Gospel close-up · stated days and feasts
Jesus’ ministry:
from baptism to resurrection
Follow the stated days, named feasts, and three explicit Passover seasons without stretching an unnamed feast into a date the Gospel does not supply.
01
Opening months
Baptism, forty days, and the road to Jerusalem
Before Passover · CY 3951 · about AD 29Luke places the opening in Tiberius’s fifteenth year. The stated forty days and John’s day notices carry the sequence toward the first Passover.
Opening marker
John begins preaching
Luke 3:1–3
King James Version“Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar… the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.The Roman regnal marker introduces John’s ministry.
Before Passover
Jesus is baptized
Luke 3:21–23
King James Version“Jesus also being baptized… And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.The baptism precedes Jesus’ thirtieth-birthday Passover in the working chronology.
40 days stated
Jesus is tempted in the wilderness
Luke 4:1–2
King James Version“And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.The forty days are an explicit interval.
Day notices
John testifies; the first disciples follow
John 1:29, 35, 43
King James Version“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him… Again the next day… The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.John preserves successive day markers.
The third day
Water is made wine at Cana
John 2:1–2
King James Version“And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee… And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.John supplies another stated day marker.
Not many days
Jesus remains briefly at Capernaum
John 2:12
King James Version“After this he went down to Capernaum… and they continued there not many days.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.The exact number of days is not stated.
02
First Passover · 29th Jubilee
The first named Passover after the baptism
Nisan · CY 3951 · about AD 29 · Jesus age 30This is the Passover eighteen years after Luke’s age-twelve Passover in the working chronology. Jesus is thirty at the feast, and the project’s established fifty-year count identifies this Nisan year as the twenty-ninth Jubilee year.
Passover 1
Jesus goes up to Jerusalem
John 2:13
King James Version“And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.The first explicit Passover of the public ministry.
At the feast
Jesus cleanses the temple
John 2:15–16
King James Version“And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple… make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.John places this action at the opening Passover.
Jerusalem
Nicodemus comes by night
John 3:1–3
King James Version“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus… The same came to Jesus by night.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.The conversation follows the Passover signs.
Afterward
Judean ministry and John at Aenon
John 3:22–23
King James Version“After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea… And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.Both ministries are active before John’s imprisonment.
Journey north
Jesus passes through Samaria
John 4:3–4
King James Version“He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.The Samaritan woman and the two-day stay occur here.
03
Between Passovers
Galilee, teaching, signs, and an unnamed feast
CY 3951–3952 · about AD 29–30Many Synoptic events have no stated month. Their broad place is clear, but individual events should not be dated more exactly than Scripture allows.
Galilee
Jesus announces the kingdom
Mark 1:14–15
King James Version“Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.John’s imprisonment marks a transition.
Galilee
The Twelve are appointed
Mark 3:13–14
King James Version“And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would… And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.The precise month is not stated.
Teaching
The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 5:1–2
King James Version“And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain… And he opened his mouth, and taught them.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.Shown in the Galilean period without an invented month.
Feast unnamed
Jesus heals at Bethesda
John 5:1, 8–9
King James Version“After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem… Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.John does not name this feast. Its identity remains under review.
Placement under review04
Second Passover
Five thousand fed near the second named Passover
Nisan · CY 3952 · about AD 30John explicitly says the Passover was nigh. The feeding, crossing of the sea, and bread-of-life discourse form a connected sequence.
Passover 2 near
Jesus feeds about five thousand
John 6:4, 10–11
King James Version“And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh… So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.The second explicit Passover marker.
That evening
Jesus walks upon the sea
John 6:16, 19
King James Version“And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea… they see Jesus walking on the sea.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.John joins this directly to the feeding.
The following day
The bread-of-life discourse
John 6:22, 35
King James Version“The day following… Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.Another explicit next-day notice.
05
Autumn and winter
Tabernacles and the feast of the dedication
Tishri through winter · CY 3952–3953John names both later feasts and identifies the winter season at Dedication. These markers carry the narrative toward the final Passover.
Tabernacles
Jesus teaches at the feast
John 7:2, 14
King James Version“Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand… Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.A named autumn feast following John 6.
Dedication · winter
Jesus walks in Solomon’s porch
John 10:22–23
King James Version“And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.The feast and season are both stated.
Before final Passover
Jesus raises Lazarus
John 11:43–44
King James Version“And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.This leads into the council’s plot and Passover approach.
06
Final Passover
Six days before Passover through the resurrection
Nisan · CY 3953 · about AD 31The third explicitly identified Passover closes the public ministry. From the first named Passover to this one are two full years.
Passover 3 near
The final Passover approaches
John 11:55
King James Version“And the Jews' passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.The third explicit Passover marker.
Six days before
Jesus comes to Bethany
John 12:1
King James Version“Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.John begins a tightly dated final sequence.
The next day
Jesus enters Jerusalem
John 12:12–13
King James Version“On the next day much people that were come to the feast… took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.The entry follows the Bethany supper.
Passover week
Jesus is crucified
John 19:16–18
King James Version“Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified… where they crucified him.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.The Gospel accounts govern the final-week sequence.
First day of the week
Jesus rises from the dead
John 20:1, 16
King James Version“The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early… Jesus saith unto her, Mary.”Read the full chapter →Tap the reference again to close.The resurrection opens the apostolic witness.
Chronology register
Items still under review
The biblical sequence and internal Creation/Nisan count remain distinct from Gregorian conversion and from events whose exact month is not stated.
The AD 29–31 labels are working historical conversions shown alongside the internal Nisan years and the twenty-ninth Jubilee placement.
Scripture states the forty days and later day notices, but not the exact interval joining the end of the temptation to John 1.
The feast is unnamed. Its identity and exact position remain open; it is not silently counted as another Passover.
Many miracles, parables, and journeys belong within the broad ministry periods, but their precise month and order require individual review.
The final Passover is provisionally shown about AD 31 because it follows two years after the working AD 29 first Passover.
The chronology establishes Jesus at age thirty by the first ministry Passover; Scripture does not state the exact day of his birth.
What the feast markers show
Two complete years—portions of three Nisan years
John names three Passovers during the public ministry. The first and third are two years apart. Because the baptism, forty-day temptation, first disciples, Cana, and Capernaum precede the first Passover, the entire ministry is longer than two years while touching portions of three Nisan calendar years. The page shows the evidence rather than simply repeating “three and a half years.”
Read the Jesus chronology study →