But wait. What about Mark’s statement, “Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils”? (Mark 16:9). Bear in mind that no one witnessed the actual resurrection of Jesus, so no one could testify as to the moment. Thus, this passage is describing, not the time of the resurrection, but the time of Jesus’ appearing to Mary. The Greek texts have no punctuation, so all the commas and periods are left to the translators. Just put the comma in the right place and all becomes clear. “Now when Jesus was risen, early the first day of the week he appeared first to Mary Magdalene.” Also note that in Mark’s testimony that the first person to see Jesus alive was Mary. That confirms that no one saw the moment of the resurrection of Jesus.
There is nothing in the Gospel accounts to dispute that Jesus rose from the dead Saturday evening rather than Sunday morning. Three days and three nights from his burial would naturally take us to an evening. But there is something else that is highly suggestive.
Remember that I have been telling you that the Passover and the Days of Unleavened bread are all about Christ? There was, at this season, a little noticed ceremony in the Temple service that was also all about Christ. This was the season of the first ripe barley. But the people were not allowed to eat any of that years crop until a small portion of it had been offered to God by the priest. It is called “The Wave Sheaf” in the King James Version, and the ceremony is described in Leviticus.
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it” (Leviticus 23:9-11).
This could not be done on the Sabbath because it was an act of work, of harvesting and preparing the grain offering. So it was done when the Sabbath ended. The ceremony is also described in Alfred Edersheim’s well known book, “The Temple, Its Ministry and Service.” The ceremony had to take place right after the Sabbath day according to the law. It was an act of work to “harvest” the wave sheaf.
So, just after sundown, at the end of the three days and three nights that had passed since Jesus was buried, a noisy little procession of people made their way down from the Temple carrying torches and no doubt passing around a little wine. This is a festival, and a harvest festival to boot. They are having a good time. They came to a field that had been selected ahead of time where there were several bundles of grain already tied together, but not yet cut from the ground.
One of the sheaves was selected, and a man stood over it holding a sickle over his head. He shouted a series of questions to the crowd gathered around him and they shouted their answers back at him:
“Is the sun down?” he shouted. The crowd answered, “Yes!”
“This sheaf?” “Yes!” “With this sickle?” “Yes!” “Shall I reap?” “Yes!”
And with a stroke, he cut the sheaf from the ground. That may have been the moment that Jesus, who is also called “the Firstfruits,” opened his eyes in the tomb. Through that night, the sheaf was prepared for offering. The grain was threshed from it and parched in a pan over fire. Early the next morning, it was presented to God in the Temple. This sheaf is the very first of the firstfruits from the fields around Jerusalem. Now consider this very New Testament idea:
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming (I Corinthians 15:20 -23).
No grain could be harvested until the wave sheaf of the firstfruits was presented to God. Jesus Christ was the firstfruits and, according to the book of Revelation, the first born from the dead
So the connection is made to the moment of Jesus’ resurrection. Then there was a striking instance on the morning of Jesus’ first appearance to his disciples. The very first to see the risen Christ was none other than the broken hearted Mary Magdalene. She stood at the entrance to the tomb, weeping and stooped down to look inside. There, she saw two angels in white robes. They said “Woman, why are you weeping?” Thinking they were the men who had removed Jesus’ body, she replied: “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”
In frustration, Mary turned around and saw a man she thought was the gardener. He also asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”
“Sir,” Mary replied, “if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” At that point, Jesus called her by name and for the first time, she realized that Jesus was alive.
She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God’” (John 20:16-17).
Later that day, Jesus would allow his disciples to touch him. The implication is that between the time Mary saw him, and the time he met with his disciples, he had ascended to the Father and returned. There is a minor difference in translation from the King James Version, which reads, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.”
In either case it is plain that between the time Jesus saw Mary and later his Disciples, he ascended to the Father and returned. This would have been very near to the moment when the sheaf of firstfruits was being offered in the Temple. The parallel with the wave sheaf cannot be ignored. In the symbolism of the events, Jesus came to life when the sheaf was cut, was prepared during the night and presented to the Father the next morning.
Now there is another curious thing about this incident. It took place on the first day of the week, right? Well, yes, but there is more it to than that. Remember that these people were Jews, and nowhere in the Bible do they refer to the day after the Sabbath as “the first day of the week.” To a Jew, what we call Sunday would always be called the “morrow after the Sabbath.”
So why do we read this in the New Testament: “Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave” (Matthew 28:1 NASB). The normal way for a Jew to say this would be “Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave.”
What is the significance of the “first day of the week?” There is no word for “week” in this passage. Literally it is “The first of the Sabbaths” and it is plural. Where in the Bible do we have a series of Sabbaths described? We were close to it before:
You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD (Leviticus 23:14-16).
This 50th day, Christians know as Pentecost. So the day of the firstfruits offering was day one of the seven weeks of harvest leading up to Pentecost, also known as the “Feast of Weeks” because it comes at the end of seven weeks.
So when we find this expression in the New Testament: “Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,” it is a reference to the first day of the seven weeks leading up to Pentecost. It is not merely a day of the week, but a singular day of the year. So how and when did this get changed to the first day of the week? And how did Christians come to observe “Easter” instead of the Day of Firstfruits?
