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Author: Stephen Weller
552 words, 3 minutes read time

Passover Was At Hand

Scripture: John 11:55

With this lesson we come to a milestone in our journey with Jesus which we began on Wednesday, March 22, 2017. With this major section, we begin our study of the last days of Jesus on earth.

The narrative for the entire journey, that we are working from, is 114 pages in length. 550 Bible studies have been written over the 75 pages of narrative that we have covered so far. Today being Thursday, June 27, 2019 means we have been traveling for 27 months with Jesus. At this rate of travel, it will take us another 14 months to finish our journey of the remaining 39 pages of narrative. With this lesson we press on towards the end of August in the year 2020.

^{Jn 11:55} “Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.”

The Passover is an event that begins on the 10th day of the month of Nisan, which typically falls in March or April of the Gregorian calendar, when a lamb per household, or several smaller combined households, is selected and kept until the fourteenth day of the month to ensure that it is without blemish. At twilight, on the fourteenth day, the lamb is to be killed, prepared and eaten that evening, which would then be the 15th day of Nisan, the start of Passover. The 15th day of Nisan typically begins on the night of a full moon after the northern vernal equinox.

The Passover is first mentioned in the Gospel of John at John 2:13, 23 ESV: 13 “The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.” This would be at the beginning of the first year of his ministry.

The second mention is found at John 6:4 ESV: “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.” The harmonization timeline indicates that Jesus was in Galilee at this time and did not go to Jerusalem to the celebration. This would be at the very end of his second year of ministry.

The third, and final mention of Passover occurs at John 11:55, listed above. The harmonization timeline indicates this to be the beginning of the fourth year of ministry. It appears that year three began just after the second Passover mention and ended just before the third Passover mention.

People went up to Jerusalem because it was located at a higher elevation than Galilee and because it was the capital. People from the country went up before the Passover to purify themselves from any ceremonial uncleanness that would have prevented them from celebrating the Passover.

Conclusion

We have seen and learned much as we traveled with Jesus along the gospel pathway. There are only a few days left in the actual journey, but to write Bible lessons to cover all that is yet to be experienced will take more than a year. It is amazing how much has been recorded concerning the last days of Jesus on earth.