10 Days That Changed the World (Passion Week)

I am fascinated with the parallels between the Jewish Passover and our Christian celebration of Jesus Christ's Passion Week.  As most of you know, the Jewish calendar1 and the Roman calendar of the Western world do not coincide.  The former is a lunar calendar, and the latter a solar calendar.

(So, I'm wading into the weeds.  This is really a Bible Nerds post, to begin a series of six.  If you don't want to go with me, go read Ann Voskamp for a few days.  That is not a "dis"; she and I just have very different styles and approaches.  I also want to issue the disclaimer that these are difficult interpretations.  I reserve the right to be wrong.  Remember, this is my bible study blog; I am studying.  Each year at Passover/Easter I have a tradition of re-examining the gospel accounts of Jesus' last Passion Week on Earth.  Due to the extreme confusion and upheaval at that time in the life of the disciples, the four accounts are quite muddled, even seemingly contradictory.)

In the blog we are going to look at the parallels between the gospel accounts, beginning today with Lamb Selection Day, which we celebrate as Palm Sunday, and the two days before, then moving on day-by-day through Resurrection Sunday (Easter). In the Christian faith, we do not often examine this too deeply, probably because of how differently the 4 gospels present the events.  

Sadly, and to our great detriment, in general, the tenets of Judaism and the Jewish feasts are largely ignored by Christianity.  Too bad...they contain rich foreshadowing of the life and work of Jesus Christ.  That is why, this week, we are going to examine the parallels between Passion Week and the Jewish feasts.  The timeline is most interesting...

So, onward.  What/When was Lamb Selection Day, and why does that matter?

Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 

(Exodus 12:3-6)

The New Testament text I'm focusing on today is Matthew 21:1-11.

Before we start, we must get our heads into the mindset of the Jewish calendar, in which 24-hour days begin at sundown of the "day" before and end at sundown of the actual calendar day.  This has been practiced by the Jews since God declared in Genesis 1 that "the evening and the morning were the first day" (Genesis 1:5).  It would be helpful to reinforce the meaning of Sabbath here also.  It is commonly known that the Jewish Sabbath is from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. Later in this post I'll give you a template, which we will fill in as this Holy Week progresses. 

Let's begin with the events of Nisan 8, which are recorded in John 12.

1Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 So they prepared a dinner for Jesus there. Martha was serving, and Lazarus was among those present at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took three quarters of a pound of expensive aromatic oil from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus. She then wiped his feet dry with her hair. 

Just before sunset as the Friday, Nisan 8 ended, Jesus arrived at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus (the three siblings) in Bethany.  He and his disciples had traveled all that day, presumably from The Galilee, a long journey.   It is not clear whether the dinner took place before the Sabbath started that Friday evening at sundown or after the Sabbath was over in the later evening hours of Nisan 10 (Saturday night). I tend to think it took place that evening He arrived; otherwise, the writer would have said, "after the Sabbath".  But, that's just my own conclusion.  Speaking as a woman, if I had the most honored Guest arrive at my house, tired, with an entourage of scraggly, tired disciples, I'd hurry up and fix some food before the Sabbath came (which precluded any "work").  It is also unclear when verses 9-11 of that chapter took place, but they occurred either right after Jesus arrived on Nisan 8 or on Nisan 9, the Sabbath. Regardless, John tells us that "the next day" (Nisan 10), Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem. That would have been on Nisan 10, and it was not a long distance, maybe an hour's donkey ride?  It was about a 2-mile trip. (We know this would not have taken place on the Sabbath of Nisan 9 because doing so would have violated all sorts of Sabbath restrictions on "work" and "travel".)

2Jewish historians agree and the scriptures record that the Passover lambs were selected on Nisan (also called Aviv) 10, five days before they were sacrificed on Nisan 14 (Preparation Day).  (Exodus 12:3-6) During this time period of 5 days, the lamb lived in the home of the family that had chosen it.  The sheep raisers of the Passover sheep were the Sadducees.  Only a Sadducee sheep was approved for the Passover sacrifice in Jerusalem; this made the Sadducees very wealthy.  At any rate, the Passover sheep, raised in Bethlehem (hello!), were brought into the city of Jerusalem through a gate called....you guessed it....The Sheep Gate, so that the people could select a lamb on Nisan 10.  The year Jesus died this day would have been a Sunday (Palm Sunday) which fits perfectly with a Thursday crucifixion.  We read in Matthew 21:1-11 that on Nisan 10, Jesus and the disciples were in Bethany.

