Can John's Passion chronology be reconciled with that of the Synoptics?

Question

Background:

Over the centuries, many readers of the four Gospels have seen significant discrepancies between John and the Synoptics, particularly with regards to chronology. This has led many to conclude that John and/or the Synoptics are in error with regards to their historical claims.

Meanwhile, others have ardently defended the position that all four Gospels are historically accurate in their claims, as this answer indicates.

It is interesting to note that there is strong evidence that John was aware of the Synoptic tradition at the time of writing his Gospel, and assumed his original audience was also familiar. (See here for example.) This leads to an obvious question: did John accidentally goof up his chronology, or did he intentionally deviate from the Synoptics... or is his chronology actually in harmony with that of the Synoptics? This question will explore the latter possibility.

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More Specifically:

A recent question on this site (and its ensuing comments and chat conversations) exposed a few such alleged contradictions between John and the Synoptics. They are all related to the Passion chronology. The main difficulties are as follows:

• The Synoptics indicate that Jesus ate the Passover with His disciples at the normal time (Matt. 26:16-20, Mark 14:12-17, Luke 22:7-15.) However, John 18:28 indicates that after Jesus was betrayed, the Jews were concerned about being prevented from eating the Passover due to defilement. Why would they be worried about such a thing if the Passover had already taken place?

• Furthermore, John 19:14 indicates that Jesus was sentenced during the "day of preparation of the Passover". How could Jesus be sentenced during the preparation for the Passover if He ate the Passover with His disciples?

• Mark 15:25 states clearly that Jesus was crucified "at the third hour", and all three of the Synoptic Gospels have Him on the cross well before the sixth hour (Matt. 27:45, Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44) However, John 19:14 indicates Jesus' sentencing took place at "about the sixth hour". How could He be crucified before He stood before Pilot?

The Question: Is it possible for John's passion chronology be reconciled with the Passion chronology from the other three Gospels? If so, please include a chart showing how the relevant verses relate to one another, and then specifically address the three issues mentioned above.

Answer 1

Short Answer: Yes, it is definitely possible for John's chronology to be reconciled with that of the Synoptics. As the following chart shows, the sequence of Passion events recorded in John is in perfect harmony with the sequence in the Synoptics. When John's terminology is properly understood, it becomes clear that John's chronology does not contradict that of the Synoptics, but actually strengthens and adds further clarity to it -- particularly for the audience he was writing to.

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The difficulty is not in the sequence of events, but in properly understanding the terms John used to locate those events in time. The key to understanding John's choice of terms lies in the historical context of the Gospel.

Historical Context of the Gospel of John

Audience: The best we can tell, John probably wrote his Gospel somewhere around 85 AD in Asia -- probably Ephesus.¹ We can get a bit more specific about his audience by examining literary clues:

John explained Jewish customs, translated Jewish names, and located Palestinian sites. These facts suggest that he was writing for Gentile readers who lived primarily outside Palestine.²

Of course, Rome ruled the land in those days, so John would have had to translate much of this Jewish material before his Gentile ("Roman") audience could understand it.

Relationship to the Synoptics: As mentioned in the question, there is strong evidence that both John and his intended audience were intimately familiar with the Synoptic tradition. John's Gospel was thus supplementary in nature, written for a theological purpose, rather than to rehash the historical details they were all already familiar with. This is why John doesn't spend his time rehashing Jesus' genealogy, birth, baptism, temptation, calling of the twelve, exercising demons, parables, transfiguration, agony in Gesthemane, ascension, etc. In fact, it is estimated that 93% of the material in John is unique to John.³

He focused on Jesus' ministry in Jerusalem, the Jewish feasts, Jesus' private conversations with individuals, and His preparation of His disciples.⁴

John 18:28

This verse indicates the Jews feared that they might be defiled, and thus precluded from eating the Passover. The semantic range of the term "the Passover" includes "the Feast of Unleavened Bread", as seen elsewhere in Scripture:

Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. -Luke 22:1

This view is supported by both modern commentators and ancient Jewish sources. For example, one esteemed commentator (citing the Mishnah) recently explained:

The "Passover" was the name that the Jews used to describe both the Passover proper, and the entire festival that followed it, which included the Feast of Unleavened Bread . . . Part of the feast was the offering of two peace offerings, called the Chagigah—one on the Nisan 14 and one on Nisan 15, the latter being the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Jewish law was very strict that no one who was defiled could offer the Chagigah.⁵

Thus, John 18:28 seems to simply be indicating that the Jews were concerned that they would not be able to eat the Feast / offer the Chagigah.

