April 1, 2026
Easter is this Sunday, and I’ll get to that momentarily, but did you know that this year – 2026 closely resembles the year of Jesus’ crucifixion? You know I love history, but in case you don’t, I’ll keep this brief.
April 3, AD 33 is widely considered one of the strongest candidates for the actual date of Jesus’s crucifixion, and 2026 comes unusually close to replicating the same calendar pattern. Multiple independent lines of historical and astronomical evidence converge on Friday, April 3, AD 33 as a highly plausible date.
The Gospels place the crucifixion on a Friday during Passover. Passover fell on a Friday only in a few candidate years—AD 30 and AD 33 being the strongest. Jesus died under Pontius Pilate (AD 26–36). His ministry began after John the Baptist in the 15th year of Tiberius (AD 28–29), and John’s Gospel records three Passovers, implying a ministry of at least two years.
Taking all of these things, plus some lesser critical pieces of information into consideration, many biblical historians and astronomers argue that April 3, AD 33 at about 3 PM best fits all known data.
2026 aligns surprisingly well with the AD 33 pattern. Good Friday in 2026 falls on April 3 — the same weekday/date combination as the proposed crucifixion date. 2026 is also a common year starting on Thursday, which matches the structure needed for April 3 to land on a Friday.
While everything is not absolutely perfect, 2026 is one of the closest modern parallels to the AD 33 timeline, especially in the Western Christian liturgical calendar.
None of that actually matters when it comes to the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus, but I find it interesting that this year, somewhat, intersects with the year Jesus was crucified, buried and raised from the dead. This means that we may very well be celebrating Jesus’ resurrection on the actual date of His resurrection 1,993 years ago. Pretty incredible!!!
So let me ask you, have you invited family and friends to join you this weekend? I’m sure that many already have a home church where they will celebrate, but for those who don’t, let me encourage you to invite them. And as I said last Sunday, I’ll even give you the entire invitation script – ready? Here it is:
Hey, I’m going to church to celebrate Easter this Sunday. Would you come and sit with me?
That’s it? That’s it. Researchers tell us that over 80% of those invited will say yes. So take a chance and invite someone. It could very well be the beginning of the most wonderful life change they’ll ever experience.