JESUS’ EARTHLY MINISTRY

BASED ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN:

NOTING BREAKS IN THE NARRATIVE
IN SETTING PASSOVER DATES

Introduction

The two-fold objective of this short paper is to determine, if possible, the length of Jesus’ earthly
ministry and to fix the time in history when it took place. The four gospels provide the best
evidence on which to make this determination. Having said this, it is also important to consult
Daniel, chapter 9, in which the 69 weeks prophesied with considerable accuracy, when Jesus’
crucifixion would take place (32-33 A.D.).

Confirmation of Daniel’s Timeline

We know a number of very important things about Luke’s gospel. First, it was written in
chronological order (Lu. 1:1-3). Second, it establishes the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry
as “in the fifteenth year of Tiberius”. According to secular history, Tiberius’ accession to the throne
took place on August 19, 14 A.D., thus his fourteenth year in office ended August 18, 29 A.D. and
his fifteenth year began August 19, 29 A.D. and continued until August 18, 30 A.D. (Lu. 3:1).

Now, we need to make some reasonable assumptions about good “baptizing weather”. The early
months of the 29th year, i.e., August, September and early October, would have been suitable for
comfortable baptism by immersion. Then again in May-August of 30 A.D., warm weather would’ve
returned. Thus, we reason that the time between October, 29 A.D. and April of 30 A.D. would
have been too chilly for comfortable baptism.

Now let us assume that John’s ministry and baptizing activities began shortly after August 19, 29
A.D. this being the case, there would have been about a two-month window of warm weather
suitable for comfortable baptizing before the cool months began. Continuing this line of reasoning,
it follows that Jesus’ baptism and earthly ministry began in late summer or early fall of 29 A.D. as
scriptural timelines go, this is a reasonably firm date indeed.

As noted above, Luke’s Gospel was written in chronological order. Also, the other Gospels as
well, are written in more or less chronological order. This is especially true of John’s gospel. One
may say this with a high degree of certainty because John notes several Passovers and other
feast days which may be used to mark the sequence of events in Jesus’ life and ministry.

As mentioned above, there are two periods of warm weather during the 29th year of Tiberius’ reign.
If we assume that Jesus’ ministry began in Spring/Summer of 30 A.D., this proposal would not fit
as well as the earlier one with Daniel’s 69th week prophesy. There are other Scripture scholars
who agree with the scenario of Jesus’ ministry beginning in fall of 29 A.D. and closing in spring of
33 A.D., thus supporting the 3½ year ministry hypothesis. Incidentally, few if any, serious scholars
place the crucifixion later than 33, although a few place it earlier. Some authors actually give two
possible dates in April, 33 A.D.! Thus, considering the evidence at hand, I propose that the spring,
33 A.D. date is the most well- supported date for the crucifixion.

At this point, it is interesting to note that the Synoptic Gospels do not record anything about feast
days until they report the final Passover celebrated by the Lord.

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This being the case, we will use another strategy to try to “synchronize” the four Gospels. Namely,
we will look for events which are recorded in all four Gospels. For our first example, all gospels
record John’s prophesy that Jesus will baptize in the Holy Spirit as follows:
Mt. 3:11; Mk. 1:8; Lu. 3:16 & Jn. 1:33

Second, they also report Jesus’ early Galilean ministry:

Mt. 4:12-17; Mk. 1:14; Lu. 4:14-15 & Jn. 4:3, 43-45

Finally, they report the feeding of the five thousand:

Mt. 14:15-21; Mk. 6:35-44; Lu. 9:12-17 & Jn. 6:5-14

These incidents are the only ones reported in all Gospels and they cover only the earlier part of
Jesus’ ministry. However, we may be able to use them to clarify the early events reported in
John’s Gospel.

In order to use the sequence of events in John’s Gospel to establish time markers, I thought it
worthwhile to note breaks in the narrative which appear to mark the passage of some amount of
time. Thus, the following breaks are noted (in blue) for later consideration.

Chapter 1

1-18-prologue
19-27 John, the Baptist identified (Fall, 29 A.D.)
Luke 3:21-22 Jesus baptized by John (Fall, 29 A.D.)
(John’s Gospel does not record Jesus’ baptism)

35-51 disciples called,

Jesus earthly ministry begins (Fall, 29 A.D.)
1:51 break 2:1

Chapter 2

2:1-11 Wedding in Cana,

2:6 His hour not yet come
11 break 12
12 to Capernaum a few days-
12 break 13 Capernaum up to Jerusalem

The three breaks noted above probably mark the time between Fall 29 and Spring 30.
13 first Passover (30 A.D.)
14-22- Driving out money-changers
23-25-ref., same Passover as v. 13

Note: in 2:23, it states that Jesus did signs at this Passover. Although a number of breaks in the
narrative take place between 2:23 and 4:45, perhaps these signs are those referred to in 4:45,
where an unspecified feast is mentioned. The NIV translation calls this feast Passover, although it
is unspecified in the Greek. The feast mentioned in 5:1 is also unspecified in the Greek and most
modern versions. An alternative explanation of these events is given below.

