Have you ever heard of "
quatrodecimanism"?
The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar. Passover begins on Nisan 14 and Nisan 14 does not always fall on a Friday. In fact, this year Passover fell on a Thursday, or to be more exact, it began at 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 5th and concluded at nightfall Thursday, April 13th. This is quite common.
One of the things this makes necessary when reading the Bible is the recognition not all of the Sabbaths fell on a sabbath day. Or, not all of the calendar holy days fell on the seventh day of the week. For the purposes of this discussion I will reserve the capital "S" Sabbath specifically for the lunar holy days that could occur on any day of the week and the small "s" sabbath specifically for the seventh day of the week.
Not all Sabbaths fell on the sabbath.
There were two sabbaths the week Jesus died. There was the Passover Sabbath, and the seventh day sabbath. As the early post New Testament era Church began to establish a liturgical calendar it established "Good Friday" as the day to celebrate Jesus' death, even though everyone knew that was not the specific day he died. A significant debate about this arose because many Christians wished to continue tying the celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection to the Jewish Passover. One of the problems with that was that holy day changed every year, so it was easier to pin it to a specific day of the week.
Note also there is some discrepancy in the gospels pertaining to the events of that week. In John's gospel Jesus is arrested before the Passover meal is begun.
John 18:28
Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.
John 19:13-15
Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, "Behold, your King!" So they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!" Pilate *said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."
In the other gospels he has already eaten his Passover meal before leaving to pray in Gethsemane where he was subsequently arrested (see Mt. 26; Mk. 14; Lk. 22). Those gospels have his body being removed from the cross before the evening of the Passover begins so as not to defile the Sabbath with corpses hanging in the open.
Mark 15:42-43
When evening had already come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.
Here in Mark, it is the day of preparation for the Sabbath. The NAS capitalizes this, but the KJV does not, and the Greek manuscripts are written in ALL-CAPS so no one knows for sure whether the sabbath being referenced is the onset of the Passover or the onset of the seventh day, BUT if that Sabbath was the Passover Sabbath, then Mark confirms John's account: Jesus ate his last meal in celebration of Passover one day before everyone else did. Keep in mind also Pilate's forgiving the arrest of one criminal before the Passover holy days began also marks the timing of Jesus' eating the Passover meal and the taking down of his body prior to the Passover meal. If he ate the Passover meal on the same day as everyone else then He could not have been hanging on or removed from the cross.
The dating of the crucifixion remains a matter of debate, but no one disputes the Christian Good Friday is a liturgical day, not specifically the day Jesus died. It's like Christmas (aside from their pagan origins). Jesus wasn't actually born on what we now call December 25th. No one believes that day is the actual day of his birth; it's just the day we celebrated his birth (and subjugate the pagan day to the gospel). If you try to track down ancient dating via Google or Bing you'll find a host of cites arguing their own respective positions. I've found websites that placed Nisan 14 of 30 AD on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday! Similar results occur with 31, 32, and 33 AD. The National Naval Observatory used to have a feature whereby anyone could find out what day any date of the past or future would fall on, but, sadly, they've discontinued that service.
If Jesus ate the Passover meal a day early and died Thursday before sundown then he was dead Thursday (at least a portion of that day), all day Friday and all day Sunday. Some books and websites place Nisan 14 on Wednesday of 30 AD. That would place Jesus in the grave all day Thursday, all day Friday, and all day Saturday. Three full days. He was out of the tomb Sunday before the two Mary's arrive at "
early dawn " "
while it was still dark," to anoint the body. Remember: for Jews the day begins at sundown of the previous day, not sunrise.
Matthew 28:1-6
Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. "He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.
Mark 16:1-6
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. Very early on the first day of the week, they *came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" Looking up, they *saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. And he *said to them, "Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him.
Luke 24:1-3
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
John 20:1
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.
John specifically and explicitly states it was still dark. Jesus was gone before the first day had formerly begun, "
while it was still dark."