Early in the morning of the Sunday following the death and burial of Jesus, the women make their way to the tomb to anoint His body.  

Objections have been raised questioning the accuracy of the Gospel writers because of something Jesus said when He predicted His resurrection. Asked by the religious leaders for a sign to authenticate His authority Jesus responded with: 

“Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40). 

The argument of the critics is that if Jesus died on the Friday and rose on the following Sunday then He was not in the grave for “three days and three nights.” If the disciples got a simple fact like this wrong, then how we can trust them in their other claims? 

It’s a fair question but to understand the answer we must stop thinking like Westerners and look at it through Jewish eyes. When we think of “three days and three nights” we think of 72 consecutive hours, but this is not how people in the days of Jesus thought. For them, a day could be the whole 24 hours or just a part of it. Additionally, the day began at sundown the evening before. The best example of this is the Sabbath. The Sabbath was a Saturday, but it began at 6pm on the Friday evening prior.  

Seen through Jewish eyes, as it should be, Jesus’ prediction of being in the grave for “three days and three nights” was literally fulfilled. The Gospel writers were not wrong about this or His resurrection. 

What’s more remarkable is that Jesus told His followers on several occasions He would be crucified and then rise from the dead three days later. But it never registered with them! On their way to the tomb, the women are preoccupied with who will roll away the large stone sealing it. 

Imagine their shock when they arrived and discovered it had already “been rolled away!” 

Today’s Bible reading: Mark 16:1-2