Letters - 10 April 2015

From Good Friday to membership

Good Friday

The observance of ‘Good Friday’ is almost universal in Christendom, yet the Bible nowhere states that Jesus was crucified on a Friday. This is mere conjecture due to the understanding of the Gospel text that states that Jesus had to come down from the cross before the Sabbath, which is Saturday. A closer look at the Biblical calendar shows that the Jews kept annual Sabbaths as well as the weekly Sabbath. In this case Passover was such a Sabbath, falling annually on 15 Nisan – but, on any day of the week. There were two ‘Sabbaths’ in the Gospel narratives in the same week, one being a ‘High Sabbath’ or ‘High Holy Day’. It is this Sabbath that preceded the crucifixion, not the weekly Sabbath on Saturday.

The crucifixion could have happened on any day of the week, but counting ‘three days and three nights’ as the exact time that Jesus gave that He would be in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40) – seventy-two hours – we see that trying ‘to fit Friday’ does not add up mathematically.

From late afternoon on Friday to just before dawn on Sunday (the traditional times given for the crucifixion and the resurrection) is only thirty-six hours – so Good Friday-Easter Sunday is not three days and three nights.

The problem is: Do we listen to the words of Jesus? The day Yeshua was crucified was at Passover, which this year began on 3 April at sunset. Good Friday may sound ‘good’ to many but cannot be substantiated by scripture.

Colin Nevin

Q-CAT report

The account of the Quaker Concern for the Abolition of Torture report to Meeting for Sufferings (3 April) mentions a Friend speaking about domestic abuse as a form of torture. To victims of domestic abuse it must seem indistinguishable from torture, but there is a difference in those who cause the suffering.

The United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment [1984] Article 1 includes: ‘when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity’. That difference is significant when working for the reduction of both evils.

Michael Still

You need to login to read subscriber-only content and/or comment on articles.