Good Friday 3 April AD 33? – Eclipses as Christ died on the Cross

This is definitely worth reposting.

The fellow who made the video about the Star of Bethlehem (a compelling argument, I might add), also did some research about what happened in the heavens on Good Friday.

Let’s break it down.

Passover begins on the 14th day of the Jewish lunar month of Nisan. Moreover, Passover begins at twilight, dividing 14 Nisan and 15 Nissan. The Gospels say the Lord was crucified on Preparation Day, a Friday.  14 Nisan 14 fell on a Friday Preparation Day, twice: 7 April AD 30 and 3 April AD 33.  Daniel in 444 BC prophesied (Daniel 9:21–26) that the Anointed one would be cut off in 476 years after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem: AD 33.

The Bible records that, at the time of the crucifixion and death of the Lord, there were signs, including a “blood moon” or lunar eclipse.

Only one Passover lunar eclipse was visible from Jerusalem while Pilate was in office. It occurred on 3 April 33.

On 3 April the Moon rose already in eclipse.  It rose the color of blood.  That means that the eclipse began before it rose, in the constellation of the Virgin (at the time of Christ’s birth there was a New Moon, in the constellation of the Virgin).

The eclipse started at 3 pm when Christ was breathing His last.

But remember that a lunar eclipse is a syzygy!

If there is an eclipse in one direction there is an eclipse in the other direction too.

If you were standing on the Moon during that syzygy of 3 April 33, you would see a total eclipse of the Sun.

The blotted Sun would be in the heart of the constellation of the Ram (cf. “the Lamb who was slain”).

You can try this out for yourselves.  Go to the online astronomy aid Starry Night.  HERE

Move your location to Jerusalem and then plug in the time of about 7 pm and date 3 April 33 and adjust your view to ESE.  You will see the Moon has just risen and there is a label for your Earth’s shadow.  The Moon had risen at about 6:30 pm in the totality of the eclipse. HERE

15_04_03_eclipse_Crucifixion_01

Click

With the daylight turned off, and the horizon removed, and then looking at an angle down through the Earth below the horizon, at 3 pm, you see the Moon and Earth’s shadow converging in Virgo.

15_04_03_eclipse_Crucifixion_02

Then you can switch to the view from the Moon!

You must adjust your view a little and turn yourself right with a few clicks.  But you will find it.  In the screenshot, below, you can see where Earth and Sun are in Aries. Since the Earth would be larger in the Moon’s sky than in this screenshot, the Sun would be in total eclipse.  Adjust for UTC + 3 hours to the right time in Jerusalem from 1500 to 1800. HERE

15_04_03_eclipse_Crucifixion_03

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In reading around the question a little more, I find that, using different date calculators, there are some problems of the day of the week.  Also, there are arguments for dating the Crucifixion to 1 April 33.  If that is the case, then the phenomena described above occur on Easter Sunday.  Much hinges on which calendar the Lord and His disciples were using for their own Passover meal, if the last Supper was a Passover meal (Joseph Ratzinger argued that it was a related sacrificial meal but not a seder.)

[Subsequently, I’ve found more and convincing arguments about calendar debate.  This debate revolves around a seeming contradiction between John and the synoptics.  Some say that Christ anticipated a meal so that He would die at the same time as the paschal lambs.  That is attractive.  But it is also not true.  His Last Supper was indeed the supper of the Passover, with the paschal lamb. The argument hinges on the fact that it was not only Passover time (and all the days that followed were also called “Passover”, as we say “Happy Easter” for days after Easter), it was going to be the sabbath, and so, in the time of Passover, was the “day of Preparation of the Passover” was really preparation for SABBATH that fell in that Passover “umbra”, if you will permit the pun.]

Definitive?  Not quite.  But it is not to be discounted that God, from all Eternity knowing exactly what would happen, set the heaven’s in motion in so precise a way that its signs would help us to understand the mysteries taking place, which were in other ways foreshadowed.   In the sacraments (a term interchangeable with “mystery” in many contexts), visible signs help us to understand that insensible graces and transformations are taking place.  If in the signs of the sacraments, why not too signs in the heavens?

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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8 Comments

  1. Danteewoo says:

    “The eclipse started at 3 pm when Christ was breathing His last.” And this on the heels of the three-hour darkness, which event was mentioned also in other parts of the world.

  2. Well, Genesis — which so many of us were taught not to take literally — does say that the lights in the firmament were created for SIGNS and for seasons, for days and for years.

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  4. Sportsfan says:

    syzygy
    How big of a shadow does the moon throw on the earth during a solar eclipse?

  5. JonPatrick says:

    Concerning the calendar for the last supper and whether it is a seder, I have seen speculation (I think it was Scott Hahn’s book the Fourth Cup but I’m not sure) that the Last Supper may not have been on a Thursday. Consider that in the time period between Jesus arrest in the Garden of Gesthemane and the cruxifiction, he was taken to the Sanhedrin, then to Pilate, then to Herod, then back to Pilate, scourged, back to Pilate again for the decision to crucify, then finally to the preparation for cruxifiction. That is a lot to get done in one night and may have actually stretched out over a few days and nights.

  6. mysticalrose says:

    The traditional date of Good Friday is March 25. Perhaps the signs were true supernatural events rather than natural ones.

  7. timothyturtle says:

    Jon Patrick. With no electricity and no daylight savings time consider that sundown is about 6:00pm. It’s dark dark by 7, not many people still awake after 8:30. Sunrise about 5:30 am means it’s starting to get light by 4:45am. People would have been up before 5 am getting their day started. The Sanhedrin had to wait until dawn (5:30 am to officially meet). The account of this morning meeting in the gospel would not need to be more than 30 minutes. Unlikely that it took more than 15 -20 minutes to walk over to Pilate. Pilate sent Jesus to Herod pretty quickly so he probably arrived at Herod’s palace before 7:30 am. ….. you get the idea.
    I spent 6 months in Ethiopia and that is really how the day goes there in a rural town where they are not on western time.

  8. BTW… the BEST thing I have ever heard about the timing in the week of the Last Supper is an interview that Brant Pitre did a few year ago. It is on YouTube HERE. In my view, he nailed it perfectly.

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