Within research on the historical Jesus, perhaps one of the most complex and difficult problems is that of the chronology of our Lord's Last Supper. Many liberal scholars have claimed that John and the Synoptics are in conflict with one another on this point. In this article series, I want to analyze this problem, the solutions proposed to solve it, and what many think to be the best one. I am especially relying on the research and work of NT scholar Brant R. Pitre (whose work Jesus and the Last Supper I highly commend).
"The classic problem of the date of the Last Supper can be summed up in a relatively brief antithesis: On the one hand, according to the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the Last Supper appears to have taken place the evening after the Passover lambs were sacrificed in the Jerusalem Temple (15 Nisan). On the other hand, according to the Gospel of John, the Last Supper appears to have taken place the evening before the Passover lambs were sacrificed in the Temple (14 Nisan)." (Brant Pitre)
The Data in the Synoptic Gospels
Each of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) view the Last Supper as a Jewish Passover meal:
"Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to such a one, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’ ” And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he sat at table with the twelve disciples. . ." (Matt 26:17-20)
"And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” And he sent two of his disciples, and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the householder, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I am to eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” And the disciples set out and went to the city, and found it as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover. And when it was evening he came with the Twelve. And as they were at table eating . . ." (Mark 14:12-17)
"Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house which he enters, and tell the householder, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room where I am to eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished; there make ready.” And they went, and found it as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover. And when the hour came, he sat at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you that I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, “Take this . . .” (Luke 22:7-17)
"Taken together, the Synoptic Gospels identify the Last Supper as a Jewish “Passover” meal (pascha) some twelve times (Matt 26:17, 18, 19; Mark 14:12 [2x], 14, 16; Luke 22:7, 8, 11, 13, 15). Nine times they refer to the disciples going into Jerusalem to “prepare” (hetoimazō) the Passover meal on the afternoon before the Last Supper (Matt 26:17, 19; Mark 14:12, 15, 16; Luke 22:8, 9, 12, 13). Six times they speak of Jesus and the disciples “eating” (phagō) the Passover meal (Matt 26:17; Mark 14:12, 14; Luke 22:8, 11, 15). Indeed, in Luke’s account, Jesus specifically refers to the Last Supper as a “Passover” (pascha) during the meal itself (Luke 22:15). Most significantly for our purposes, both Mark and Luke explicitly state that the Last Supper took place the evening after the Passover lambs were “sacrificed” (thyō) before being eaten (Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7). This reference to the sacrifice of the lambs is one of the clearest chronological indicators that the Synoptic Gospels date the Last Supper to the same evening as the ordinary Jewish Passover meal. By ancient Jewish reckoning, then, all of this evidence places the Last Supper on the evening after the slaughter of the lambs in the Temple during the afternoon. As most scholars agree, if anything in the Gospels is clear, it is that “the Synoptics portray the Last Supper on Thursday evening as a Passover meal.” (Brant R. Pitre)
The Date in the Gospel of John
There are three passages in John's gospel which at first glance suggest that the Last Supper took place before the Passover Lamb was sacrificed:
"Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him . . ." (John 13:1-2)
"Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was early. They themselves did not enter the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover." (John 18:28)
"When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, and in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour [noon]." (John 19:13-14)
"Taken at face value, the first text states that Jesus’ Last Supper — the meal at which Judas betrayed him — took place “before the feast of Passover.” If the expression “the feast of the Passover” (tēs heortēs tou pascha) (John 13:1) refers to the sacrifice of the initial Passover lambs on 14 Nisan, then the Last Supper seems to have taken place twenty- four hours before 14 Nisan, before the Passover lambs were killed and eaten." (Brant R. Pitre)
Now, how do we solve this problem? Was the Last Supper eaten before or after the Paschal Lamb had been sacrificed in the Temple? Are the Synoptics right or is John right? Or can they both be reconciled?
There are four main solutions offered by scholars to this issue. We will examine each of them here.
The Essene Hypothesis
This solution states that both John and the Synoptics are right; the differences are a result of different Jewish liturgical calendars in use in the first century. The chronological contradiction is only apparent and can be resolved. This solution was put forward especially by Annie Jaubert, in her work The Date of the Last Supper. Saulnier has also defended it again recently in the book Calendrical Variations in Second Temple Judaism.