Why did John use the term "the Passover", rather than "the Feast"? Probably to highlight the irony of the situation: the Jews go to great lengths to preserve their participation in the Passover Feast while, at the same time, going to great lengths to betray the True Passover.

John 19:14a

The beginning of the verse says that it was now "the day of preparation of the Passover." The term "the day of preparation" is a single word in Greek (παρασκευὴ) that normally referred to "Friday" (which is the day of preparation for "Saturday," the Sabbath.)⁶ In John's day, παρασκευὴ had become the colloquial name of the 6th day of the week. ⁷ So, the most natural rendition of the statement would be "the Friday of the Passover."

Given that this is the preferred interpretation exegetically, and that it aligns perfectly with the chronology of John, as well as the Synoptic witnesses, there is no reason to suspect that it means anything different. This apparent contradiction only exists in modern English.

Why did John use the term "the day of preparation" of the Passover? Probably to help his readers understand the Jews' request to break the legs of the condemned in verses 31-36; they couldn't have people hanging on crosses on that Sabbath, "for the day of that Sabbath was great" (being associated with the Passover.) Again we see the irony of the Jews' high view of the Passover festival, and disregard for the True Passover.

John 19:14b

The verse goes on to specify that "it was about the sixth hour" when Pilate brought Jesus out and told the Jews "Behold, your King!" The important question to answer here is: by which clock? At the time of the writing of the Gospel of John the Romans were using a system of reckoning time which would have placed "the sixth hour" at about 6:00 AM,⁸ as evidenced by recovered Roman legal documents.⁹ So, was John using the Jewish calendar, the Roman legal calendar, or did he just goof up on a very specific timestamp?

There are a number of reasons to favor the view that John was using the Roman legal calendar here:

• Recall that John's late-century, Gentile audience was most likely more Roman than Jewish in culture, and so it is likely that the term "the sixth hour" would mean 6:00 AM to them -- especially in reference to Roman legal matters.

• Recall that John and his readers were already familiar with the Synoptic tradition. It would be very odd for John to blatantly contradict that tradition with no explanation. (It would be even more odd for John to accidentally make such a specific mistake!)

• Recall that most of John' material served to supplement the Synoptic tradition. The idea of John adding a "Roman legal" timestamp to clarify the timing of this event for his readers is highly consistent with the nature of this Gospel.

• "The sixth hour" (by the Roman legal calendar) was the exact time at which the Romans typically began their legal work.¹⁰ Given the haste of the Jews in capturing Jesus and bringing Him to Pilot, and the fact that Jesus was captured in the middle of the night, it makes perfect sense for them to get him to Pilot first thing in the morning -- and for John to highlight this!

• This would not be the first time that John's Gospel displayed a more "Roman" focus than the Synoptics. In fact, we have another example in the very next verse:

The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." -John 19:15

This reference to Caesar only appears in John.

• If John was using the Roman legal calendar, John's Passion chronology aligns perfectly with that of the Synoptics (refer to chart.) We're not talking about a solution that makes it possible to reconcile the accounts, we are looking at a legitimate, historically-vetted definition of the term that fits exactly with everything else we know about the Passion chronology.

Why did John use the term "the sixth hour" to refer to 6:00 AM? Because that was the term his audience would have been familiar with in regards to Roman legal matters, and being the start of the Roman legal workday, it highlighted the Jews' haste in driving Pilot to sentence Jesus first thing in the morning.

