The Crucifixion of the Church    73 
A Synoptic Problem: The Passover 
    Some claim that the Gospels disagree as to whether Jesus died on the 
preparation day of the Passover or on the first day of the Passover. Some 
even doubt that Jesus celebrated a Passover meal with His disciples. The 
Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke make it clear that Jesus celebrated the 
Passover with His disciples: Matthew 26:17 19, Mark 14:12 16 and Luke 
22:7 13. 
     Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the passover lamb 
had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, `Go and prepare 
the passover for us, that we may eat it.'   (Luke 22:7 8). 
    That night, after celebrating the Passover with His disciples, Jesus was 
taken prisoner by the chief priests. The next morning, Pilate passed 
sentence. Jesus died on that same day. 
    That evening (on the day that Jesus died) was the beginning of the Jewish 
Sabbath. (The Jewish Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday and ends at 
sundown on Saturday.) That is why the Jews were anxious not to have the 
bodies remain on the crosses after sundown (John 19:31). They did not want 
any crucifixions to take place on the Sabbath, especially on that Sabbath 
which occurred during the holy days of Passover. 
    The day that Jesus died is called the  day of Preparation  by all four 
Gospels (Mt 27:62, Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54 and John 19:42). The Jews 
needed to prepare for the Sabbath since they could do no work on that day. 
The day of Preparation is Friday. Jesus died on a Friday. 
    The dispute concerning whether Jesus celebrated the Passover comes 
partly from a passage in John's Gospel. The Jews who accused Jesus before 
Pilate are described as having not yet eaten the Passover.  Then they led 
Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was early. They 
themselves did not enter the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, 
but might eat the passover.  (John 18:28). 
    These Jews had not yet eaten the Passover on Friday morning, yet the 
synoptic Gospels clearly describe Jesus celebrating the Passover (often called 
the Last Supper) the previous evening (on Thursday). 
    Jesus had already celebrated the Passover, but many Jews had not yet 
celebrated it. The solution to this apparent contradiction is found in Blessed 
Anne Catherine Emmerich's visions of the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus. 
She states that, since so many Jews came to Jerusalem to celebrate the 
Passover, they could not sacrifice the large number of lambs required all on 
the same day. It had therefore long been the custom for Jews from the region 
of Galilee to celebrate the Passover a day sooner than the others. 
 Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea ... proved from ancient documents 






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