Meditations

Question on moody radio on August 31, 2019 from openline:

In John 18:28, it says they took Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters and it was early in the morning, they did not enter the headquarters themselves, otherwise they would have been defiled and unable to eat the Passover. She asked: Hadn’t Jesus just eaten the Passover with his disciples? Did they celebrate the Passover at a different time? Please clarify.

Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik:

Jane, you are a good reader. You know how many people read that and never pick up that there seems to be some sort of confusion as to what was going on?

Eva Rydelnik:

Chronological or …

Dr Michael Rydelnik:

It’s one of the reasons why the synoptic all present the gospel as this is the last supper at the Passover slater, Passover meal where as some people say John doesn’t. Well I think John does too, I think they have all the elements of that dinner that they have, that seemed to indicate like in John 13, the special washing, all sort of things that goes with the slater. So, that’s projected the same. So, it’s pretty good observation, Jane. A lot of people miss that.

Here’s what I think the answer is. It’s an answer found in the book by Harold Hoehner. I mentioned this book probably more than any other book because I get a lot of chronological questions. This book is called “Chronological aspects of the life of Christ”. Dr Hoehner was a great chronologist and a great bible scholar. He was my mentor for my master thesis and he’s with the Lord now. I so value what I learn from particularly this little book he did. It’s a really tiny book, still available but through Zondervan. What he points out, the way he resolves this seeming contradiction is that the Judeans, people from that area and Sadducees priesthood, the priesthood were all Sadduceans, they counted the time when time Passover started differently than when people from Galilee and the Pharisee started. The Pharisees would have started Passover the evening before, the Galileans follow that. So that’s why the animals were sacrificed just before sunset and then you have dinner. Where as the Sadducees and the Judeans, they sacrificed the animals right around mid day the next day and then they would celebrate Passover and eat the Passover afterwards. And so even though that was when they thought it because there were so many people that were needed to offer sacrifice at Passover, every family were supposed to do it, they allow this to spread out the number. So, even though they ran the temple, they allow some sacrifices that they thought were too early because that’s when the Pharisee and the Galileans thought they would be. So, for that reason, though Jesus and his disciple were from Galilee, they had celebrated the evening before, the Sadducees and the priesthood would not have done it until after the trial of Jesus, which was on the next day, Good Friday. The Lord Jesus would have died when the Sadduceans sacrifices were being made. So, I hope that satisfies the apparent contradiction.

John 18

²⁸ Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. -nkjv