74    The Bible and the Future of the World 

that from time immemorial the Galilaens had been allowed to eat the Pasch 

a day earlier that the rest of the Jews. 

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    Thus, Jesus, who was from Galilee, celebrated the Passover with His 

disciples on Thursday after sundown. But the Jewish leaders, who lived in 

Jerusalem, celebrated the Passover on Friday after sundown. In this way, 

God's Providence arranged events so that Jesus could both celebrate the 

Passover with His disciples and the next day be the Passover Lamb 

sacrificed on the Cross. 

The Hour of the Crucifixion 

    Mark's Gospel gives the time of Jesus' Crucifixion as the third hour 

(about 9 a.m. by our way of keeping time).  And it was the third hour, when 

they crucified him.  (Mark 15:25). John's Gospel gives the time of Jesus' 

Crucifixion as the sixth hour (about noontime).  Now it was the day of 

Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour.  (John 19:14). This 

disparity occurs because Mark counts the crucifixion as having begun after 

Jesus' scourging. The scourging of Jesus ended at about the third hour.

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    Recall that Pilate wanted to scourge Jesus and then release Him (Luke 

23:16). But he was pressured by the leaders of the Jews and by the crowd to 

give Jesus up to be crucified. Since Pilate would have had Jesus scourged 

even if he had released Him, Mark counts the Crucifixion as beginning after 

the scourging. 

    In John's Gospel, John counts the time of the Crucifixion of Jesus as 

beginning when Jesus was nailed to the Cross, about the sixth hour (about 

noon time). John gives the hour of the Crucifixion (John 19:14), but then 

relates events which occurred before that hour, including Jesus carrying His 

Cross (John 19:17). John's Gospel does not specify to what the sixth hour 

refers, but we know from Mark's Gospel that the sixth hour was the time 

when Jesus was on the Cross (Mark 15:33). 

    In Mark's Gospel, after Jesus has been judged by Pilate, He suffers for 

over six hours: from the third hour to the ninth hour, plus the scourging 

(Mark 15:15 39). Blessed Anne Catherine tells us that the scourging lasted 

3/4 of an hour.

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So Jesus' suffering, from His dreadful scourging to His 

death on the Cross, lasted nearly seven hours. The nearly seven hours of 

Jesus' great suffering foreshadows the nearly seven years of the Church's 

great suffering. 

    In John's Gospel the time frame emphasized is over three hours: from the 

sixth hour to Jesus' death (John 19:14.31). These hours see the most intense 

period of Jesus' suffering, when He was crucified. From the Gospels of 

Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we know that Jesus was on the Cross about 

three hours.  Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land