Was Jesus Crucified on a Wednesday?

Dear Apologist, my friend claims Jesus was really crucified on a Wednesday and the commemoration of Good Friday is an evil Catholic conspiracy .  Where is that coming from?

The Old Testament Background to the Lord's Supper

Anyone who is familiar with the goings on at the Last Supper could probably recite the following lines from heart:

"The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.'” – 1Corinthians 11:23-25

What most folks don’t realize is just how pregnant with meaning those few sentences are. So today I wanted to look at some of the streams of Old Testament themes which converge together in Jesus’ words at the Last Supper.

Reading the Crucifixion Accounts Together

Every year I like to lead my students in a Bible study about the crucifixion.  The question is… which account do I use?  Each one has its own nuances and details to expand upon.

So what I came up with was a compilation which attempt to include it all.  Along the way, we’ll stop and focus in on various subjects.

Let’s get started.  We begin just after Pontius Pilate acquiesces to the crowd and gives Him up for crucifixion.  For a clean version, click [here].

The TL;DR Bible: Ephesians

Today we continue our adventure through the summarized New Testament with Paul's letter to the Ephesians.  

Paul wrote this letter to a successful community of Gentile converts.  He invites them to contemplate what God has done for them individual and how it fits into the overall narrative of God's providential pan for mankind.

Here we go!

The TL;DR Bible: Galatians

Today we continue our adventure through the summarized New Testament with Galatians.

This letter addresses a community which had fallen victim to an early heresy.  Namely, people were thinking you had to be circumcised and obey certain parts of the Mosaic Law to be saved.

Paul wrote against this heresy in no uncertain terms;  contending both for the divine origin or his message and his apostleship.

Here we go!

The TL;DR Bible: First Corinthians

Today we continue our journey through the "Too Long; Didn't Read" Bible with Paul's first letter to the troubled community in Corinth.

The TL;DR Bible: The Letter of Saint James

A while ago I had the idea to begin summarizing some of the epistles in the New Testament.  Today we're going to do the letter of Saint James.  

The letter is thought to be written by James of Jerusalem.  It is unclear who the target audience is.  He addresses it to the "12 tribes in the dispersion".  That could refer to Jews throughout the world, or to the Church as a whole.  There are good arguments for both.

In any event, this letter is meant to remind its readers about how our conduct in this life really does make a difference in the next.  It is the one place in the Bible where we find the phrase "justified by faith alone"... but the phrase is condemned.

Anyway, here we go: