In his newly published book, The Mystery of the Last Supper, professor Colin Humphreys of Cambridge University presents research that he feels definitively places Christ’s keeping of the Passover on a Wednesday [Tuesday evening at sundown as God reckons time].
Humphreys used “a combination of biblical, historical and astronomical research to try to pinpoint the precise nature and timing of Jesus’s final meal with his disciples before his death… Jesus went by an old-fashioned Jewish calendar rather than the official lunar calendar which was in widespread use at the time of his death and is still in use today… This would put the Passover meal—and the Last Supper—on the Wednesday,” not on a Thursday as many believe.
Humphreys also notes, “Many biblical scholars say that, for this reason [apparent contradictions between accounts from the synoptic gospels and John’s account] you can’t trust the Gospels at all. But if we use science and the Gospels hand in hand, we can actually prove that there was no contradiction” AFP, April 18, 2011).
God’s Church has long understood that Christ kept the Passover on a Tuesday evening just after sundown—the start of Wednesday—and was crucified Wednesday afternoon.
Although Humphreys does not understand the Wednesday crucifixion, it is encouraging to see science used to support a truth we have known.