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2:25 break 3:1 - Nicodemus

Chapter 3

3:1-21 Nicodemus
21 break 22
22-36 Baptizing; ministry begins
3:36 break 4:3-Judea to Samaria

Chapter 4

4:4-42 with the Samaritan woman

Matt. Mark Luke John

4:12-16 1:44 4:44 4:3, 43-45
early Galilean ministry

45 ref. Feast - Passover of v. 1:13, 22-25?

or second Passover? (31 A.D.)

It is uncertain which Passover is referenced here. However, the three breaks in the narrative after
the first Passover make it possible that it is the second Passover. Therefore, in order to “force fit”
the information to the 3½-year timetable, we shall assume that it is the second Passover.

46-54 official’s son healed.

4:54 break 5:1

Chapter 5
1 Feast - Pentecost or Tabernacles?

Note: in Judaism there are three pilgrimage feasts when all Jews are required to go up to
Jerusalem to celebrate. These are Passover (March or April), Pentecost, i.e. Feast of Weeks (May
or June) and Tabernacles, i.e., Booths (September or October). In the narrative described in v. 2-
9, people are waiting to go into the pool of Bethesda to be healed. The narrative also says that “at
certain seasons” an angel stirs up the water, at which time the first one in is healed. Could these
be the three pilgrimage feast seasons? Since Passover takes place in cold weather (see Jn. 18:18
& 25, which also took place during Passover), one might speculate that the people would be
uncomfortable dipping in a cold pool at Passover time. Pentecost and Tabernacles take place in
warmer weather, which would make the dip more comfortable.

Following this line of reasoning, perhaps the feast of v. 1 is either the Pentecost or the Tabernacles
after the Passover in 2:13 & 23.
5:47 break 6:1

Chapter 6

6:4 third Passover (32A.D.) ?

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Feeding the Five Thousand
Matt. Mark Luke John
14:15-21 6:35-44 9:12-17 6:5-14

6:1-71 in Galilee, feeding the crowd, walk on water bread of life, etc.

Chapter 7

6:71 break 7:2 feast of Booths, Oct.

7:53feast ends, people go home
7:6, 8 time not yet come
8:1 apparently a short time later

Chapter 8

Note 7:53-8:11 not in best manuscripts

7:52 break 8:12
8:20 hour not yet come

Chapter 9

8:59 break 9:1-45 a blind man sees

9:45 break 10:1
Chapter 10

10:1-21 the Good Shepherd

10:22-39 the Feast of Dedication (Dec.)
10:39 break 40-42 to beyond Jordan
10:42 break 11:1

Chapter 11

11:1-44 Lazarus raised from the dead

11:53-54 – Jesus to Ephraim
11:54 break 55

Note that seven breaks in the narrative and two declarations that His time had not yet come have
taken place between the third (6:2). And fourth (11:5) Passovers. Thus it is certain that they
cannot be the same Passover.

11:55 Final Passover (33 A.D.)

12:23 The hour has come!

Note: from chapter 11 onward, John’s Gospel is devoted to the events related to Jesus’
preparation of himself and his disciples for Palm Sunday, Holy Week, Good Friday, Easter and the
post-resurrection events.
Conclusion

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In the beginning of this paper, we set out to establish

1. the length of Jesus’ earthly ministry and

2. the time in history when it took place.

However, New Testament Scripture does not give us year, month and date information about the
events recorded therein. Therefore, we need to build on the Scriptural information given, by
applying secular history, logic and probability to arrive at the most reasonable timeline construction
possible. Having done this as described above, we are able to say with some confidence that
Jesus’ earthly ministry began in the Fall of 29 A.D. and ended in Spring of 33 A.D. That being the
case, His ministry was 3 ½ years long. Although we cannot know for sure, these dates appear to
be more logical than those of any other scenario.

Thus, in His short time on earth, the Lord Jesus taught us the principles of Godly living, purchased
our salvation on the cross and showed us the way to eternal life with Him. Praise, glory and honor
be to Him, now and forevermore!