The True Story of Jesus — Page 70
as 70 was crucified, the Passover was also being celebrated, and this in itself was a special holy day. Putting together this information with what we learn from the Gospels, it seems that the synoptic writers thought that the Friday was the Passover Festival, whereas John believed that the Passover fell on the Sabbath in that particu- lar year. ’1 Now if we accept that Friday was the Passover as was told by Mark, Matthew, and Luke, then we cannot envisage the trial, by the Jews or by Pilate, to have happened on a festival day. ‘It is most unlikely that Jesus would have been judged, con- demned and crucified in the middle of such an important feast as the Passover. In particular, it is unlikely that a Roman governor would have been so foolish as to take the great risk involved in the public execution of a popular figure at a time when Jerusalem was crowded with pilgrims. To have done so would have defiled the day of the great festival, and could easily have sparked off a riot among the Jews. It would have been against Jewish Passover laws for Jesus to be tried in the middle of a festival. All forms of work were prohibited on the Passover, and this includes the work of the Sanhedrin. ’2 Taking the view of the fourth Gospel into account, which said that Passover was on Saturday, the above objections hold good as all those activities could not have happened in so short a time. It seems that St. John was aware of this problem that no trial could have happened on a festival day, so he tried to resolve it by suggest- ing that the Passover festival fell on Saturday and not on Friday. It can be suggested, however, that in order to put Jesus as to 1. An Introduction to the Bible, by John Drane, p. 428 2. An Introduction to the Bible, by John Drane, p. 426