It is traditionally taught that the ministry of Jesus on this world is 3 to 3.5 years. However, after careful consideration of all events described in the gospel and the prophecy about Jesus ministry on earth, we can comfortably conclude that His ministry on earth was just 1 year.
Passover is only mentioned once in all gospels (in the below chapters) except the gospel of John.
Matthew 26
Mark 14
Luke 22
In all the above 3 gospels, the only Passover mentioned during His ministry is the Passover He kept just before His crucifixion.
However, in the gospel of John, it is mentioned thrice.
(John 2:13-14, 23) Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business. … Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.
John 6:4-5 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”
John 11, 12, 13, 18, 19 – this is the last Passover before His crucifixion which is also mentioned in the other gospels.
Identifying the Passover in John 2:13-14
The event mentioned just before the Passover in John 2:13-14 is also mentioned in the other gospels before the only Passover mentioned.
Matt 21:12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
Mark 11:15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
Luke 19:45 Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it,
Hence, the Passover mentioned in John 2:13-14 is same Passover mentioned in other gospels. However, John mentions this in the beginning indicating that the gospel of John is not chronological.
Identifying the Passover in John 6
The event mentioned just before the Passover in John 6, that is feeding the 5000 is also mentioned in the other gospels in the following chapter/verses.
Matt 14:17 And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”
Mark 6:38 But He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”
Luke 9:13 But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.”
This seems that there is another Passover. However, after looking carefully in gospel of John, the very next chapter (which is 7), speaks of the feast of Tabernacle.
John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
John 7:1-2 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.
The date difference between the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles is roughly 6 months. There is also a feast mentioned in chapter 5 (which may or may not refer to the same Passover feast). As we saw earlier, the gospel of John is not strictly in chronological order and this Passover could very well be the final Passover mentioned in other gospels.
Hence, there is no significant evidence from the gospels to prove that Jesus Christ’s ministry on earth was 3.5 years.
Luke 4:17-21 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Further, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, it is the acceptable year of the Lord not “acceptable years”. The non chronological order of events in John must not mislead in counting the number of years of Christ’s ministry on earth. Hence, Jesus Christ’s ministry on earth was only one year as prophesied by Isaiah.
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Vincent Ruello
3 years ago
John is in Chronological order, the 2nd Passover mentioned has now been verified by the calendar discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls revealing a 2nd Passover festival one month after the Passover of the 14th of Aviv and yes I agree His ministry was 1 year
Sorry, Tamara, but your zeal for the infallibility of Scripture is not supported by the facts, nor by the Bible itself!
Tamara Mattson
2 years ago
Another consideration is that the Jews celebrated two Passover’s in a year. The second Passover of the year was held the second month of the year after the first month of Passover. It was for those that were unclean or were unable to attend the first month Passover. Read chapter 9 of Numbers. Specifically Numbers 9:11.
If this is the case and I believe it is- then the ministry of Jesus was one year and the book of John is chronological! Any conflict we have with scripture- KJV. Lies with us. Scripture is true!
Time line doesn’t add up with feeding of the 5000 being in the 6th month before the day of Trumpets. I am told RCC added in John 6:4 to help a theory and try to remove the Jewishness of Jesus.
Passover was referred in verse 4 to show how Jesus is the bread who came down from heaven. John 6:51 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
Dear Tamara, you are my heroine!!! I´ve always thought that this feeding of chapter VI John has to do something with people who are sinners! Because it is stated in Mark and Matthew why Jesus eats with sinners. Now YOU gave me finally the missing link! God bless you! Consider please Zacharias chapter 1, where is the 24th of the 11th month stated. Exactly 62 weeks in a leap year leads to the 14th Nisan!!! Then the Messiah according Daniel will eradicated. Eradicated from ex radix means LIFTED UP from the GROUND or taken AWAY from the ground, OUT OF THE ROOTS. This was in a double sense: His own people delivered him away to the gentiles, this is what is meant when the Jewish bible talks about a “soul shall be eradicated from Israel”. This has nothing to do with extermination but to take away someones roots. The other sense is, that they cut the connection of Jesus with his feet to the ground. If this fanatical antichrist Rabbi Tovia Singer could understand, I´ve always my trouble with him on Youtube. Jesus is THE ONLY POSSIBLE MESSIAH. There could be no other, because ONLY HE meets ALL the prophecies! God bless you, for your help, you´ve opened my eyes!!! Greetings PC
Hello, sorry for the VERY late answer! I saw this question just right now.
