The Three Day Thing

CoVID-19 Day 21

For some, Easter has passed them by (it would have been even wierder if this had happened over Christmas) but there is something that fits seamlessly into the CoVID narrative. What’s particularly striking is the manner in which 3 aspects of the crisis impact us as a society and how those themes are echoed in the Easter story.

I need to begin with the 2nd theme. There has been much observation of cleaner air, birdsong in cities, dolphins in Venice and many other examples of the environment being given a season off and basking in the forced environmental controls that have simply been a consequence of less air travel and industrial activity — its own sabbath or jubilee.

The 1st is how our environment and our societies have been exploited in order to accumulate wealth and power into a few hands, submitting our planet to torture and ruinous abuse. It has been achieved through theft, injustice and avarice; it rewards the guilty and punishes the innocent. CoVID-19 has supplied the nails; men supplied the cross.

The 3rd theme is: what of the future? Will this all be for nothing and will it simply get worse? Can we be pursuaded to return to something considered as normal or will we grasp the opportunity and refuse to push the tooth paste back into the tube. Will we rise like a phoenix or make do with the ashes.

Here are some things you might not know or have considered regarding the Christian Easter which is an extension of the Jewish Passover (though some Jews might take exception to that claim).

It all revolves around the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest. The Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday. Jesus was crucified on the Friday. In order to complete the crucifixion before the Sabbath the two men either side of him had their legs broken which meant they would have been asphyxiated because they could no longer support breathing. Jesus, on the other hand, is said to have died and was pierced with a spear to confirm his death. He was then unceremonially placed in a tomb before sunset. His empty tomb was discovered on the Sunday which is the first day of the Jewish week.

According to the Hebrew scriptures (the Christian Old Testament) God completed the creation and rested on the seventh day, the Sabbath. If you’ve travelled or lived in Israel you will know that a Saturday is dead but comes alive at sunset. The shops and restaurants open and people fill the streets. Sunday is a work day just like any other. So its logical to imagine that the stone closing Jesus’ tomb was removed on the Saturday evening and Jesus spent the night praying as was his habit.

The scriptures overwhelmingly talk of Jesus dying and then, on the third day, being resurrected. Some scriptures talk of him being dead for 3 days and 3 nights in order to fulfill the sign of Jonah (he was in the belly of a fish for that long) while Jesus himself says “so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” but no contempoary of Jesus would have a problem with that discrepancy as it wouldn’t be considered a coincidence in the way we understand it. There has been speculation that the accepted chronology in the Easter story is not strictly correct (which would allow the prophecy to be fulifilled more accurately) but that’s entirely unnecessary and far too clinical.

The 3 day separation between Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection is meaningless and only comes up in reference to Jonah. What is significant is the 3 scenarios: the scene of his crucifixion; that of his death and that of his resurrection.

Thursday evening & Friday morning

The first day begins with a meal where Jesus lays out what will happen, who will do what and what it all means — this is the Last Supper. Jesus then goes to pray — taking some disciples with him — and where Judas betrays him. Then comes Jesus’ mock trial, sentence, punishment, death and burial.

Friday Evening and Saturday morning

Apart from some oblique references virtually nothing is said in the scriptures of this time period.

Saturday Evening and Sunday morning

At daybreak on the Sunday a few women went to the tomb, including Mary Magdelene, and saw Jesus. Some time after this, two of the disciples, walking towards Emmaus, also saw him but didn’t recognise him. Its wasn’t until that evening that Jesus showed himself to all the disciples and all were convinced.

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There is some beautiful mirroring going on here. In the story of creation in Genesis we are told there was evening and morning — the first to sixth day. On the sixth day “the heavens and earth were completed” and on the seventh day God rested. Just before Jesus gave up his spirit (gave up the ghost as we say) he declared “It is finished” and died. It would make sense then that God rested on that Sabbath day now that Jesus’ mission had been completed. Throughout the ages the church has taught that Jesus went to hell (Tartarus) between his death and resurrection and considering the church’s obsession with hell that’s hardly surprising.

But Jesus said he was going to paradise: ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise’, he said to the fellow being crucified beside him. The word ‘paradise’ is Aramaic for garden so in a mirror of the Genesis story Jesus ends his suffering outside of the garden and re-enters with a son of Adam. The person he next speaks to is a daughter of Eve (Mary Magdelene). He doesn’t then fully engage with anyone until the 4th day.

As well as Jesus’ death and resurrection being linked with Jonah, Jesus is also linked with Moses (who said a prophet like him would come) and Joshua (his namesake). Paul talks about baptism which signifies death and resurrection, being likened to the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and the river Jordan. But whereas Moses led them into the desert (an experience Jesus had encountered for 40 days at the start of his ministry), Joshua led them into the promised land and their Sabbath rest, as the writer of Hebrews tells us. All of Jesus ministry to this point had been conducted within the old covenant of Moses and it was not until the crucifixion that his Jesus ministry was completed (or finished) and he ushered in the new covenenant.

In a perfect mirror of Genesis, Jesus first toils the hard soil of humanity with its thorns and thistles through blood sweat and tears. He then re-enters Eden together with a broken Adam and maligned Eve. Finally he commissions his disciples to harvest Eden’s fruit (in Genesis, Adam first tended the garden, was then exiled and condemned to a life of toil) which would mean Easter Sunday is not a day of rest* for the Christian but a day where we take up our commission.

The old Mars advert told us it would help us work, rest and play. The message of Easter is that as a community we can transition through toil, rest and finally commission. There is a stark parallel between this story and that of the CoVID-19 pandemic we are now dealing with.

* Christians are not specifically instructed to uphold a Sabbath day though the practice certainly has benefits.

References:

Hosea 6:2
After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us,that we may live in his presence.

Matthew 12:38
Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.’

Matthew 12:40
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Jonah 1:17
Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Matthew 16:21
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Matthew 28:1
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

Luke 24:46
He told them, ‘This is what is written: the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day

John 2:19
Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’

Luke 9:22
And he said, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.’

1 Corinthians 15:3–4
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures

John 19:30
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Luke 23:43
Jesus answered him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.’

Apostle’s Creed
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again.

Nicene Creed
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures

Did Jesus go to hell