that in that culture a new day started at sundown so if he rose right after sundown on Sat evening, it would be counted as rising on Sun. So, depending on how you counted the days, a Wed execution could cover him being in the grave for Thurs, Fri, and Sat days and Wed, Thurs, and Fri nights, rising right after sundown on Sat evening.
There are 2 accounts of the women buying spices for his body. One book says they bought them after the sabbath, another says before the sabbath. With 2 sabboths, there could have been a day between them or if the sabbaths were back to back, the priests could have allowed a short time between them to buy stuff.