"so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt. 12:40).

The women, Mary Magdalene,et.al., who bought and prepared the spices, bought the spices after the Sabbath (Mk.16:1), yet had them prepared before the Sabbath (Lk.23:56). This was impossible, unless there were two Sabbaths that week, with a day in between to buy and prepare the necessary spices for burial.

The first Sabbath (Mk.16:1) is the annual Pesach "high day" John refers to (Jn.19:31); the second Sabbath (Lk.23:56) is the weekly Sat. Sabbath the women rested on "according to the commandment".

Nisan 14-Jesus died (late Wed. afternoon)
Nisan 15-Pesach "high day" Sabbath
Nisan 16-Women buy and prepare burial spices
Nisan 17-Women rest on weekly Sat. Sabbath (resurrection late afternoon - 3days & 3nights later)
Nisan 18-Women go to the Tomb (while it was yet dark / at sunrise) and find it empty.

Yes, I've seen this schema before and it does have merit, I believe. The only problem is that it's pretty clear that the resurrection happened on Sunday, as the early Christians celebrated their sabbath on that day in remembrance of the day Christ rose. Perhaps backing up from there can work.

Much of the "ado" about this seems to stem from how literally one ought to take the references to the "third day"

it's pretty clear that the resurrection happened on Sunday, as the early Christians celebrated their sabbath on that day in remembrance of the day Christ rose.

it's pretty clear that the birth of Jesus happened on Dec. 25, as the early Christians celebrated that day in remembrance of the day Christ was born.

I'm not usually sarcastic - it's slightly rude; but I needed to be, here, to make a point.

I don't think celebrating it on a certain day necessarily makes it true. The powers that be can make it happen, whether it's right or not.

wopik, the December 25 day wasn't decided for many years after the birth of Jesus. The celebration of the Christian sabbath on Sunday began shortly after the resurrection. There's no logical equivocation between these two dates. Anyone schema for re-calculating the timing of events for Jesus' final days must contend with the early Christians' decision to celebrate the sabbath on Sunday in remembrance of the day the Lord rose. From there, one can work backwards.

Sunday was the first day of the week according to the Jewish method of reckoning, but for Christians it began to take the place of the Jewish Sabbath in Apostolic times as the day set apart for the public and solemn worship of God. The practice of meeting together on the first day of the week for the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice is indicated in Acts, xx 7; I Cor., xvi, 2; in Apoc., i, 10, it is called the Lord's day. In the Didache (xiv) the injunction is given: "On the Lord's Day come together and break bread. And give thanks (offer the Eucharist), after confessing your sins that your sacrifice may be pure". St. Ignatius (Ep. ad Magnes. ix) speaks of Christians as "no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also Our Life rose again". In the Epistle of Barnabas (xv) we read: "Wherefore, also, we keep the eight day (i. e. the first of the week) with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead".
The Catholic Encyclopedia

Have you ever read Samuele Bacchiocchi's book: From Sabbath to Sunday. It's quite informative. He did a lot of this research at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He received a gold medal from Pope Paul VI for earing the academic distinction of summa cum laude.

He shows the change from Saturday to Sunday did not occur in the primitive Church of Jerusalem by virture of apostolic authority, but approximately a century later in the Church of Rome. An interplay of Jewish, pagan and Christian factors contributed to the abandonment of the Sabbath and adoption of Sunday observance.

It does seem illogical that God would find any reason for us to abandon the seventh day, one of the Ten Commandments, especially the seventh day -- which He made holy, for His holy people.

Just to be sure we're on the same page, here, about the day of the week in which the resurrection took place: "Having risen in the morning on the first day of the week . . ." (Mk. 16: 9). "On the first day of the week, at the first sign of dawn . . ." (Lk. 24: 1). "After the sabbath, and towards dawn on the first day of the week . . ." (Mt. 28: 1). "It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark . . ." (Jn. 20: 1).

It's very clear that the Gospels have Jesus rising on the first day of the week: Sunday, the day after the Sabbath. It's also clear from the writings of the early Fathers that the communities adopted Sunday as their "sabbath," although it was not kept as the Jews do.

Now what I'm really wondering is why it should matter to anyone that the Christians keep sabbath on Sunday instead of Saturday? It's been this way for at least 1900 years, so we might as well say that that's the way it is. Proposing now that the Church has got that all wrong because we're not keeping sabbath on the same day that the Jews did . . . well, what's the point of this anyway? Just a discussion topic, I know, but I'm not grasping the relevance.

Phil -- those references you gave are only a timeline as to when the women visited the tomb of Jesus, and found it empty.

Even Mark 16:9 could just as correctly be read: "Now when Jesus was risen, early the first day of the week he apppeared first to Mary Magdalene....."
The comma was added by English translators. The comma is subjective.

There were no eye-witnesses to His resurrection.

If Jesus did stay in the Tomb as long as He said He would (Matt. 12:40), the resurrection would have occurred late afternoon on Saturday. Therefore, Saturday would be the day of the Christian Sabbath and holy convocation.

the relevance --
God used His holy Sabbath for two momentous events, in order to bring all His people together on the same day.

God found a way to bridge the OT Sabbath and NT Sabbath together, in celebrating two glorious events -- the first creation(Genesis) and the 'second creation' (His resurrection), both on the same day - Saturday.

No need to create a new weekly sabbath. God bridged the Old and New together through His Son's resurrection. The Sabbath has a trandscendent meaning to God's people, through all ages.

The people of God share this common, continuous thread, the holy Sabbath, whether they are OT Saints or NT Saints.

wopik, I'm not convinced. The essence of your argument seems to be that only the Sabbath would have been the proper day for the resurrection because it was already a sacred day to the Jews. But the Jewish sabbath was a day of *rest* and the resurrection is a first day of the new creation, which makes sense for Sunday.

Whatever the case, lucky for you that the Catholic Church allows for the celebration of the weekly "sabbath" Eucharist on Saturday evening as well as on Sundays. . . assuming you're Catholic, that is.