volume 14, issue 2, 2022, pages 180-210

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsBUKZ3200
Published online: 2022-12-01
Published in print: 2022-12-30

Abstract: There appears to be several chronological problems with Mark’s account of the Last Supper. First, Mark places the supper on “the first day of Unleavened Bread,” which appears to have been on Saturday in that year. However, other indications in Mark are that Jesus was crucified on Friday. Therefore, if these indications are correct, the Last Supper could not have been on Saturday. Second, Mark seems to say that the Passover lamb was sacrificed on that same Saturday, but there are other indications that the Passover lamb that year was sacrificed on Friday, “the day of preparation for the sabbath”. Third, it is therefore not clear from Mark whether the crucifixion of Jesus occurred before the Passover, after the Passover, or on that day. Fourth, it is not clear from Mark whether the Last Supper was in any sense a Passover meal. Mark seems to be chronologically unclear and confused. In this article, I will show why the situation is not as it appears in Mark.