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^{1: D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991, 82-87; Dr. Thomas L. Constable, Notes on John: 2013 Edition, http://www.soniclight.com/constable/notes.htm (accessed February 6, 2013), 2-3}

^{2: Constable, 6}

^{3: Constable, 4 citing Edwin A. Blum, "John." In Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament, 267-348, Edited by John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (Wheaton: Scripture Press Publications, Victor Books, 1983), 269}

^{4: Constable, 4}

^{5: Constable, 281 citing Pesahim 6:3 from The Mishnah. Translated by Herbert Danby (London: Oxford University Press, 1933) . . . cf. Flavius Josephus, The Works of Flavius Josephus, Translated by William Whiston (London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1866); reprint ed. Peabody, Mass.: (Hendrickson Publishers, 1988), 14:2:1; 17:9:3; See also Carson, 589-590}

^{6: Carson, 603 citing Charles C Torrey, "The Date of the Crucifixion According to the Fourth Gospel", Journal of Biblical Literature, 50:4 (1931), 241; A. J. B. Higgins, "The Origins of the Eucharist", New Testament Studies 1 (1954-55), 206ff; Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, New International Commentary on the New Testament series (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971), 776-777}

^{7: Constable, 292 citing Torrey, 241; Higgins, 206-8; B. F. Westcott, The Gospel According to St. John: The Authorised Version with Introduction and Notes (London: James Clarke & Co., Ltd., 1958), 1:343; Harold W. Hoehner, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, Contemporary Evangelical Perspectives series (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1977), 70}

^{8: Constable, citing Westcott, 2:324-26; and R. V. G. Tasker, The Gospel According to St. John: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries series (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1960), 209}

^{9: Constable, citing Morris, 708}

^{10: Constable, citing A. N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963), 45}

Answer 2

Leviticus 23 begins with the definition of the Sabbath day, and then equates the Sabbath with the "appointed times," which are the holy convocations (or the feasts and festivals). In other words, most (but not all) of the Jewish feasts and festivals were declared automatic Sabbath days in the Law of Moses, which means that even though they may not fall on the last day of the week, they are still Sabbath days. So in theory, if the Day of Atonement fell on a Wednesday (for example), then that day of Wednesday would be a Sabbath day even though that day happened to fall in the middle of the week.

So the following feasts and festivals are Sabbath days, which are "holy convocations" in which "you shall not do any laborious work."

For example, we begin in Leviticus 23:4-14, and read that...

15 Nisan = Feast of Unleavened Bread (Sabbath Day)
16 Nisan = Festival of First Fruits (non-Sabbath Day)

No laborious work was to occur on 15 Nisan (Lev 23:7). We therefore see the explicit reference to "Sabbath" in Lev 23:11, that is, the Festival of First Fruits occurs immediately AFTER the "Sabbath," which in this immediate context is 15 Nisan.

In other words, the reason that 15 Nisan is a Sabbath day is not because it was supposed to fall automatically each year on the last day of the week (which it does not), but because that particular day was a "holy convocation" wherein "no laborious work" was to occur (Lev 23:7).

Therefore 15 Nisan is a Sabbath Day.

It is actually a "floating" Sabbath Day, because year-to-year (like other Jewish festival and feast days), this feast falls on a different day every year.

So if we assume that Jesus Christ was crucified in the morning of 15 Nisan (Friday), then he was crucified on what the Hebrew Bible would have to call a Sabbath Day. That is, this day was not a Sabbath because it was connected to the last day of the week, but because of the definitions outlined in Leviticus Chapter 23 concerning the "appointed times of holy convocation," which included the holy feasts and festivals.

So, to wrap up, the following graph depicts not only what the Hebrew Bible would say was the chronology (with respect to the "Sabbath" of 15 Nisan), but, in keeping with Jesus's allusion to Jonah in the Hebrew Bible, Jesus was in the grave for three days and three nights, if we use the Hebrew Bible's interpretation of what happened to Jonah.

So Bible interpreters must decide: is the normal and plain interpretation of the Hebrew Bible relevant to the chronology of the Passion of Jesus Christ? In other words, the plain and normal reading of the Hebrew Bible indicates that 15 Nisan was a Sabbath Day, and that Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights. These facts therefore carry into the Christian New Testament, if and when we use a normative and plain hermeneutic.