Okay, first 62 weeks is 7*62=434 days. Add this to the 24th of the 11th month and you get 458th day of the 11th month. Odd Hebrew months have 30 days (3+0=3, 3 is odd, 29, 2+9=11, 1+1=2, 2 is even, just as a little help) so we deduct 30 days. 458/11-30=428/12-29=399/1-30=369/2-29=340/3-30=310/4-29=281/5-30=251/6-29=222/7-30=192/8-29=163/9-30=133/10-29=104/11-30=74/13-30=44/12-29=15/1
Remarks: If you cant inclusive, as usual, then the 24th of the 11th month was the first day and the 434th day is 14/1 => Nisan first. Also note, that the Jews add the leap month Adar II BEFORE the regular Adar I. So the 13th month comes after the 11th and is followed by the 12th month. It is maybe a little complicated but with this method you cant go wrong!
PS In my excitement I almost forgot the most important thing: John tells about the Passah that is near but he speaks about barley bread. This could only be an excact information about the bread. But it could also be a hint. I always had problem, becaus harvest of barley is in April but the Passover is also in April. So how could the feeding be BEFORE the passover but in April. It is possible indeed. But if THIS passover is in May, then there is no problem at all. The barley harvest is over and they made bread BEFORE the beginning of May and the second passover.
passover is calculated for after the barley is ripe. if it isn’t ripe in time for the sheaf offering, an extra month is added.
god calculates his years by the season, as they appear by the new moon. men invented a calendar with constant and predictable dates.
But in Genesis 1v14 we read: “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:” So the Sun and the Moon tell us, when to add a leap month in the OBSERVATION calendar you mention. When day and night have the same length more then 12 day before the New Moon that leads to Nisan 1st, then we have 353, 354 or 355 days. If we have between more then 12 days, we have NO leap year. But we can assume, that when we have between 12 and 22 days before the first spring New Moon, that we have in the following year a leap year. The Meton cycle is NOT invented by humans! 235 lunar months with 29,530594 days (middle value) is with 6939,68959 days the same like 19 solar years with 365,2425 days 6939,6075 days. There is a little difference. Thats why the Jews have the rules with 353, 354 and 355 (383, 384 or 385) days, still they claim, it is because that Tischri 1st does not fall on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday. “Coinsidence” maybe. But from the year 3761 BCE until today Tischri 1st has only moved slightly from September 7th (middle value) to beginning of October. So it is a very accurate calendar. Of course you are right, that observation calendars are the accuratest calendars! But the Jewish and the NeoJulian or Revised Julian Calendar achieve almost the same accuracy. And they are based on the divine maths that God implemented when he created the Universe!
Thank you Tamara for showing yourself approved unto God by Studying His Word! I feel like the only person that digs into the entire Word of God for the answers. Jesus is the Lamb of God not the Sheep of God. When I bring up Numbers 9 to Pastors/Teachers where I fellowship they look at me as if they have never read the Old Testament. The Gospel of John is precisely chronological! And I also agree with you that any conflict we have with scripture lies with us. Scripture is true! God Bless!!!
Sam Overduin
2 years ago
I am just learning about this. A Passover lamb had to be a lamb of 1 year (Exodus 12:5 “…a male a year old;…”)without any blemish. If so this would have had to have been a requirement? No?
This is amazing! I had this question today and I found your page today. This is min-blowing! Thank you so much
Aubrey Zhang
2 years ago
The real problem is not John 6:4 but Daniel chapter 9 concerning the anointed one would be cut off in the middle of the last 7, which is 1260 days. How do you explain that?
I did some study on Daniel 9/The 70 Weeks a while ago found at Bible Study section. Daniel never mentions 1260 days and the connection between Revelation and Daniel for those 3.5 years and 1260 days (though identical) are still based on some assumptions.
Good question but looking at the Septuagint clarifies this: In Daniel 9:26 the angel says “AFTER the 62 weeks the Messiah will be cut off but not for himself.” The middle of the week you are referring to is 9:27 in our translations say, “Then He shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering…” This is incorrectly translated–I am not a Greek scholar but in the Greek Septuagint there is no subject and it reads “The covenant shall be established with many and in the middle of the week the sacrifice and oblation shall be taken away.” There is no “he” in either sentence and this verse is not referring to Jesus. Eusebius wanted to teach that God was done with the Jews so he had to come up with an explanation of how the prophecy in Daniel 9 was finished so– 3 1/2 years till Jesus crucified and another 3 1/2 years till the stoning of Stephen and then voila! The prophecy is fulfilled and finished and now God has all his dealings with the church only.
Karen
2 years ago
I read Luke 4:18-19 today, and it became clear to me that the prophecy read by Jesus was referring to a literal year of the Lord’s favor (only one year of his ministry). Then I realized that there is no proof in scripture that his ministry was 3+ years long. Then I googled it and found this website. Now “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” makes a lot more sense.
Yoel Salguero (Guatemala)
1 year ago
In other words, in John 6.4, we have a Yeshua who breaks the Torah and celebrates a fictitious “Passover”, far from the temple, with 5,000 MEN doing the same, following him to Capernaum, risking their worship of YHWH by not going up to Jerusalem?