"According to this solution, at the time of Jesus, the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls of Qumran, who were Essenes, disagreed with the Temple authorities in Jerusalem about the calendar date of the annual Jewish feasts, including the Passover. On the one hand, the Essenes followed a solar calendar, in which the sacrifice and consumption of the Passover lambs always fell on a Tuesday night. On the other hand, the Temple priests followed a lunar calendar, in which the Passover meal was celebrated each year on different days of the week, as calculated by the authorities on the basis of observing the moon. From this perspective, the chronological discrepancy in the Gospels is best explained by the hypothesis that in his final week, Jesus kept the Passover on Tuesday night, at the same time as the Essenes. Hence, on the one hand, when the Synoptics say that the Last Supper was a Passover meal, they reflect the Essene solar calendar. On the other hand, when John says that Jesus was condemned before the priests at the Passover, he reflects the lunar calendar of the Temple officials." (Brant R. Pitre)
There are a number of arguments put forward in favor of the Essene hypothesis:
[1]. There is evidence in Second Temple Jewish literature for competing liturgical calendars (i.e. solar and lunar). Jewish Pseudepigrapha texts (Book of Jubilees 6:32-38) and DSS documents (1QS 1:15-16; 10:5-7; CDa 3:13-15) witness to the existence of the solar calendar.
The most explicit evidence is from one of the DSS which is focused explicitly on the issue of the solar calendar and how the Jewish festivals and feasts line up with it:
"The festivals of the first year: On the third day from Sabbath (Tuesday) of the course of the sons of Maaziah is the Passover. On the first day (Sunday) of the course [of] Jeda[iah] is the Waving of the [Omer]. On the fifth day (Thursday) of the course of Seorim is the [Second] Passover. On the first day (Sunday) of the course of Jeshua is the Feast of Weeks. On the fourth day (Wednesday) of the course of Maaziah is the Day of Remembrance. [On the] sixth day (Friday) of the course of Jehoiarib is the Day of Atonement, [in the] seventh [month]. [On the] fourth day (Wednesday) of the course of Jedaiah is the Feast of Booths." (4QCalendrical Document A [4Q320] frag. 4, col. 3:1- 9)
[2]. There is some patristic evidence that Jesus celebrated the Last Supper on a Tuesday night, hence following the Solar calendar of the Essenes. The Didascalia Apostolurum at one point says "After eating the Pasch, on Tuesday evening, we went to the Mt. of Olives and, in the night, they took our Lord Jesus. The following day, which is Wednesday, he was kept in the house of the high priest, Caiaphas; the same day the leaders of the people met and discussed his case." (chapter 14).
Jaubert cites Epiphanius, who says that Jesus was arrested on Wednesday (Panarion, 51.2), and Victorinus, bishop of Pettau who says the same thing (De Fabrica Mundi 3).
[3]. Another argument is from a general historical consideration of the Passion Narrative as a whole. Jaubert argues that because so many events take place between Jesus' arrest and His crucifixion, then it is hard to "squeeze" all of these events into a few hours. If Jesus celebrated the Passover on Tuesday, it would make more sense with all of the events to have taken space within three days. The events spoken of are the following:
(1). Nocturnal meeting with Annas (John 18:12-24);
(2). Meeting with Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin (Matt 26:57-66; Mark 14:53-64; Luke 22:54);
(3). Meeting with the “chief priests and elders of the people in the morning” (Matt 27:1-2; cf. Mark 15:1; Luke 22:66-71);
(4). Meeting with Pontius Pilate, also in the morning (Matt 27:11-14; Mark 15:1-5; Luke 23:1-5; John 18:28-40);
(5). Meeting with Herod (Luke 23:6-12);
(6). Exchange with the crowds over release of Barabbas (Matt 27:15- 26; Mark 15:6-16; Luke 23:13-25);
(7). Jesus is scourged, mocked, and crucified (Matt 27:26-50; Mark 15:15-37; Luke 23:25-46; John 19:16-30).
Though the above arguments are impressive, they are ultimately unconvincing when we take into account the following things:
First, the Essene hypothesis contradicts the explicit testimony of the Synoptic Gospels, which say quite clearly that the Last Supper was eaten after the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb (Mark 14:10-12; Luke 22:7-8)
Second, there is no clear evidence that Jesus would have followed a different calendar than the normative one (that of the lunar calendar used by mainstream Jews). If there were evidence for Jesus using the Essence calendar, then Jaubert's hypothesis would make much more sense.
The Johannine Hypothesis
This solution states that John is right and the Synoptics are wrong; the Last Supper was not a (ordinary) Jewish Passover meal. The contradictory evidence is thus irreconcilable.
