The timing of the Last Supper in relation to Jesus’ crucifixion has puzzled Bible readers for centuries. Jesus and his disciples shared a meal together on the night before his crucifixion, which the Gospels refer to as the Last Supper. However, the Gospels also state that Jesus was crucified on the Day of Preparation, when the Passover lambs were slaughtered in preparation for the upcoming Passover festival. This has led to an apparent contradiction, since the Passover meal was eaten after the lambs were slaughtered. So how could Jesus eat the Last Supper Passover meal before he was crucified on the Day of Preparation? Let’s take a detailed look at what the Gospel accounts and Old Testament law have to say about this topic.
The Last Supper as a Passover Meal
The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) portray the Last Supper as a Passover meal that Jesus ate with his disciples (Matthew 26:17-19, Mark 14:12-16, Luke 22:7-13). For example, Mark 14:12 states, “On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” This clearly frames the Last Supper as an observance of the Passover.
In the Gospel of John, however, the Last Supper is depicted not as a Passover feast but rather as taking place before the upcoming Passover festival (John 13:1). John 18:28 also indicates that the Jewish authorities had not yet eaten the Passover when they brought Jesus before Pilate the next morning.
So why do the Synoptics portray the Last Supper as a Passover meal while John’s Gospel seems to time it before Passover? Scholars have proposed various solutions, but one possibility is that Jesus was following a different Passover calendar than the official Jewish one. The Synoptics may be using Jesus’ calendar, in which Passover fell one day earlier, while John uses the official temple calendar.
The Day of Preparation
The Gospels agree that Jesus was crucified on the “Day of Preparation” (Matthew 27:62, Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, John 19:14, 19:31). This was the day before the Sabbath, when preparations were made for the Sabbath observance.
Mark 15:42 identifies this day of preparation as the day before the Sabbath, but John 19:14 clarifies that it was specifically the preparation day for the Passover. The Day of Preparation was thus the 14th day of the Jewish month Nisan, when the Passover lambs were slaughtered in preparation for the upcoming Passover festival (Exodus 12:6).
Putting the Pieces Together
So how do we reconcile these details? Jesus ate a Passover meal with his disciples but was crucified on the Day of Preparation when the lambs were slaughtered. Here are some key points to make sense of it all:
- Jesus was following a different Passover calendar than the official temple one. In his calendar, the Passover meal was eaten a day earlier.
- The Synoptic Gospels use Jesus’ calendar, while John uses the official temple calendar.
- In both calendars, Jesus ate a meal with Passover themes and meaning.
- The Last Supper may have been an anticipated Passover meal held a day before the actual festival.
- This would allow Jesus to share the meal with his disciples before his death, linking it symbolically to his sacrificial crucifixion.
Scholars have offered detailed historical and calendrical explanations for the two Passover dates, but the key is that both the Last Supper and the Crucifixion took place in direct relation to the Passover festival – Jesus just observed it on a different day.
Evidence for Two Passover Calendars
There is good evidence that multiple Passover calendars were in use during Jesus’ day. The official temple calendar was based on an observational method starting from the sighting of the new moon. But a calendar based on astronomical calculations, rather than physical observations, was also in use.
The community of Jews at Qumran, who preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls, appears to have followed a solar calendar fixed to the seasons rather than the observational lunar calendar. Their practice was based on a solar year of 364 days. This would result in Passover landing about a day earlier than the official temple calendar in some years.
Therefore, Jesus likely followed a Passover observance fixed to the solar calendar, perhaps the one used at Qumran. This would explain why he ate the Last Supper meal a day before the temple’s sacrificing of the Passover lambs.
Cleansing the Temple
John’s Gospel places the cleansing of the temple at the start of Jesus’ ministry (John 2:13-25), while the Synoptics place it during Passion Week shortly before Jesus’ crucifixion (Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-19, Luke 19:45-48). However, both versions convey Jesus’ zeal for God’s house.
The Synoptics tie the temple cleansing directly to the crucifixion – it helps trigger the opposition of the Jewish leaders. John’s temple cleansing foreshadows Jesus’ death and resurrection symbolically with the mention of the destroyed temple being raised again in three days (John 2:19-21). So again, the main point is the theological connection to Jesus’ sacrificial death, not precise chronology.
Jesus as the Passover Lamb
Though debated, a widespread Christian view is that Jesus gave new meaning to the Passover meal by linking it to his death and resurrection. Just as sacrificial lambs were slaughtered to deliver Israel from slavery in Egypt, Jesus saw himself as the ultimate sacrificial lamb to deliver humanity from slavery to sin (1 Corinthians 5:7, John 1:29, 1 Peter 1:19).
By sharing such a thematically layered meal with his disciples on the night before his crucifixion, Jesus transformed the meaning of the Passover into a beautiful foreshadowing of redemption through his sacrificial death and resurrection.
Conclusion
In the end, the precise chronology matters less than the theological meaning that the Gospels convey. Both the Last Supper and the crucifixion took place in intimate connection with Passover and with each other. Jesus prepared his disciples for his death and identified himself as the ultimate sacrifice. Whether the Last Supper was held a day before or the day of the actual Passover feast, it remains a profound symbol of Jesus’ sacrificial death on our behalf – the fulfillment of what Passover pointed toward.