The Claims of Religion: 3 Days, 3 Nights

In Christianity, it is a long-held doctrine that the crucifixion of Jesus and his alleged and subsequent resurrection were to fulfill not only Old Testament prophecy, but also predictions made by Jesus himself with regard to the amount of time in between. Specifically, Jesus stated he would be dead for 3 days and 3 nights, rising on the third:

Matthew 12:40

40For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

In order to determine if this was reported accurately, we need some points of reference to count from. The Bible provides several, starting with a definitive statement as to when Jesus actually arose:

Matthew 28:1-6

1In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
2And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
3His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
4And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
5And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
6He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

Thus, we can determine that Jesus actually arose sometime before sunrise on the first day of the week, Sunday. The Bible also describes the day Jesus was actually killed:

Mark 15:42-43

42And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,
43Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.

The day before the Sabbath is called Paraskeuen, or Preparation Day. It takes place all day on a Friday and ends at sundown as the Jewish Sabbath begins. Thus, we can then count the number of days and nights between the crucifixion and the resurrection:

Friday night= 1 night
+
Saturday "day"= 1 day
+
Saturday night= 1 night
_________________

Total= 1 day, 2 nights

This would obviously not fulfill Jesus' own words and so a variety of explanations have been offered to account for this discrepancy. Those explanations are examined below, starting with the simplest.


Any part of the day counts as a whole day

Under this argument, anything happening on even part of a day would include the entire day as being counted for it. So, despite Jesus dying in the late afternoon of Friday and rising before even sunrise on Sunday, this argument claims both days should be counted. The math then works out this way:

Friday "day"= 1 day
+
Friday night= 1 night
+
Saturday "day"= 1 day
+
Saturday night= 1 night
+
Sunday "day"= 1 day
_________________
Total= 3 days, 2 nights

We still come a night short. Another explanation is called for.


Jesus wasn't killed on the day before the Saturday Sabbath, i.e. he was killed on another day of the week


This one gets tricky for its proponents to pull off. They must show, using the Bible, that not only was another Sabbath present during the week, which is possible, but also that Jesus was killed on the day before it, which is required since Sabbath restrictions would have prevented his execution and subsequent entombment.

It just so happens there was indeed an additional Sabbath that week. The Jewish Passover is a 7 day holiday, treated as a Sabbath on the first and last days, with the same restrictions on activities as the end-of-the-week Sabbath. Thus, Jesus would have had to have been killed before either the first or last day of Passover.

The Bible makes it clear that Jesus was alive and well for the first day of Passover:

Matthew 16:16-20

16And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.
17Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?
18And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.
19And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.
20Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.

The events described in that chapter and following show that Jesus and his disciples ate the holiday meal, sang a hymn, and then went to the Mount of Olives. Jesus endured his Passion in the garden, and was then arrested. Prior to this, Jesus told Peter of his 3 denials before "the cock crows".

This is where things get tricky. Considering the Passover Sabbath began that evening, when Jesus and his disciples sat down to dinner, and would have lasted until sundown the next day, the idea of a public trial, torture, and execution occurring throughout the day seems at odds with the reverence the Jews showed that time. However, there is no mention between Matthew 26 and the first verse of 27 of an additional day lapsing and so we must conclude he was indeed killed that same day. It could also be concluded that the meal Jesus sat down to was on the evening of the Passover Sabbath and so the following day would have just been another festival day, not held to Sabbath restrictions.

In either case, it eliminates the Passover Sabbath as being the Sabbath the Jews had to prepare for in the disciples' haste to remove his body from the cross:

Mark 15:42-43

42And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,
43Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.

This means Jesus was killed on a preparation day for a different Sabbath than the Passover Sabbath. Given we know he allegedly rose on the first day of the week, Sunday, was killed on a day before a Sabbath, and the first Sabbath of Passover was already completed, we are left with the only conclusion which can be reached. He was killed on a Friday, buried before the evening, stayed dead that night, all of Saturday, Saturday night, and was supposedly alive before morning on Sunday.