Some proponents of the Johannine Hypothesis would say that the Passover was either some other sort of meal (like a "final farewell" sort of thing) or it was a pre-Passover anticipation meal.
The following arguments are often used by some scholars to support this Johannine Hypothesis:
[1]. The Gospels do not mention a Lamb at the Last Supper. Proponents of the Johannine Hypothesis would say that "the reason the Gospels do not explicitly mention the lamb in their accounts of the actual supper is that the Passover lambs would not be sacrificed until the next day". They also Mark 14:1-2 where the Jewish leaders state that they do not want to kill Jesus before the feast. These scholars also claim that the details in Mark which do suggest that the Last Supper was a Passover meal are "later redactions".
[2]. Another argument is based off of a section in the Babylonian Talmud, where it says that Jesus was hanged "on the Eve of Passover". Since the rabbis would not have any theological reason to change the date of Jesus' crucifixion, then the Talmud should be considered worthy evidence in this discussion.
[3]. Another argument is that the Gospels record so many activities which, if they place on a feast day (15 Nisan), then they would be unlawful in light of OT texts like Leviticus 23:7.
In reply to these arguments, Pitre notes the following:
[1]. The Gospels do mention a Passover Lamb. However, this is by simply by referring to it as "the Passover" rather than using the specific word "lamb". This was common in Jewish literature (Exodus 12:1-14). The Gospels also do refer to the Passover lamb in the context of the Last Supper (Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7-15).
[2]. When the context of the passage from the Babylonian Talmud is taken in context, it is clear that "Yeshu" is not a reference to Jesus of Nazareth. Especially, since it says "Yeshu" had five disciples.
[3]. The Torah only forbids laborious work, not any work whatsoever. Thus, the activities recorded in the Gospels would have been permitted on feast days. For example, the Mishneh permits many of the activities performed by Jews in the Passion Narratives, such as getting cloths, anointing the dead with oils and ointments (Mishnah, Shabbat, 23:4-5). Even Raymond Brown (an advocate of the Johannine Hypothesis) admits that "One can find indications in Jewish tradition allowing every one of these actions [described in the Synoptics] on a feast." (The Death of the Messiah, Vol. 1, pg. 1358)
[4]. One forceful objection against the argument that the priests would not have done something such as executing and trying Jesus on the Passover, would be to consider that Jewish law material does permit the trial of a false prophet on the Passover and feast day (Tosefta, Sanhedrin 11:7). While our Lord is most certainly a true prophet, from the Jews' perspective He was not.
The Synoptic Hypothesis
This solution states that the Synoptics are right and John is wrong; the Last Supper was a Jewish Passover meal, and that the Last Supper took place the evening after the Passover Lambs had been eaten. The contradictory evidence is irreconcilable (or so they say).
A big idea within this theory is that John changed the date of the Last Supper (moving it 24 hours before), so that Jesus would have been condemned at the same time that the Passover Lambs were sacrificed in the Temple. This was apparently in order to make Jesus the true Paschal Lamb (cf. John 1:29).
Here are some of the arguments that some scholars (especially those who are experts in the study of ancient Judaism) give for the Synoptic Hypothesis:
[1]. The Synoptic Gospels explicitly refer to a Passover meal with a lamb (Matt. 26:17-19; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7-15).
[2]. The Last Supper was eaten in Jerusalem rather than in Bethany, where Jesus and His disciples were staying (Matt. 26:18; Mark 14:13; Luke 22:10). The only plausible explanation for why Jesus and His disciples would have left Bethany and go to Jerusalem to eat the Last Supper, would be because it was a Passover meal. This is in accordance with the teaching of the Torah (Deuteronomy 16:5-7).
[3]. The fact that Jesus interprets the bread and wine at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25) suggests that it was a Passover meal, since it would have been strange for Him to interpret the bread and the wine if it were a normal meal.