Then we see this Yeshua, a spiritual anarchist, preach in Capernaum: “and I will raise him up at the last day..”
It is more certain that this party is Yom Truah and not the Passover…
Furthermore, in the time of Clement of Alexandria (about 150 years before Eusebius of Caesarea invented a Ministry of 3 and a half years), it was indeed believed in a Ministry of 1 year, along with Origen, Tertullian, Lactantius, Philastrius, Gaudentius, Evagrius, Orosius and Ephraem. In their manuscripts there was no verse 4 of John 6, this Passover was later declared as NOT PRIMITIVE AND NOT GENUINE.
P.S. Translated into English from comment made in Spanish.
I don’t think the passover in John 6 is a later addition since John’s intention in his gospel is not about a chronological account but rather to show Jesus is the Son of God. Hence, John mentioning two events with passover as a reference is not a problem.
It is not an addition Dead Sea Scrolls clearly show a second Passover one month later to cater for the sick and those who could not make it to Jerusalem at Passover
John is in Chronological order, the 2nd Passover mentioned has now been verified by the calendar discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls revealing a 2nd Passover festival one month after the Passover of the 14th of Aviv and yes I agree His ministry was 1 year
You don’t need outside sources like Dead Sea scrolls to confirm just read and search the scriptures-Bible-Numbers 9:11 the Bible stands alone.
Sorry, Tamara, but your zeal for the infallibility of Scripture is not supported by the facts, nor by the Bible itself!
Another consideration is that the Jews celebrated two Passover’s in a year. The second Passover of the year was held the second month of the year after the first month of Passover. It was for those that were unclean or were unable to attend the first month Passover. Read chapter 9 of Numbers. Specifically Numbers 9:11.
If this is the case and I believe it is- then the ministry of Jesus was one year and the book of John is chronological! Any conflict we have with scripture- KJV. Lies with us. Scripture is true!
Time line doesn’t add up with feeding of the 5000 being in the 6th month before the day of Trumpets. I am told RCC added in John 6:4 to help a theory and try to remove the Jewishness of Jesus.
Passover was referred in verse 4 to show how Jesus is the bread who came down from heaven. John 6:51 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
Dear Tamara, you are my heroine!!! I´ve always thought that this feeding of chapter VI John has to do something with people who are sinners! Because it is stated in Mark and Matthew why Jesus eats with sinners. Now YOU gave me finally the missing link! God bless you! Consider please Zacharias chapter 1, where is the 24th of the 11th month stated. Exactly 62 weeks in a leap year leads to the 14th Nisan!!! Then the Messiah according Daniel will eradicated. Eradicated from ex radix means LIFTED UP from the GROUND or taken AWAY from the ground, OUT OF THE ROOTS. This was in a double sense: His own people delivered him away to the gentiles, this is what is meant when the Jewish bible talks about a “soul shall be eradicated from Israel”. This has nothing to do with extermination but to take away someones roots. The other sense is, that they cut the connection of Jesus with his feet to the ground. If this fanatical antichrist Rabbi Tovia Singer could understand, I´ve always my trouble with him on Youtube. Jesus is THE ONLY POSSIBLE MESSIAH. There could be no other, because ONLY HE meets ALL the prophecies! God bless you, for your help, you´ve opened my eyes!!! Greetings PC
Very interesting observation, But please write how you calculated it … I am very interested in this topic
Hello, sorry for the VERY late answer! I saw this question just right now.
Okay, first 62 weeks is 7*62=434 days. Add this to the 24th of the 11th month and you get 458th day of the 11th month. Odd Hebrew months have 30 days (3+0=3, 3 is odd, 29, 2+9=11, 1+1=2, 2 is even, just as a little help) so we deduct 30 days. 458/11-30=428/12-29=399/1-30=369/2-29=340/3-30=310/4-29=281/5-30=251/6-29=222/7-30=192/8-29=163/9-30=133/10-29=104/11-30=74/13-30=44/12-29=15/1
Remarks: If you cant inclusive, as usual, then the 24th of the 11th month was the first day and the 434th day is 14/1 => Nisan first. Also note, that the Jews add the leap month Adar II BEFORE the regular Adar I. So the 13th month comes after the 11th and is followed by the 12th month. It is maybe a little complicated but with this method you cant go wrong!
PS In my excitement I almost forgot the most important thing: John tells about the Passah that is near but he speaks about barley bread. This could only be an excact information about the bread. But it could also be a hint. I always had problem, becaus harvest of barley is in April but the Passover is also in April. So how could the feeding be BEFORE the passover but in April. It is possible indeed. But if THIS passover is in May, then there is no problem at all. The barley harvest is over and they made bread BEFORE the beginning of May and the second passover.
passover is calculated for after the barley is ripe. if it isn’t ripe in time for the sheaf offering, an extra month is added.
god calculates his years by the season, as they appear by the new moon. men invented a calendar with constant and predictable dates.