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QUESTION 1: The Synoptics indicate that Jesus ate the Passover with His disciples at the normal time (Matt. 26:16-20, Mark 14:12-17, Luke 22:7-15.) However, John 18:28 indicates that after Jesus was betrayed, the Jews were concerned about being prevented from eating the Passover due to defilement. Why would they be worried about such a thing if the Passover had already taken place?

ANSWER 1: Exodus 12:17 indicates that the "observance" of the Feast of Unleavened Bread occur on 14 Nisan. (Thus while this date is not the actual Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is 15 Nisan, it is nevertheless the FIRST day that the "observance" of the Feast of Unleavened Bread can occur.) Exodus 12:18 then indicates that this bread be eaten at evening, because of the 14 Nisan Passover (Num 28:16-17). So gospel passages like Matthew 26:16-20 or Mark 14:12-17 or Luke 22:7-15 speak to this day - 14 Nisan, which is the FIRST day that the "observance" of the Feast of Unleavened Bread can occur. That is, this date (14 Nisan) was the time --at dusk-- when the Passover commenced, and thus was a "Day of Preparation." So, to answer the question, Passover HAD NOT occurred in Matthew 26:16-20 or Mark 14:12-17 or Luke 22:7-15.

QUESTION 2: Furthermore, John 19:14 indicates that Jesus was sentenced during the "day of preparation of the Passover". How could Jesus be sentenced during the preparation for the Passover if He ate the Passover with His disciples?

ANSWER 2: Jesus ate the "Last Supper" with his disciples during the first hours of 14 Nisan, which would have been between (say) 7:30 p.m. and midnight -- that is, the Last Supper occurred during the "evening" (Mark 15:42), which is the time AFTER sunset (Mark 1:32). As noted in the ANSWER 1 (above) the Law of Moses permitted the "observation" of the Feast of Unleavened Bread to occur on 14 Nisan (Ex 12:17), which is actually the day before the actual Feast of Unleavened Bread. The problem is that the consumption of Unleavened Bread was supposed to happen late that day as part of the consumption of the meat of the Passover lamb (Ex 12:18, Lev 23:5, and Nu 28:16). In other words, Jesus was able to comply with the Law of Moses, because he declared that the "meat" of the Passover meal was NOT an actual lamb that was sacrificed for Passover, but that the Unleavened Bread itself constituted his body, which was the "meat" for this Passover meal. Therefore there was no actual lamb meat at the Last Supper, because Jesus declared that the Unleavened Bread was the "meat." (In fact, the blood of this "meat" was the wine.) So there was "meat" at the Last Supper, which made the Last Supper an actual bona-fide Passover meal notwithstanding that this was an "early" Passover meal on that day. This "meat" (or Passover sacrifice) was "broken" -- please see diagram, above.

QUESTION 3: Mark 15:25 states clearly that Jesus was crucified "at the third hour", and all three of the Synoptic Gospels have Him on the cross well before the sixth hour (Matt. 27:45, Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44) However, John 19:14 indicates Jesus' sentencing took place at "about the sixth hour". How could He be crucified before He stood before Pilot?

ANSWER 3: In John 19:14 Pilate presented Jesus to the people "at the sixth hour." Later that same day "at the sixth hour" darkness fell upon the whole earth (Luke 23:44). So in the case of Pilate, we see Roman time (sixth hour = 6 a.m.) and in the latter case the Jewish time (sixth hour = 12 noon). Therefore Jewish time is in view in Mark 15:25 (third hour = 9 a.m.).

Answer 3

Question

Can John's Passion chronology be reconciled with that of the Synoptics?

Answer:

A "High Day", (John 19:31), is indicative of a "High Holy Day Sabbath".

There were two Sabbath's that week.

Whichever day of the week a High Holy Day fell on - that day was a Sabbath, (See Wikipedia: Special Sabbaths) - even if the very next day was also a Sabbath too.

Explanation, from Summarized from another Post:

1. "The Time of the Passover" doesn't mean that it was the Passover Feast - right then.
2. There were Two Sabbaths that week: a regular seventh day Sabbath, and a High Holy Day Sabbath.

Answer 4

I will address only the first two issues in the question, regarding dates. The bottom line of my answer is that John is factually accurate and that he intentionally deviated from the Synoptics for the purpose of noting important theological meaning, not for the sake of dating accuracy itself.

There are two possible chronologies, which I will call C14 and C15.

C14: Crucifixion on 14 Nisan. It implies, with Nisan dates reckoned as per the Jewish official calendar:

• 13 Nisan: from Wed. sunset to Thursday sunset.
• 14 Nisan: from Thursday sunset to Friday sunset.
• 15 Nisan: from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset (regular weekly Sabbath).
• The Last Supper was held one day before the time of the Passover meal according to the Jewish official calendar.
• Jesus died when the Paschal lambs where being sacrificed in the Temple.
• The information about dates provided by John is factually accurate, while that provided by the Synoptics is not.

C15: Crucifixion on 15 Nisan. It implies, with Nisan dates reckoned as per the Jewish official calendar:

• 14 Nisan: from Wed. sunset to Thursday sunset.
• 15 Nisan: from Thursday sunset to Friday sunset.
• 16 Nisan: from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset (regular weekly Sabbath).
• The Last Supper was held at the time of the Passover meal according to the Jewish official calendar.
• The information about dates provided by the Synoptics is factually accurate, while that provided by John either is not accurate or requires heavy hermeneutic work to make it compatible with the Synoptics.

Whereas two previous detailed answers to this question, by Jas 3.1 and Joseph, argue for C15, I will argue for C14. Specifically, I will argue that there is some key information in John which cannot be made compatible with C15 and which they have not taken into account in their answers.

First of all, for the purpose of this discussion I will assume an agnostic position about the year of the Crucifixion, as the issue of the Crucifixion being either on Friday April 7, 30 AD or on Friday April 3, 33 AD is wholly irrelevant to the subject of this discussion.

I will assume as an agreed starting point that when Jews refer to a specific date as "the Passover" they mean 15 Nisan, so that when they date an event as occurring "six days before the Passover" they mean that the event occurred on 9 Nisan. This is key for my argument because John dates a specific event that way: the supper that Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha made for Jesus in Bethany, during the course of which Mary anointed Jesus:

Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they made Him a supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. Therefore Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.”

The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. (John 12:1-9. NASB.)

Now, lets reckon the day of week of that supper in both possible chronologies working backwards:

C14:

• 15 Nisan: from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset (regular weekly Sabbath).
• 14 Nisan: from Thursday sunset to Friday sunset.
• 13 Nisan: from Wed. sunset to Thursday sunset.
• 12 Nisan: from Tuesday sunset to Wed. sunset.
• 11 Nisan: from Monday sunset to Tuesday sunset.
• 10 Nisan: from Sunday sunset to Monday sunset.
• 09 Nisan: from Saturday sunset to Sunday sunset.

In this chronology, the event is perfectly compatible with Sabbath observance for both the hosts of the supper and "the large crowd of the Jews" that went from Jerusalem to Bethany to see Jesus and Lazarus.

C15:

• 16 Nisan: from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset (regular weekly Sabbath).
• 15 Nisan: from Thursday sunset to Friday sunset.
• 14 Nisan: from Wed. sunset to Thursday sunset.
• 13 Nisan: from Tuesday sunset to Wed. sunset.
• 12 Nisan: from Monday sunset to Tuesday sunset.
• 11 Nisan: from Sunday sunset to Monday sunset.
• 10 Nisan: from Saturday sunset to Sunday sunset.
• 09 Nisan: from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset (regular weekly Sabbath).

In this chronology, the event is wholly incompatible with Sabbath observance for both the hosts of the supper and "the large crowd of the Jews" that went from Jerusalem to Bethany to see Jesus and Lazarus, as the distance from Jerusalem to Bethany exceeds what Jews are allowed to travel on a Sabbath.