"Indeed, one of the key elements of the Passover, in both Jewish Scripture and tradition, is that the symbolism of the ritual be explained by an act of interpretation (Exodus 12:24-27)." (Brant R. Pitre)
Jewish literature sets forth a similar thing:
"Unleavened bread is (a sign) of great haste and speed, while the bitter herbs (are a sign) of the life of bitterness and struggle which they endure as slaves. That is that which is said." (Philo, Questions and Answers on Exodus 1.15)
"Rabban Gamaliel used to say: 'Whosoever has not said [the verses concerning] these three things at Passover has not fulfilled his obligation. And these are they: Passover, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs: “Passover” — because God passed over the houses of our fathers in Egypt; “unleavened bread” — because our fathers were redeemed from Egypt; “bitter herbs” — because the Egyptians embittered the lives of our fathers in Egypt." (Mishnah, Pesahim ̣ 10:5)
[4]. Jesus and His disciples sing a "hymn" at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26). In Second Temple Jewish literature and Qumran literature, singing hymns and/or psalms was characteristic of a Passover meal:
"And David, son of Jesse, was wise. . . . And he wrote psalms: three thousand six hundred; and songs to be sung before the altar over the perpetual offering of every day, for all the days of the year; three hundred and sixty- four; and for the sabbath offerings: fifty- two songs . . . and for all the days of the festivals, and for the Day of Atonement: thirty songs." (11Q5, 27:2, 4- 8)
"On this day [the Passover] every dwelling- house is invested with the outward semblance and dignity of a temple. The victim is then slaughtered and dressed for the festal meal which befits the occasion. The guests assembled for the banquet have been cleansed by purificatory lustrations, and are there not as in other festive gatherings, to indulge the belly with wine and viands, but to fulfill with prayers and hymns the custom handed down by their fathers." (Philo, Special Laws 2.148)
"After they have mixed for him [the host] the third cup he says the Benediction over his meal. [Over] a fourth [cup] he completes the Hallel and says after it the Benediction over song." (Mishnah, Pesachim, ̣10:7)
[5]. Second-century Christian writings also portray the Last Supper as a Passover meal:
"The Passover, indeed, was Christ, who was later sacrificed, as Isaiah foretold when he said: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter” (Isa 53:7). It is also written that on the day of the Passover you seized him, and that during the Passover you crucified him." (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 111.3)
"He came to Bethany six days before the Passover” (John 12:1), and going up from Bethany to Jerusalem, He there ate the Passover, and suffered on the following day." (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 2.22.3)
"In sum, the Synoptic hypothesis has in its favor the explicit testimony of Matthew, Mark, and Luke that the Last Supper was a Jewish Passover meal, as well as the implicit evidence from parallels between the Last Supper and ancient Jewish descriptions of the Passover. Jesus’ unusual act of eating a meal with the Twelve at night in the city of Jerusalem; his act of interpreting and explaining the elements of the meal; and the singing of a hymn at its conclusion, among other things, produce converging lines of evidence to support the conclusion that the Last Supper was indeed a Jewish Passover meal." (Brant R. Pitre)
Despite the strength of these argument, it has a major flaw when it comes to its interpretation of the time of Christ's death in the Gospel of John.
Contrary to what is widely thought, the Passover lambs were not sacrificed at "noon", the time Jesus was crucified (John 19:14). If true, this would be the basis for the view of many scholars that John altered the hour of Christ's death to make it line up exactly with when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed in the Temple. Ancient Jewish literature portrays the Passover Lamb as being sacrificed from around 3 PM to 5 PM:
"The children of Israel . . . come and observe Passover on its appointed day on the fourteenth of the first month between the evenings from the third (part) of the day [ca. 2 p.m.] until the third (part) of the night [ca. 6 p.m.] because the two parts of the day are given for light and one third for evening. This is what the Lord commanded you so that you might observe it between the evenings. And it is not fitting to sacrifice it during any time of light except during the time of the border of evening. And they shall eat it during the time of evening until a third of the night." (Jubilees 49:10-11)
"[On the four]teenth day of the first month, [at twilight], they [will celebrate] [the Passover of YHWH] and they will perform sacrifice; prior to the evening offering they will sacrifice [it . . .]." (11Q19 17:6-7)
"Why is the Passover sacrificed at evening? Perhaps because good things were about to befall at night (and because) it was not custom to offer a sacrifice in darkness, and for those who were about to experience good things at night it was not (proper) to prepare it before the ninth hour [= 3 p.m.]. (Philo, Questions and Answers on Exodus 1.11)
"Accordingly, on the occasion of the feast called Passover, at which they sacrifice from the ninth [= 3 p.m.] to the eleventh hour [= 5 p.m.] and a little fraternity, as it were, gathers around each sacrifice, of not fewer than ten persons. (Josephus, The Jewish War, 6.423-24)
Based off of the above evidence, it is baffling that so many proponents of the Synoptic hypothesis generally cite the "sixth hour" as the time of the Passover sacrifice without giving any evidence from Jewish and rabbinical texts to support such an idea.
