Easter Sunday
By Victor Feltes
The day we celebrate Easter Sunday can fall anywhere between March 22nd and April 25th on the calendar. It floats around year-to-year based on calculations about the first full moon of spring. Easter Sunday lands on April 5ththis year, as it did 11 years ago and will twice again this century, 11 and 22 years from now. But do we know the actual historical month, day, and year of Jesus’ Resurrection? Yes — by combining details we find in the Gospels with other known historical facts, we can find this date exactly.
For starters, St. Luke’s Gospel tells us the public ministry of St. John the Baptist began “in the 15th year of the reign of [the Emperor] TiberiusCaesar,” which was 29 AD. And the Gospels indicate Jesus’ public ministry began sometime after that point. We also know that Pontius Pilate, who condemned Jesus to death, ruled as governor of Judea from 26 to 36 AD. So Jesus’ public ministry must have begun after 29 AD at the earliest and ended by 36 AD at the latest, giving us a range of seven years.
The Gospels also record that Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried on a Friday, specifically, a Friday immediately preceding that year’s Jewish feast of Passover. That particular Passover was “a solemn one” for the Jews since it landed on a Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath day, a circumstance which only happens occasionally—like how Christmas Day only sometimes lands on a Sunday. And we know all of the dates and corresponding days of the week when Jews celebrated Passovers in the 1st century. During that seven-year timespan between 29 AD and 36 AD, the Jewish Passover landed on Saturdays only twice: in 30 AD and 33 AD. So which of these two was the year of Christ’s Passion, death, and Resurrection? We can know which through a final Gospel clue.
Within St. John’s Gospel narrative he makes note of three distinct Passovers, which indicates that Jesus’ public ministry lasted at least two years. Since we have already established that Jesus’ multi-year ministry began after St. John the Baptist’s did in 29 AD, 30 AD is ruled out as coming too early to be the first Easter. Therefore, the actual historical date of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection was Sunday, April 5th, 33 AD; the 5th day of April, just like our Easter this year. Indeed, “This is the day the Lord has made!”
From knowing the April 5th, 33 AD date of Easter Sunday, we can know that Jesus’ Holy Thursday Last Supper was on April 2nd and that Jesus’ Good Friday crucifixion, death, and burial was on April 3rd. We can also deduce from the date of the first Easter that Jesus’ bodily Ascension into heaven was on May 14th and that the Holy Spirit’s Pentecost Sunday descent from heaven was on May 24th. These are interesting bits of knowledge, but please remember this more important lesson from them: Our Faith is not a fairy tale from “once upon a time.” The events of Christianity actually occurred at real times and real places.
So stop only half-believing the Gospel. Stop only half-hoping in the great promises of Christ. Stop holding off God’s incredible love for you at arm’s length. Fully embrace the Good News. Peacefully rest in Christ’s goodwill toward you. And fully rejoice in our loving God, loving him back with your full obedience and devotion. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad!”
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