The new Taftee term has begun and we have begun the study of the Synoptic gospels. We are looking at some of the controversies from the gospels which really have no answer. One such we look at this week is why do Mathew, Mark and Luke make the Last Supper the Passover meal when John does not. In fact John 19:14 says that the Passover meal was being readied at the time of the trial. Is it possible to reconcile this difference?
I prefer to go with Mathew, Mark and Luke as a crucifixion on the Passover day is unlikely. The crowds would be difficult to handle without the anger at a crucifixion adding to the turmoil.
In which case is John mistaken or symbolic – Jesus is our Passover and so was sacrificed on the Passover day? Can John be mistaken on so important an event and time? If not, then a symbolic meaning is more likely.
If it is symbolic, how accurate is the dating and the events in the rest of John? 
A little more research gave me some new ideas. The Day of Preparation was used for the Sabbath and also for major festivals. It is called Day of Preparation as they prepared for the Sabbath by cooking extra food etc. and doing the things they could not do on the Sabbath.
ReplyDeleteIn John 19:31 John himself uses it for the Day of Preparation for the Sabbath - i.e. Friday. "The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away."
In John 19:14 he writes "And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour:" which all commentators take to mean the day before the Passover. But of we take it to mean Day of Preparation for the Sabbath in Passover week, we have no problem and John reconciles with the other gospels and we can take John as being accurate in the other time references too. The fact that no commentator takes this view probably indicates that the most natural translation is Day of Preparation of the Passover, but that leads to a contradiction. So I would prefer to take John as meaning the Sabbath in Passover week.