The Truth About Passion Week

by Russ Schmidt; 3/5/2025

Was the Triumphal Entry on a Sunday?

Jonah 1:17 – “Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”  

When the Bible is explicit in describing something, such as the “three days and three nights” as we read here, we must assume that it was a full three days and three nights that Jonah was in the belly of the fish. We can’t take it upon ourselves to disregard the explicitness of the written word and say it was just parts of three days.

In Matthew 12:40, Jesus uses the example of Jonah when He was describing His crucifixion and resurrection.  

Matthew 12:39-40 – “39But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For as Jonah was three days and three nightsin the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

The only other apostle that mentions this commentary by Jesus in their Gospel is Luke; however, Luke does not give the explicitness that Matthew does. Luke only mentions the example of Jonah, he didn’t quote Jesus’ entire comment because he stops at “...the sign of Jonah the prophet”. He does continue on to quote Jesus in reference to this event, but we must remember, Luke was not one of Jesus’ disciples, while Jesus was among men; he wasn’t there when Jesus said it, Matthew was.

We don’t know exactly who it was that Luke got this information from in order to write the account, but it was most likely the apostle Paul who mentored Luke. There is not much information on Luke other than what Paul writes about him. 

Paul mentions Luke in three of his epistles. In Colossians 4:14, Paul refers to Luke as the “beloved physician.” Luke, who wrote the Book of Luke, and most scholars believe also wrote the Book of Acts, never mentions himself in these writings because he wasn’t there firsthand.

Although the Gospel of Luke is a canonical book, and very descriptive, we still have to default back to Matthew’s version for explicitness with this prophecy from Jesus. Matthew was with Jesus from early on in his ministry and heard Jesus’ quote firsthand; like an investigative reporter, Luke is putting together his Gospel from those who were there with Jesus.  

With all that said, and with the explicitness of the quote from the Book of Jonah and Jesus’ quote in the Gospel of Matthew, we have to believe that it was a full three days and a full three nights that Jesus was in the grave.

So as far as the Triumphal Entry, where Jesus road into Jerusalem on a donkey, and what most of Christianity calls, Palm Sunday. We can get a clear understanding that it was not on a Sunday or the first day of the week when Jesus fulfilled this prophecy.

Because we know Jesus fulfilled the Passover as being the ultimate sacrificial Lamb, and three days later fulfilled the Feast of First Fruits with His resurrection, we also must assume His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on the Donkey had to occur on Abib 10, because it was the tenth day of the month where God instructed Moses to select the lamb that would be used for the Passover meal (Exodus 12:3).  

Of course this was the very first Passover that was all a type and shadow of what was to come. So, in order for the type and shadow to be confirmed, Jesus would have had to ride into Jerusalem on the tenth day of Abib, or the first month of the year.

The only two accounts where we can determine the four days from the Triumphal Entry to the Passover are Matthew and Mark. With these two accounts we can see that there were four days including the Triumphal Entry, with the Passover being the fifth day or the fourteen of Abib.  

Both Luke and John speak of the Triumphal Entry and events that occurred between that and the Passover, but they do not distinguish the different days as Matthew and Mark do in order to confirm the tenth of Abib to the fourteenth of Abib.  

So, as we will see going forward here, the Triumphal Entry could not have happened on the first day of the week or Sunday, which most of Christianity calls Palm Sunday. If Jesus’ own prophecy of three days and three nights were to be fulfilled, and His resurrection occurring on the first day of the week.   

What day was the Passover?

In order for Jesus to rise on the first day of the week, which we call Sunday, the Passover would have to have been on a Tuesday evening. This would have been the night Jesus was arrested after observing the Passover Seder with His disciples.  

Note: Prior to the tribe of Judah’s captivity in Babylon, days were only named by numbers; for example, “the first day of the week, the second day of the week, all the way to the seventh day, which was God’s Sabbath (Leviticus 23:3) and the only day the was given a name by God. After they came out of captivity is when they started using the names of the week and the names of the months, which are all names of pagan gods and deities).

The chart below describes how Passion Week would have unfolded considering the three days and three nights example from Jesus’ own prophecy. Also keep in mind that God’s day ends and begins at sundown, which for our example here we’ll say is 6 pm.

Because of the traditions of men, most Christians believe that Good Friday is the day Jesus was crucified, but because of Jesus’ own prophecy recorded in Matthew chapter 12, this is impossible because the only full day would be Friday night to Saturday night, which does not even come close to three days and three nights. It would not even constitute a full two days.

In trying to determine what year in the time frame most scholars believe Jesus was crucified (26 AD to 35 AD), the year that stands out to me the most is 32 AD. Most scholars also tend to focus in on that year as being the more likely year.

My reasoning for leaning toward 32 AD is because, according to my research, the only year in that time frame where the Passover would have fallen on a Tuesday evening was 32 AD. But this is a very unscientific guess because no one really knows for sure if dates are accurate because of calendar changes over the millennia.

So, with that said, I am not dogmatic about that year because using other calculations and trying to establish moon timetables, 31 AD comes up the winner in some calculations, and 33 AD in others. With all that said, we can be certain that somewhere in this time frame Jesus was crucified.

Even trying to calculate from Jesus’ birth year is difficult because even that year is up for grabs. But one thing that I am dogmatic about is that in whatever year Jesus was crucified, the Passover had to be on a Tuesday evening based on Jesus’ own descriptive prophecy.

I do believe that the sign of Jonah being in the grave three days and three nights was a type and shadow of the Son of Man being in the grave the same.

Then we also have, what I believe, is another sign that points to three days and three nights. In Luke 2:41-50, we read of the event that occurred when Jesus was twelves years old. And this event just so happens to have occurred during the Passover.

Mary and Joseph took Jesus to Jerusalem in observance of the Passover. When they left the Passover to go back home, Mary and Joseph realized along the way that Jesus was not with them. Now, this sounds like they were bad parents, but families traveled together, and Mary and Joseph just assumed Jesus was with other family members.

But the point of the story is that it wasn’t until “after three days” when they found Him in the temple. When it says “after three days,” we must assume that three full days had passed. Either at the end of the third day, on on the fourth day they found Him.

I believe this also is a type and shadow of Jesus being in the grave for three days and three nights because Jesus was no where to be found by His family for those three days. This would be more evidence that it was a full three days and nights and not just parts of three days and nights.

So, if the Passover did fall on a Tuesday evening, that means the Triumphal Entry was not on a Sunday, what Christians today call Palm Sunday. It would have ocurred on either a Friday or Saturday. Saturday would be unlikely because that is the Sabbath and there would not have been money-changers doing business in the Temple area on that day.  

I say that because one of Jesus’ first acts after His Triumphal Entry was to turn over the tables of the money-changers. So, the more likely day He would have road into Jerusalem was Friday, also called the Preparation Day, because it was the day before the Sabbath.

That would be symbolic as well. Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the Preparation Day, as He was being prepared for His sacrifice, and also him cleansing the Temple of the money-changers could be symbolic of the people cleansing their homes from leaven products that was their custom before the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

So, in conclusion, although we cannot accurately pinpoint the year of Jesus’ crucifixion, we certainly can be accurate with laying out Passion Week and what day the Passover would have had to fall on for Jesus to be in the grave three days and three nights, and then resurrect on Sunday morning, the first day of the week.