The First Day of the Week

The First Day of the Week

Have you ever wondered why Christians have church on Sunday instead of “The Sabbath”, which is Saturday? What!?! You mean Sunday is not The Sabbath?

The Sabbath Day, as mentioned in The Law, was the seventh day of the week. It’s the day God “rested” from creation. It’s the day Moses was commanded to institute the rites of sacrificial worship. It was the day Israel was commanded to “rest”.

For the Christian, we celebrate on Sunday, the “first day” of the week. Why? I believe it is because it was the day of resurrection. Of all the days mentioned in scripture regarding the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the day He rose is cemented by the many references. All four Gospels record the day of His resurrection.

There is much debate about the day Jesus was crucified. Most liturgical churches signify Friday as the day of crucifixion. However, some say Jesus died on Thursday, or even Wednesday. The debate hinges on the term “day of preparation” found in the Gospel accounts.

Matthew 27:62 (ESV) The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate

Mark 15:42 (ESV) And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath,

Luke 23:54 (ESV) It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning.

John 19:14 (ESV) Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

The other factor in the debate is the word “Sabbath.” This term was used, not only of the seventh day of the week, but also other “high holy” days in the Jewish calendar; one of those being The Feast of Unleavened Bread. There was a day of preparation where all of the leaven would be removed from the house. This was a pains-taking process that ensured that only unleavened bread would be used during the seven-day feast.

One other consideration was the way days were marked on the Jewish calendar. They considered the start of the day to be the evening. In Genesis you see this phrase repeated as the days of creation are described: “The evening and the morning was the [first] day.” It would be very easy to debate the day Jesus was crucified.

If you use the words of Jesus, the process becomes a little more obvious.

Matthew 12:40 (ESV) For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Using this as the measure, you can count backward from The First Day of the Week (Sunday). This introduces a new problem. Do you count the day of the crucifixion as well as the day of the resurrection? Or, do you insert a period of three days and nights between the two events?

For example, if Jesus rose on Sunday, do you count Sunday as one of the days? If so, then you would have to place the crucifixion on late Thursday. The three days and nights would then be Thursday night, Friday daytime, Friday night, Saturday daytime, Saturday night, and Sunday daytime. However, the women came to the tomb early and Jesus had already risen. Therefore Jesus would have only been in the grave three nights and two days.

If you consider the most popular time-line of the Friday crucifixion and Sunday resurrection, including both of these days in your count, you come up with three days and two nights.

If you include the day Jesus was crucified as one of the days, and exclude the day of resurrection, you would come out with the three days and nights: Thursday, Thursday night, Friday, Friday night, Saturday, and Saturday night. However, we know Jesus actually died late in the day because the Jewish leaders wanted Him off the cross before The Day of Preparation. Therefore, you’re still left with only two days and three nights.

You would actually have to back the date of the crucifixion to Wednesday in order for there to be enough days and nights to satisfy the “three days and three nights” model. In this case, Jesus would have died late Wednesday. Therefore, He was in the tomb Wednesday night, Thursday (The Day of Preparation), Thursday night, Friday (The Sabbath marking the beginning of The Feast of Unleavened Bread), Friday night, and Saturday. This time-lapse has Jesus being resurrected some time Saturday night in order for the tomb to be empty by Sunday (The First Day of the Week). This Wednesday-Saturday doctrine became popular in the 1700’s.

Here’s another thing to consider. Jesus said the resurrection would occur “on the third day.”

Matthew 20:18-19 (ESV) “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Using this to reduce the number of actual days in the tomb you are back to a late Thursday afternoon crucifixion. The count would then be Thursday night, Friday, Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night, with Sunday (the third day) being the resurrection.

I have one more curveball for you. If you consider the travail in the Garden of Gethsemane, the trials, and scourging, all which appears to have transpired the night and morning preceding the crucifixion, as part of the “nights in the heart of the earth you then have a Friday crucifixion with a Sunday resurrection.

Here’s the bottom line for me. If it mattered in terms of our eternal destiny it would have been more clearly stated in scripture. Not knowing exactly the day of the week Jesus died does not change the fact that He died, on a cross, to pay the debt of sin for mankind. He rose again on the third day, The First Day of the Week, Sunday. This is the reason the Christian church gathers on Sunday instead of Saturday, The Sabbath.

Acts 20:7 (ESV) On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

Just as Christmas is not the actual date of Jesus’ birth, we still celebrate the miraculous manner by which He was born. The actual date of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection are not the important thing, it is that we continually remember what was done for us. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

Hebrews 11:6 (ESV) And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

The element of faith actually assumes there are some things that we do not understand with our human mind. It is what makes salvation attainable by all. Let us lay aside the things that keep us apart (the day of events) and focus on the reality that we can pass from death into life through Jesus Christ, the Spotless Lamb of God, that was crucified, buried, resurrected, ascended, and seated at the right hand of God, sent us the Holy Spirit and lives to make intercession for us. That, my friend, is a fact!