I've seen that as well, the intriguing thing is, a lot of folks claim to know the exact day it was, they say Wednesday or Thursday or what ever. Yet no one claims to know how old Jesus was at the time of crucification nor at what date He was born.
Some say He was 33 years old, some say He was born at 4 BC and so on.
It tickles me with all the claims of exact day of... Yet none can explain a simple thing as how old He was or when He was born.
Might shake a few paradigms but Christ was born the 15th of the Seventh biblical month, 3 BCE...His ministry began when he was 29 about to turn 30 in 27 CE...and it lasted 70 weeks (490 days) from leaving the wilderness, to ascending to heaven, so he died in 28 CE at 30 years old:
1. By biblical reckoning of time, the “birth year” of a person IS “year 1” of that person. There was no such thing as a child younger than 1 year old (no “week olds”, “month olds”, etc) in biblical times. When you were born you were considered a yearling (of the 1st year).
Also, there is no such thing as a “year zero” when counting between BCE and CE…these facts are important when counting back Christ's years of life to his birth year.
2.
Luke 3:23
“And Jesus himself began to be about (ōsei) thirty years of age being as was supposed the son of Joseph which was the son of Heli”
The Greek word for “about” is “Peri”, which means “about; perimeter (of any size)”. However, the Greek word used in the above passage is “ōsei”, which is
a specific (Greek) mathematical term meaning “nearing but before the point of (in order)”.
So Christ himself began
nearing but before the point of thirty years of age when his ministry began.
3. The 15th year of the Tiberius Caesar of Rome is the
same year John & Christ began their ministries.
Luke 3:1
“Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, (2) Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. (3) And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;”
4. The 15 year of Tiberius Caesar was during the year 26/27 CE
The 2nd Jewish Temple began its reconstruction in 19 BCE, as recorded by the historian Josephus. Next the passage John 2:20 says, “Then said the Jews,
Forty and six years [46 years] was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days!?”
19 BCE + 46 years = 27 CE
So Christ was 29 years old about to turn 30 years old in 27 CE.
5. 27CE – 27 years = 1 BCE (because there is no “zero year”)
1 BCE – 2 more years (because Christ was 29 during his ministry) = 3BCE The year when Christ was born (yearling; 1 year old).
6. 3/2BCE was the
25th Year of the Reign of Caesar Augustus when he decreed that Rome name him pater patriae (Father of the Country), a title which must be voted by all of his subjects
through registration. (Res Gestae #35;
Who was Who in Roman Times :Life and deeds of Augustus by Augustus).
Luke 2:1-2
“And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed (apographesthai)”.
English translations of the above passage are in error, because the Greek word for “taxation census” is “Forologia”, but the Greek word used in this passage is a variation of the word
“Apographó”, meaning “enrollment; registration”.
So this confirms Christ was born year 3 BCE because Joseph and Mary left for his home town to register.
7. His ministry lasted only 70 weeks (490 days)
Using the gospel of John and knowing that
Christ was COMPLETELY obedient to ALL of the father's commands, we can navigate through a translation error in the text with regard to the feast days mentioned.
God commanded all "able-bodied" males who are in the land to attend the feasts. The feasts occur in this order:
1st Month - Feast of Unleavened Bread (& Passover)
3rd Month - Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost)
7th Month - Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles)
7th Month (22nd) - Last Great Day
9th Month - Feast of Dedications
Again Christ was COMPLETELY obedient to his father's commands.
Now, here's the gospel of John:
John 2:13 - Passover (& Feast) at hand - Messiah goes to Jerusalem
John 2:23 - Passover begins (
definitely 1st Month)
John 5:1 - "Another" Feast (
likely Shavuot in 3rd month) - Messiah goes to Jerusalem
John 6:1 - "After these [teachings] [Messiah] went over the sea of Galilee"
John 6:2 - "And a great multitude followed him...[to Gailee]"
John 6:3 - "
And [Messiah] went up into a mountain."
John 6:4 - "Passover, a feast of the Jews was nigh" -
1st Month again!?
If this passage is true, Christ did
NOT obey his father's command to go up to every feast. So this Christ is a sinner. Instead he stays in a mountain? Also, what did the Messiah do between months 4 - 12 of the previous year? Did he feed the multitude for 9 months? NONE of the other gospels say
anything about this gap in time and EVERY other feast passage in John is supported by other passages around it. Everyone is completely silent here. Not to mention, Christ fed the multitude regular bread (artos) not unleavened bread (azumos), so Christ didn't even acknowledge Unleavened bread feast at all. Christ goes up to every single feast as commanded by God...except this one.
John 6:5 - "And when [Messiah] lifted up his eyes he saw a Great Multitude..." Feeds them
John 7:2...7:14 - Feast of Tabernacles (
definitely 7th month) - Messiah goes to feast in secret
John 7:37 - Last Great Day (
definitely 7th month; 22nd day)
John 10:23 - Feast of Dedications (
definitely 9th mo. & winter) - Messiah goes to Jerusalem
John 10:40 - Messiah went to Jordan where he was baptisted and stays there for a time
John 11:18 - Messiah goes to Bethany (Near Jerusalem) to resurrect Lazarus
John 11:55 - Jews Passover is (again) nigh and many went to Jerusalem (
definitely 1st Month again)
John 12:1 - 6 days before Passover, Messiah went back to Bethany and is annointed w/oil for his death
John 12:12 - Much people came to the feast (of Passover) -
still 1st Month
John 19:21 - Christ's Trial and sentencing for crucifixion
"1st, 3rd, 1st, 7th, 7th, 9th...1st,..."
The only passage that doesn't fit in God's chronological feast pattern is
John 6:4; the ONLY passage in ALL 4 gospels that has this 9 month gap in time. But when we remove it, we have Christ's ministry lasting from
40 days in the wilderness to the 1st Passover, to the next Passover when he is crucified
1 year later. Then he resurrects and stays with his disciples until he ascends to heaven 10 days before Pentecost occurring in the
3rd month.
40 (wilderness) + 360 (year) + 90 (3 months) = 490 days (70 weeks)
---
So putting all of this together, Christ was crucified at 30 years old in 28 CE
Originally I was thinking that Passover itself was a Sabbath, but apparently that is not so, as the observance of the Day of Unleavened Bread which follows Passover is the Sabbath, or high holy day.
