The Jews planned to kill and crucify Jesus but God saved Jesus. This is described in the Quran:
"And
their saying (the Jews):
'We
killed Messiah I'esa, son of Maryam, the Messenger of Allah
(God)' - but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but was his resemblance.
And those who differ therein are full of doubts, they have no (certain)
knowledge, they follow nothing but conjecture. For surely; they killed
him not. But Allah raised him up unto Himslef. And Allah is All-Powerful,
All-Wise." (Quran 4:157-158)
A question is raised by the
above verse: Is there doubt in the crucifixion of Jesus as the Quran states?
"Jesus himself stood in their midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you.... But they were terrified, and supposing that they were seeing a spirit. And he said unto them:
'Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a spirit has no flesh and bones, as you see me have.' And showed them his hands and feet. And while they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said unto them:
'Have ye here any meat?' And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and of a honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them." (Luke 24:36-43).
Two this understood from the verses:
1. The disciples where shocked
to see Jesus, in flesh and bone.
2. Jesus asserts that he
was not a spirit and that he was flesh blood. He asserts that by
letting them feel him and by eating.
The disciples of Jesus were scared because they were not EYEwitnessess or EAR-witnesses to the actual happenings of the crucifixion on the previous three days, as described by St. Mark who says that at the most critical juncture in the life of Jesus, "they all forsook him and fled." (Mark 14:50). All the knowledge of the disciples regarding their Master was from hearsay. They had heard that their master was HANGED ON THE CROSS; they had heard that he had GIVEN UP THE GHOST; they had heard that he was DEAD AND BURIED. A logical conclusion is that they were seeing a ghost. However, Jesus comforts them, telling them he is not a spirit, but he is flesh and blood.
The fact that Jesus was flesh and blood is what creates some of the doubt. According to the Bible, after the resurrection :
"Neither shall they die any more: for they (the resurrected bodies) are equal unto the angles, and the children of God, for such are the children of the resurrection.' (Luke 20:36)
The
verse explains that resurrected bodies will be 'angelized' or spiritualised,
and will become spirit-creatures. However, Jesus states that he
is flesh not a spirit ( i.e. he has not been resurrected).
"It
was the third hour, and they crucified him." (Mark 15:25)
"It
was the sixth hour, and he was not crucified yet." (John 19:14)
Another is the place where Jesus was put.
"They
put Jesus on the cross." (Mark 15:21)
"They
put Jesus on the tree." (1 Peter 2:24 see also Gal. 3:13)
And, doubt in how Judas
died:
"Judas
went and hanged himself." (Mathew 27:5)
"Judas
fell headlong, and burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed
out." (Acts 1:18)
"Master, we would see a sign from thee" Jesus replies:
"An
evil and adulterous generations seeketh after a sign; And there shall no
sign be given to it, but the sign of the Prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was
three days and three nights in the whale's belly; So shall the son of man
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Mathew 12:39-40).
We understand the following
from the above verses:
1. Jesus Christ stands
or falls by the only sign (i.e. miracle) he was prepared to give: the
special sign similar to that of Jonas.
2. The sign of Jonas is:
Jonas lived inside the whale for 3 days and 3 nights.
3. The sign that Jesus is
going to give: remain buried in the earth for 3 days and 3 nights.
Although, the sign of Jonas states that Jonas lived in the whale, Christians believe that Jesus died and was dead while fulfilling the sign, we will not argue that point there . Christians say that: it is the time factor that Jesus was stressing.
The whole Christian world
believes that Jesus was crucified on Friday afternoon. According
to the Gospel, the Jews were in a hurry to eliminate Jesus. However, as
much as they were in a hurry to hang him on the cross, they were in equal
hurry to bring him down from the cross before sunset on Friday because
of the Sabbath. The Sabbath starts at about 6 p.m. on Friday and
the Jews were warned in Deuteronomy 21:23
that the victim of crucifixion was an "accursed of
God" and was not to be permitted to remain hanging on the Sabbath
day, "that thy land be not defiled which the Lord
thy God giveth thee for an inheritance". To satisfy the religious
scruples of the Scribes and Pharisees the "secret disciples" of Jesus took
down the body from the cross. They gave the body the Jewish burial-bath,
plastered it with "one hundred pounds weight of aaloes
and myrrh" (John 19:39), then placed the shrouded body into the
sepulcher before night-fall.
Furthermore, the Jews (like the early Muslims) considered the day to start after sunset. Which means that Saturday would start on what we would consider in our modern day and age Friday after sunset. Similarly, Sunday would start on Saturday after sunset.
Some argue: any part of the
day is a day! No matter how poor this argument is (since Jonas spent 3
days and 3 nights in full) we shall examine that argument. We shall assume
that Jesus was "dead" and buried before sunset on Friday (and not after).
And that he remained in the tomb until few minutes before Mary Magdalene
examined the tomb on Sunday morning. So, if any part of the day is a day,
then: