Letter to the Congregations: 4th April 2026
 

Our Dear Brethren,

“But He answered and said to them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here’” (Matthew 12:39-41).
 

When we read through the story of Jonah we read the prayer of a desperate man who was swallowed by a fish and taken into the depths of Mediterranean Sea. His description was as if he had been buried alive in a watery grave: “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard by voice. For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me; all Your billows and Your waves passed over me” (Jonah 2:2-3). Jonah’s experience looked forward to the day when Jesus would be placed in His tomb for the same amount of time.
 

This year the timeline of the Passover lines up with the timeline of the Passover in the year that Jesus was crucified and placed “in the heart of the earth.” Jesus kept the Passover on a Tuesday evening, taking the last sip of Passover wine He would have until after His return. That night He was betrayed, seized, severely beaten, crucified, and his side was pierced. After Jesus died His spirit returned to His Father and His body was quickly taken down, wrapped in burial cloths, and laid in a tomb as the sun was setting and the 1st Day of Unleavened Bread was about to begin. That means Passover on a Tuesday at sunset, crucifixion on a Wednesday, the 1st Day of Unleavened Bread on a Thursday. Jesus was raised from the dead exactly three days later as the sun was setting at the end of the weekly Sabbath.
 

When our current timeline lines up with the timeline we see in Scripture I think it can help us more clearly understand the timing of the events surrounding the crucifixion of our Savior. Hopefully it brings the Passover and this Feast deeper meaning for us. “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’” (John 2:19).
 

Our love is with you,
 

Lewis VanAusdle

Pastor, United Church of God

NYC, NJ, CT, Malawi, Zimbabwe