When we try to determine the exact day that Jesus was crucified, either Friday or Wednesday, we come face to face with an ugly fact about the history of the church. That ugly history shows the depth of the church’s hatred for the Jews during the first and second century, much like the church’s hatred of the Jews today. Church councils were called to try to determine a uniform date for Easter in order for it to not correspond with the Jewish Passover (the 14th of Nisan), even if they are, in reality, intrinsically tied together.
For example, the Council of Nicea (325 BC) unanimously ruled that the Easter festival should be celebrated throughout the Christian world on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox (March and September); and if the full moon should occur on a Sunday, and thereby coincide with the Passover festival, Easter should be commemorated on the following Sunday.
Why try so hard to make sure no Christian festival corresponds to its Jewish counterpart, even if by accident? Antisemitism. But there’s so much more to this debate. You have the two sabbaths during the passion week, the rantings of Emperor Constantine, and the excommunication of the Quartodecimans. Sound intriguing? Do you want to know more? Then keep listening.
The following is a study on John 19:31-37.
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