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Author: Stephen Weller
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After Two Days

Scripture: Matthew 26:1-2

With the previous lesson we finished the section about the final judgment. With this lesson we will cover the last section of this major section devoted to the last Tuesday in the life of Jesus.

Mt 26:1 When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, 2 “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”

This comment from Mathew about Jesus finishing all these sayings, which were known as the Olivet Discourse, indicates a change of focus in what Jesus is going to say next to his disciples. What he said is contained in just one verse and contains three points of important information. First, is a length of time of two days, second, is the event of Passover, and third, is the delivery of Jesus, the Son of Man, to be crucified.

The second point has to do with the event the two days points to. In Mark 14:1, it is also reported that “it was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.” This piece of information about two days being recorded in both Matthew and Mark is probably pointing to Thursday because our Thursday evening would be the start of Passover.

 The third point is about the Son of Man being delivered up to be crucified. Does being delivered up refer to the time of the arrest or the time after the trial? This being delivered up and its timing will be considered in another lesson.

Before going any further in this section, I would like to look back to an earlier lesson, lesson H552, in which we covered John 12:1 ESV: “Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.” We think of Passover starting on Thursday evening and going through to Friday evening. If we start with Friday and count back six days, we get Saturday as the day Jesus came to Bethany. The first event recorded on Sunday was covered in lesson H556 and was the assignment given to the disciples to secure a colt for Jesus to ride on into Jerusalem.

A colt is secured, and Jesus begins his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. As he draws closer he is seen as a King riding in and a time of celebration breaks out along the way. The Jews attempt to silence the crowds and Jesus begins to weep over Jerusalem concerning its unbelief and coming destruction. Jesus continues his ride into Jerusalem, goes into the temple to look around and then returns to Bethany to spend the night.

The next day, which would be Monday, Jesus returns to Jerusalem, and on the way curses a fig tree and when he arrives in Jerusalem, he again goes to the temple and creates tension with the Jews by driving out the commercialism that was taking place there. He returns to Bethany to spend Monday night and then returns to Jerusalem on Tuesday morning. Tuesday was a long day and was covered by lessons H568 through H633.

In lesson H599 it was mentioned that Jesus had said some things that angered the Jews and so “he departed and hid himself from them” (John 12:36b). This is then picked up in Matthew 24:1 with the comment “Jesus left the temple and was going away” to the Mount of Olives. The idea was expressed in that lesson that the temple event occurred Tuesday morning and that it may have been early Tuesday afternoon when Jesus and the disciples arrived at the Mount of Olives. Tuesday afternoon would have been the time the Olivet Discourse was delivered, bringing us to our opening comment of this lesson, “You know that after two days.” Two days from that point would be Thursday with Passover beginning that evening.

Passover points back to the time when God told the Israelites to slaughter a lamb and place some of its blood on their doorways. This blood was to be a sign for the death angel to pass over these homes and spare the death of their first born. The lamb was then roasted whole and eaten that evening, which was the 14th day of Nisan (Exodus 12:3 – 9). This meal was to be eaten Thursday evening, the start of the 15th day of Nisan. Everything appears ok at this point, but the verse continues.

Jesus adds, “and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” Does that follow the two days, or could it occur earlier? Did Jesus die on Wednesday, Thursday or on Friday? This is an interesting question and is one we will begin to look at in lesson H635.

Conclusion

An important length of time was looked at which seems to point to Thursday and the start of Passover event, but we were not sure of the timing of the death of Jesus. There is actually a lot of discussion and disagreement on the actual day. Was it a day other than Friday? We will need to consider that question, but first we need a lesson to finish this major section.