Day of Preparation

What the Day of Preparation Was

Because Jewish law forbade nearly all work once the Sabbath began at sundown Friday, every household needed a day to finish cooking, draw water, and settle whatever chores the coming rest day would make impossible — Friday itself, known simply as 'the Preparation' or 'the Preparation Day.' Mark defines the term directly for his non-Jewish readers: 'it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath' (Mark 15:42). Luke uses the same term just as plainly: 'It was the day of the Preparation, and the Sabbath was drawing near' (Luke 23:54).

The Day of Preparation and Jesus's Crucifixion

All four Gospels place Jesus's crucifixion and burial on this day, which is precisely why his body had to be taken down and buried in haste before sundown — Joseph of Arimathea's rock-cut tomb was chosen largely 'because of the Jews' Preparation Day (for the tomb was near at hand)' (John 19:42), not because it was necessarily his intended resting place. John notes the urgency drove the request to break the crucified men's legs (hastening death) so the bodies wouldn't remain exposed 'on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one)' — a double solemnity, since that particular Sabbath coincided with a Passover-related festival day (John 19:31). By the time the soldiers reached Jesus he was already dead, so his legs were left unbroken, which John connects to the Passover lamb's own unbroken bones (John 19:33-36; compare Exodus 12:46).

John's Gospel adds one further wrinkle worth noting carefully: he calls the day of the trial itself 'the Preparation Day of the Passover' (John 19:14), which some readers take as evidence John dates the crucifixion to the day before Passover began (differing from the Synoptic Gospels' apparent placement of the Last Supper as the Passover meal itself). Various harmonizations have been proposed — differing calendars in use among different Jewish groups at the time, or 'Preparation Day of the Passover' meaning simply 'the Friday during Passover week' rather than 'the day before Passover starts' — and the question remains genuinely debated among careful readers rather than a settled contradiction.

Scripture references

• Mark 15:42 — Defines the term: 'the day before the Sabbath'
• Luke 23:54 — The Sabbath drawing near as Jesus is buried
• John 19:14 — 'The Preparation Day of the Passover' — the trial before Pilate
• John 19:31-37 — Urgency to remove the bodies before the Sabbath; Jesus's legs left unbroken
• John 19:42 — Jesus laid in a nearby tomb because of the Preparation Day

Further reading

• Bible Odyssey: Passover and the Date of Jesus's Death