Of the series of supposed Biblical contradictions that were presented to me, this one was the most challenging. There certainly are some obvious variants in the book of John as opposed to the synoptic Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke concerning the crucifixion of Jesus.
First, let me say a few words about supposed contradictions. To the average reader, they generally go by unnoticed. They are so insignificant the reader passes over them and the message of the Gospel is transmitted and carried by the pages of the Bible generating hope and trust in God's people and calling the sinner to repentance. However, the Bibles we are reading come to us through the great effort of gathering and observing many different manuscripts, many of which are very old going back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries. All of these manuscripts have variant readings and it is the job of the translators to render those variant readings into the most likely one. Many of these variant readings are simply punctuation errors and misspelled words. For the more serious variant readings, meticulous work is done by the translators in comparing the text and associating them with other sources. We have over 5,000 manuscripts to compare, so we have a lot of information to work with to ensure accuracy. As a result, we have a very reliable reading of the Old and New Testament texts. All this work and source material are made public and their efforts and work are all verifiable.
You also have cultural practices, language usage, as well as ancient customs all to bring into consideration. Doing all of this and bringing it all from ancient languages into our modern English or any current world language as you can imagine is no easy task. So when the critics go to their work and start combing the pages for something to critique, they are certain to find something. And that is not to disparage the critics, as a matter of fact, they are a great asset to the work itself. They keep driving us back to the pages of the Bible to see what's up with that. We owe a great debt of gratitude to those who go to the text for the sole purpose of trying to break it down.
Having said that, let's take a look at the Crucifixion, since the synoptic Gospels agree, I will use just one synoptic to compare with John's Gospel so we can see where they seem to contradict. According to the synoptic Gospels, before His crucifixion, Jesus sent his disciples to prepare the Passover meal, killing the Passover lamb. They note that this task was completed on “the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,” the 14th of Nisan on the Jewish calendar, the day before Jesus’ crucifixion (cf. Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7).Matthew 26:17 KJV (17) Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover?
John, however, seems to indicate that Jesus’ crucifixion actually took place before the Passover even began.
John 13:1-2 KJV (1) Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
(2) And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;
The Synoptics Gospels present the Last Supper as being the Passover meal but in John’s Gospel, the Last Supper does not appear to be the Passover meal. A straightforward reading of this passage leaves the impression that the last supper that the disciples ate with Jesus was not the Passover meal, but actually “before the feast of the Passover,” as though the Passover began the next day. One could say Jesus knowing the coming events simply ate the Passover meal early with his disciples. However, for Jesus to fulfill all prophecies he had to keep the law perfectly and that would include keeping the Passover on the correct day. If we are going to make the claim that the Bible is accurate in all accounts, this is a very serious issue. There are a number of ways to solve the issue of the phrase, "Now before the feast of the Passover" stated by John. It seems to me the most likely one exists in the way the culture reckoned time. The Jewish day began at 6 PM in the evening and ended at 6 PM the next evening. Jesus and his disciples could have eaten the Passover meal anytime in the evening after 6 PM before the Crucifixion while others ate the Passover the evening of the next day before 6 PM during or after the Crucifixion and both be said to have eaten the Passover on the 14th of Nisan. Also, the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread were two different events sometimes viewed as one. Passover was technically only a 24-hour event, with the Feast extending seven days after Passover. But sometimes, because the two holidays were related, they were viewed and spoken of as one event. For instance, listen to Luke 22:1 “Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover.” Because of this blending of the two holidays, it could be that Jesus and the disciples ate the Passover meal together, and we can still talk of other meals as being “the Passover meal” later on in the weekend or the following week.But then you have John 18:28 KJV (28) Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover.
This verse seems to indicate that the Jews had not yet eaten the Passover meal, which again leaves the impression that either the Passover had not yet begun, or that the Jews had failed to eat the meal at the proper time, which seems very unlikely. What must be understood here is that the Passover festival lasted seven days, not merely the one night when the lamb was slain and eaten (Exodus 12:6-20). The Passover week had begun the night before with a feast and Jesus would have eaten the last supper with his disciples and events would continue over the following days with more feasting. The Jews, therefore, did not want to become defiled before the next unleavened meal of the Passover week.
But we're not done yet, John 19:13-15 KJV (13) When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
(14) And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
(15) But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.