Pitre concludes that the arguments for the Last Supper being a Passover meal are convincing, but does not think this means that John's Gospel is contradicting the Synoptics. The next section will explain this point further.
The Passover Hypothesis
This solution states that both John and the Synoptics are right; the apparent contradiction is based on a misinterpretation of Jewish Passover terminology in John’s Gospel. The contradictory evidence has been misinterpreted by scholars who do not give adequate attention to the cult, chronology, and terminology of the Jewish Passover.
Oftentimes, scholars who see a contradiction between John and the Synoptics assume that in the three passages where John speaks of a "Passover", he is referring to the Passover Lamb sacrificed on 14 Nisan. However in the OT, Second Temple Jewish literature, and Rabbinical texts, the word "Passover" has different meanings (to assume that "Passover" always has the exact same meaning is to commit the fallacy of hasty generalization):
1) The Passover lamb (Ex. 12:21; Deut. 16:6; 2 Chron. 30:15; Jub. 49:1; Matt. 26:17; Luke 22:7)
2) The Passover meal (Ex. 12:48; Deut. 16:1; Philo, De Sept. 18:19; Josephus, Ant. 17.213)
3) The Passover peace offering (2 Chronicles 35:7-9)
4) The Passover week (Josephus, The Jewish War, 2.10; Ant. 14.21; Mishnah, Pesahim 9:5; Luke 22:1)
Here are the Johannine texts in question:
"Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him . . ." (John 13:1-2)
"Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was early. They themselves did not enter the praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover." (John 18:28)
"When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, and in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour [noon]." (John 19:13-14)
The key question is this: in any or all of the above texts from the Gospel of John, does the word "Passover" refer to the Passover lamb or to something else?
[1]. First, we should examine John 13:1, which has the phrase "before the feast of the Passover". However, this is referring to the time before the Passover lamb was eaten, not to the time before it was sacrificed. The phrase "feast of the Passover" refers to the day when the lamb was eaten:
"On the fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the month is a feast [= 15 Nisan]; seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten." (Numbers 28:16-17)
"Rabbi Judah says: They may search out [the leaven] on the night of the 14th or on the morning of the 14th or at the very time for its removal. But the Sages say: If a man has not searched on the night of the 14th let him search on the 14th; if he has not searched on the 14th let him search during the Feast [= 15 Nisan]; if he has not searched during the Feast let him search after the Feast." (Mishnah, Pesahim, 1:3)
"Remember the commandment that the Lord commanded you concerning Passover, that you observe it in its time, on the fourteenth of the first month [Nisan], so that you might sacrifice it hefore it becomes evening and so that you might eat it during the night on the evening of the fifteenth from the time of sunset." (Book of Jubilees 49:1)
[2]. Like the Synoptics, John gives descriptions and details of the Last Supper in his account that were characteristic of the Passover in Jewish literature:
- The reclining posture of Jesus and His disciples (John 13:23-25) was a practice of Jews at a Passover meal (Mishnah, Pesahim 10:1)
- Jesus dipping the morsel and passing it to Judas (John 13:26-27) was a probable reference to the act of dipping bitter herbs of the Passover meal into haroseth sauce (Mishnah, Pesahim 10:3).
-The custom of giving to the poor during the Passover meal (John 13:29) was also common (Mishnah, Pesahim 10:1b, cf. Tobit 2:1-3).
These sorts of details in John's account indicate that he too recorded the Last Supper as a Passover meal, albeit not as clearly as the Synoptics do.
