Maybe this will help.
The Catholic designation of "Good Friday" was in error, but couldn't be challenged once decreed. It has caused much unnecessary debate through the centuries.
First, remember every day began at sunset, and lasted till the next sunset. Daylight was divided into 12 equal hours, and the 12 night hours called "watch hours".
The once a year Nisan 14 Passover and the weekly Saturday sabbath were back to back the week Jesus was crucified. Both were holy days, one a High Day.
The chief priests and scribes met to plan Jesus' death, but decided not to do that on a sabbath for fear of the people. A great crowd was assembling for the feast. His death had to come before sunset Thursday.
The Passover lambs were to be killed the evening before Passover, roasted and eaten Friday morning.
Those and other clues put the arrest, trial, scourging and crucifixion before any sabbath. Also, the crucified had to die and be removed by sunset before the holy day, so as not to defile the day.
That puts Jesus crucified at about noon (as we call it) Thursday (as we call it by Roman naming), and giving up the Ghost at our 3PM. Sundown as about 6PM, when Friday began.
Now, you might need to chart it on paper.
"Day of Preparation" was Thursday between 3PM and sunset. Jesus is the Lamb of God sacrificed, but first prepared by the woman with the alabaster box of ointment.
Jesus was dead by sunset Thursday, put in the tomb. I'm not dealing here with those hours (6th to 9th) when darkness came prematurely, the earthquake, the temple veil rent, which I will briefly say I believe was when Jesus took the sins of the world upon Himself. When that was fully applied Jesus finally cried out.
Sunset Thursday ushered in Friday, the Holy Day.
Sunset Friday ushered in the weekly sabbath Saturday.
Sunset Saturday ushered in the first day of the week Sunday.
Jesus' empty tomb was found before sunrise Sunday, well past the previous sabbath on Saturday.
The women encountered Jesus at sunrise Sunday when it was legal for them to be there, in the light.
There we have 3 days and 3 nights. All synoptic gospels concur.
This does not follow the pattern of the three feast days of the Passover, Feast of unleavened bread, and the Feast of first fruits. These were the type of the death, burial, and resurrection. In order to keep the pattern of the three feast days, Jesus could not have spent three days and three nights in the tomb. Jesus never said he would be in the tomb for three days and three nights. What he said was that he would be "in the heart of the earth" for three days and three nights. We have misinterpreted that to mean in the tomb for three days and three nights but, that is not what he said. This means the phrase implies something else entirely.
Here is what I mean in connection to the three feast days.
Here is how the timeline of these sacrifices typify the death burial and resurrection of Christ.
1. At Passover on Friday the 14th of Abib, the lamb was slain.
2. On the following day, Saturday the15th of Abib, was the first day of unleavened bread, a holy convocation. A day of rest.
3. On the following day, Sunday the 16th of Abib, was the waving of the first-fruits.
Luke's orderly account shows that Jesus ate the Passover at sunset with his disciples and then was crucified the same day. He was then buried on that same day. The next day, the 15th of Abib was the weekly Sabbath. Jesus spent the entire Sabbath day resting in the tomb, then on the very next day, the 16th of Abib, which was Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead. We know this is correct because of how Leviticus and Numbers organized the events of the feasts. Here is a point that many people miss.
In 1 Corinthians 15:20 Paul tells us,
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.” What is the significance of Jesus being the first-fruits in relation to his resurrection?
Leviticus 23:5-11 says,
“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord's Passover. Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, when you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.”
So, on the 14th day of the first month was the Passover. On the 15th was the Sabbath of unleavened bread. On the 16th was the offering of the first- fruits.
Jesus followed this exact pattern. He died
on the day of Passover. The next day he rested in the tomb on the Sabbath. The next day after the Sabbath was the first day of the week. During the offering of the morning burnt offering sacrifice at sunrise, the priest was waving the first-fruits of the harvest. At that same time, Jesus was rising from the tomb. He is the first-fruits of those who sleep. We know this because Mark 16:2 tells us that when the women came to the tomb
after the sun had already risen and Jesus had already risen from the tomb.
The sequence of these feasts proves beyond any doubt that Jesus died on Friday and rose early Sunday morning. The argument that there had to be three literal days and nights (72 hours) in the grave simply cannot fit the prophetic time line of these three feasts. Jesus died on Friday the 14th of Abib around 3pm. He was resting in the grave on the weekly Sabbath, the 15th of Abib. Sometime early on Sunday, the first day of the week, the 16th of Abib, Jesus rose from the tomb. By the Eastern reckoning of time, this can constitute three days
but, there is no way it can constitute three nights, I don't care how one may try to manipulate it. So, how then are we to understand the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:40 when he said,
“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Mark 8:31 records Jesus statement in this way.
“And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must *suffer many things and *be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and *be killed, and *after three days rise again”
In Matthew 17:22-23 Jesus gives definition to his use of
“in the heart of the earth” in chapter 12,
“And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, 'The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.' And they were deeply grieved.” In the heart of the earth is the same thing as
“into the hands of men.” From the time Jesus was betrayed to the time he rose from the tomb was literally three days and three nights.
It is as simple as this. Mark shows us that Jesus was buried in the evening
just before the Sabbath. He spent the following day
which was the Sabbath in the tomb and on
the day after the Sabbath which was the first day of the week - Sunday, the women come to anoint the body but he is already gone; And all of this was put forth in the Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, and the feast of first-fruits.