The path from Bethany to Jerusalem went through Bethpage, a village very close to Jerusalem, wound through the Mount of Olives, on which olive trees and palm trees grew in abundance.  It was here that the crowd following Jesus picked up palm branches and began to shout Ho-sha-NAH!, "God save us", which in English we translate "Hosanna!".  This war cry of Jewish zealots wanting to overthrow Roman rule was part of the "Hallel" (Psalm 113-118), particularly Psalm 118:25-26, and was sung at Jewish feasts.  

"Ana Adonai Hoshia-na, Ana Adonai Hoshia-na. Ana Adonai Hatzlicha-na, Ana Adonai Hatzlicha-na.  Baruch Haba B'Shem Adonai."

English Translation:  "O Lord, please save us, Oh Lord, please save us.  Oh Lord, send us prosperity, Oh Lord, send us prosperity.  Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord."

With the other Sabbath lambs bound for slaughter, Jesus rode into Jerusalem through the Sheep Gate, on the northeast corner of the city wall, beside the Tower of Hananel, a name which means God's mercy.  In fact, another name for that Jerusalem city gate was the Mercy Gate.  (Hallelujah!) . At this same time, priests in the Temple were undergoing extensive preparations for the impending slaughter of the Passover (Pesach) lambs.  During the next four days, pilgrims flooded into Jerusalem.

Jesus, then, arriving in Jerusalem in the morning hours of Nisan 10 presented himself at the Temple for "inspection".  (We'll explore this tomorrow.) He was then in Jerusalem Sunday, Nisan 10, and each day of the rest of the week, fulfilling the five days of dwelling with "the family" before His crucifixion on the afternoon of Nisan 14.  There were two reasons that the Passover lamb remained with its family those 5 days leading up to Passover:
1.  So that the family could become attached to the lamb, their lamb.
2.  So the family could inspect the lamb, to make sure it was "without spot or blemish" or "without defect", as stated in the translation of Exodus 12 above.  The Korban Pesach (Passover Lamb) had to be the most perfect specimen available.

So, let's begin to fill in our chart!

Thursday sundown to Friday sundown	Nisan 8	Jesus arrives at M,M&L's house in Bethany sometime before sundown.
Friday sundown to Saturday sundown	Nisan 9	Weekly Sabbath; no work or travel.
Saturday sundown to Sunday sundown	Nisan 10	Palm Sunday; Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem Jesus presents Himself at Temple; Passover Lambs are Selected (Lamb Selection Day)
Sunday sundown to Monday sundown	Nisan 11	Day 2 of Lamb with family
Monday sundown to Tuesday sundown	Nisan 12	Day 3 of Lamb with family
Tuesday sundown to Wednesday sundown	Nisan 13
Wednesday sundown to Thursday sundown	Nisan 14
Thursday sundown to Friday sundown	Nisan 15
Friday sundown to Saturday sundown	Nisan 16
Saturday sundown to Sunday sundown	Nisan 17

Well, that is certainly enough for today.  We'll continue on this topic tomorrow, moving further into Passion Week.

Father God, it is such a treat to study your Word.  This timeline has been argued for centuries, and I don't presume to be "the one" who eventually gets it exactly right.  I bless Your Name, Jesus, for being my Passover Lamb, the Aleph-Tav of Exodus 12: 6, THE Lamb of God, the First and Last, the Alpha and Omega.  Thank you for dying for me and rising again, to purchase my salvation.  Amen.

Sources:

1   http://www.chabad.org/calendar/view/month.htm
2   http://www.fishingtheabyss.com/archives/137
3   http://biblehub.com/text/matthew/28-1.htm
4   http://reasonsforhopejesus.com/thursday-crucifixion-two-reasons-nail/
5 http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Spring_Holidays/Shabbat_HaGadol/shabbat_hagadol.html