"In short, despite the assumption of many that the Last Supper in John’s Gospel is not a Passover meal, a close examination of his text in the light of Jewish parallels points in precisely the opposite direction." (Brant R. Pitre)
NT scholars, even those who claim that John did not portray the Last Supper as a Passover meal, nonetheless admit the Passover characteristics are indeed present in John's account of the Last Supper:
“The supposed command [of Jesus] to give to the poor would be particularly appropriate on Passover night. . . . In going into the darkness Judas went to his own place. So far as the remark is historical it suggests that the event took place on Passover night (in agreement with the Markan tradition).” (C. K. Barrett, The Gospel According to St. John: An Introduction With Commentary and Notes on the Greek Text, pgs. 448-449)
“Although Jewish people in Palestine usually sat on chairs when available, they had adopted the Hellenistic custom of reclining for banquets, including the Passover, a setting that the Fourth Gospel and its first audience might assume from the Gospel tradition despite the Fourth Gospel’s symbolic shift of the Passover to one day later. It probably implies that John has, after all, revised an earlier Passover tradition.” (Craig Keener, The Gospel of John: A Commentary, 2:900-901)
[3]. In John 18:28, the phrase "but might eat the Passover" is referring to the Passover peace offering, not the Passover lamb (as many have wrongly assumed). This is true because John has already identified the Last Supper as a Passover meal (see the above arguments). Since the Passover meal has already taken place, and thus the Passover lamb has already been sacrificed, this would rule out interpreting John 18:28 as referring to the Passover lamb. It is only by taking John 18:28 out of context that it can be made to refer to the initial Passover lamb.
"When we read 18:28 in its narrative sequence, after the account of chapters 13-17, we would naturally assume that by “eating the Passover” John is referring to upcoming meals in the week- long feast of the Unleavened Bread." (Craig Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of John's Gospel, pg. 238)
Add to that, that we have seen above that the word "Passover" can refer to peace offerings (Deut. 16:1-3; 2 Chron. 35:7-9). Rabbinic literature gives us a similar picture. Here is one such example:
"Can the Passover be offered on any of the festivals? The Passover has a fixed date: if it is brought then, well and good, but if not, it is rejected. Rabbi Hisda replied. The Passover is mentioned incidentally. Rabbi Shesheth said: “Passover” here means the peace offerings of Passover." (Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 5a)
Some have objected to the Passover Hypothesis' view of John 18:28, by pointing out that the text speaks of the Jews declining to enter the praetorium, "so that they may not be defiled, but might eat the Passover". Opponents would claim that ritual purity and cleanness was not necessary for Jews to eat the peace offerings. This is clearly not true in light of Leviticus 7:19-20.
[4]. The phrase "preparation of the Passover" (paraskeuē tou pascha) in John 19:14 refers to the Friday of Passover week, rather than the Preparation Day (Nisan 14).
Many English translations add the word "day" into their translation of the Greek phrase paraskeuē tou pascha, which gives the impression that Jesus was crucufied on 14 Nisan, the Preparation Day for the Passover. However, the word "day" does not exist in the original Greek text. We should translate the phrase literally as "preparation of the Passover".
Secondly, the word "preparation" (paraskeuē) is the Jewish name for "Friday", the day before the Sabbath (Mark 15:42-43; Luke 23:54; John 19:31). This is even conceded by liberal higher critic Rudolf Bultmann: “If pascha can signify the entire seven days feast . . . paraskeue tou pascha could mean ‘the Friday of Passover week.’ (Bultmann, The Gospel of John, pg. 644).
The best understanding of John 19:14 would thus be "Now it was the Friday of Passover week..."
All of these arguments put together show that the Passover Hypothesis put forward by Brant Pitre is the one that best explains the data in each of the Gospels and takes the ancient Jewish context and literature into account. However, most scholars ignore this hypothesis. The ones that have engaged with it raise one main objection, namely that the Gospel of John's Gentile audience would not have understood and/or recognized the various meanings of the word "Passover". In particular, Joachim Jeremias has harped on this point. Pitre gives four counter-arguments:
First, the idea of John's Gospel as primarily Hellenistic rather than Jewish has been abandoned by most scholars since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This goes against the basic foundation of Jeremias' argument.
Second, John assumes on the part of his readers a familiarity with Jewish feasts and festivals as well as the Temple. He often mentions such feasts and places without any explanation of them (John 2:13; 5:2; 6:4; 7:2; 10:22-23; 11:55; 12:1; 13:1).
Third, even if John's Gospel was written for a primarily a Gentile audience, why should we assume that they were unfamiliar with the multiple meanings of "Passover". In particular, readers of John's Gospel in the Greco-Roman world would have generally had a decent education in their youth (in things like history, oratory, rhetoric, and philosophy) and it would be shocking for them to not know these things. We should not underestimate learning capacities in the ancient world. Luke (a non-Jewish, Gentile writer), for all that matter, recognized that the word "Passover" could refer to the feast of Unleavened Bread (Luke 22:1).
In conclusion, both the Synoptics and John portray the Last Supper as a Passover Meal. The apparent contradiction is based off of a misreading of the Passover terminology in the Gospel of John and ignoring the ancient Jewish liturgical context of the time.
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