But in Genesis 1v14 we read: “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:” So the Sun and the Moon tell us, when to add a leap month in the OBSERVATION calendar you mention. When day and night have the same length more then 12 day before the New Moon that leads to Nisan 1st, then we have 353, 354 or 355 days. If we have between more then 12 days, we have NO leap year. But we can assume, that when we have between 12 and 22 days before the first spring New Moon, that we have in the following year a leap year. The Meton cycle is NOT invented by humans! 235 lunar months with 29,530594 days (middle value) is with 6939,68959 days the same like 19 solar years with 365,2425 days 6939,6075 days. There is a little difference. Thats why the Jews have the rules with 353, 354 and 355 (383, 384 or 385) days, still they claim, it is because that Tischri 1st does not fall on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday. “Coinsidence” maybe. But from the year 3761 BCE until today Tischri 1st has only moved slightly from September 7th (middle value) to beginning of October. So it is a very accurate calendar. Of course you are right, that observation calendars are the accuratest calendars! But the Jewish and the NeoJulian or Revised Julian Calendar achieve almost the same accuracy. And they are based on the divine maths that God implemented when he created the Universe!
Thank you Tamara for showing yourself approved unto God by Studying His Word! I feel like the only person that digs into the entire Word of God for the answers. Jesus is the Lamb of God not the Sheep of God. When I bring up Numbers 9 to Pastors/Teachers where I fellowship they look at me as if they have never read the Old Testament. The Gospel of John is precisely chronological! And I also agree with you that any conflict we have with scripture lies with us. Scripture is true! God Bless!!!
I am just learning about this. A Passover lamb had to be a lamb of 1 year (Exodus 12:5 “…a male a year old;…”)without any blemish. If so this would have had to have been a requirement? No?
Yes, it is certainly possible since Jesus is our Passover Lamb.
This is amazing! I had this question today and I found your page today. This is min-blowing! Thank you so much
The real problem is not John 6:4 but Daniel chapter 9 concerning the anointed one would be cut off in the middle of the last 7, which is 1260 days. How do you explain that?
I did some study on Daniel 9/The 70 Weeks a while ago found at Bible Study section. Daniel never mentions 1260 days and the connection between Revelation and Daniel for those 3.5 years and 1260 days (though identical) are still based on some assumptions.
Good question but looking at the Septuagint clarifies this: In Daniel 9:26 the angel says “AFTER the 62 weeks the Messiah will be cut off but not for himself.” The middle of the week you are referring to is 9:27 in our translations say, “Then He shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering…” This is incorrectly translated–I am not a Greek scholar but in the Greek Septuagint there is no subject and it reads “The covenant shall be established with many and in the middle of the week the sacrifice and oblation shall be taken away.” There is no “he” in either sentence and this verse is not referring to Jesus. Eusebius wanted to teach that God was done with the Jews so he had to come up with an explanation of how the prophecy in Daniel 9 was finished so– 3 1/2 years till Jesus crucified and another 3 1/2 years till the stoning of Stephen and then voila! The prophecy is fulfilled and finished and now God has all his dealings with the church only.
I read Luke 4:18-19 today, and it became clear to me that the prophecy read by Jesus was referring to a literal year of the Lord’s favor (only one year of his ministry). Then I realized that there is no proof in scripture that his ministry was 3+ years long. Then I googled it and found this website. Now “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” makes a lot more sense.
In other words, in John 6.4, we have a Yeshua who breaks the Torah and celebrates a fictitious “Passover”, far from the temple, with 5,000 MEN doing the same, following him to Capernaum, risking their worship of YHWH by not going up to Jerusalem?
Then we see this Yeshua, a spiritual anarchist, preach in Capernaum: “and I will raise him up at the last day..”
It is more certain that this party is Yom Truah and not the Passover…
Furthermore, in the time of Clement of Alexandria (about 150 years before Eusebius of Caesarea invented a Ministry of 3 and a half years), it was indeed believed in a Ministry of 1 year, along with Origen, Tertullian, Lactantius, Philastrius, Gaudentius, Evagrius, Orosius and Ephraem. In their manuscripts there was no verse 4 of John 6, this Passover was later declared as NOT PRIMITIVE AND NOT GENUINE.
P.S. Translated into English from comment made in Spanish.
This is correct and well said!
The passover in John 6 is a later addition to the text.
I don’t think the passover in John 6 is a later addition since John’s intention in his gospel is not about a chronological account but rather to show Jesus is the Son of God. Hence, John mentioning two events with passover as a reference is not a problem.
It is not an addition Dead Sea Scrolls clearly show a second Passover one month later to cater for the sick and those who could not make it to Jerusalem at Passover
Thank you Felix. Great Post! God Bless!