Since I stated the teleological side of my argument, i.e. the reason why John intentionally deviated from the Synoptics, as the purpose of noting important theological meaning, and as the straightforward theological meaning in C14 and not in C15 is that in the former Jesus died when the paschal lambs where being sacrificed in the Temple, my argument would be strengthened if I could show that John provides another chronological coincidence between the paschal lambs and Jesus. And indeed he does.

Let's quote John's narrative of Jesus' entrance to Jerusalem, which follows right after the supper in Bethany:

On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.” Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, “FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.” (John 12:12-15. NASB.)

Thus, Jesus entered Jerusalem on 10 Nisan. Let's read now the instructions in Exodus for the preparation of the paschal lamb:

Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. (Exodus 12:1-6)

Thus, on 10 Nisan the large number of lambs that were being kept grazing in the fields around Jerusalem for the feast were brought into the city so that each household could buy one for themselves. Therefore, Jesus entered Jerusalem at the same time as the paschal lambs were entering the city.

Answer 5

Absolutely. In fact I just finished a work on this very thing. Each gospel presents the authors own perspective and this according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The passion of Christ according to John and the synoptic Gospels all tell there perspective in a narrative style that has chronological And conceptual elements to them. because of this they can easily be tied together into a coherent whole. There is definitely a turning point after the upper room where the passion becomes epilogue in nature in all four Gospels. The resurrection being more like an entry to the next stage in history and beyond. The bodies of the four gospels are different in order style and format because they are not really interested in historicity as much as recording the teachings of Jesus in a format that could easily be grasped by their intended audience. The birth narratives also coincide like the death and resurrection narratives. I can prove it through and through. Its my life's work. I would present some of my work but I am in the process of developing the curriculum to go with it and don't want to let the cat out the back till all is completed. One day I will.

Answer 6

Chronology of the last day
Start with the chronology of the last day because, if that can not be harmonised between the synoptics and John, the longer-term contradictions are probably also indefensible.

Mark's Gospel clearly tells us that Jesus was taken to be tried by Pontius Pilate "as soon as it was morning" - the first hour, by both Jewish and Roman reckoning. He was then crucified at the third hour, and "gave up the ghost" on the ninth hour.

Mark 15:1 (ESV): And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate.
Mark 15:25: And it was the third hour ⁴ when they crucified him. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
⁴ _{That is, 9 a.m.}

I begin with Mark's Gospel because this was the first New Testament gospel to be written, but Matthew has the same chronology:

Matthew 27:45-46: Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Compare John chapter 19:

John 19:14-16: Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour³. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.
³ _{That is, about noon}

The synoptic gospels tell us that the crucified Jesus on the third hour, which was 9 o'clock. John tells us Pilate sent Jesus away for crucifixion on the sixth hour, which was 12 noon.

Some attempt to harmonise the two accounts by saying that John used Roman time, while the synoptic used Jewish time, but this is is a misunderstanding of how time was recorded in the ancient world. E. G. Richards describes in Mapping Time how shadow clocks were used to divide the hours of daylight up into exactly 12 hours of variable length according to the season. This simple method was used throughout the Mediterranean area.

Certainly the Romans began their day at midnight (as we still do) and the Jews began their day as sunset, but these do not affect the measurement of daylight hours. Even if it did, why would John have Jesus sent for crucifixion at 6 AM, while Mark (also written for a gentile audience) has Jesus crucified at 9 AM?

The last days
In the synoptic gospels, the Last Supper was the Passover feast:

Mark 14:1: It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread ...
Mark 14:12-16: And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

In John's Gospel, Jesus was crucified on the day before the Passover. Returning to John 19:14, we see Pontius Pilate addressing the Jews before sending Jesus to be crucified:

John 19:14: Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

Conclusion
It is not possible for John's passion chronology be reconciled with the Passion chronology from the other three Gospels. The two versions have Jesus crucified at different times and on different days in regard to the Passover feast.

Answer 7

Can John's Passion chronology be reconciled with that of the Synoptics?

Most definitely, YES! The Bible is God's Word. There are no contradictions in the Bible. See an article and a calendar about Passion Week at: Passion Week and Passion Week Calendar.