Semana Santa, contradictions in Bible and tradition

Being Spain a Catholic country, I am often surprised by how little the Spaniards know about the Bible. 
I think that the phrase below (from here) summarizes one of the main reasons for this.

• One of the great differences between Protestant and Catholic doctrine is in the area of Tradition. The Protestant church maintains that the Bible alone is intended by God to be the source of doctrinal truth (2 Tim. 3:16). The Catholic Church, however, says, "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God . . ." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 97.).

This means that the traditions of the church is as important as the writings of the Bible. Mostly the traditions add on to what the Bible says (for instance the "perpetual virginity of Mary") but sometimes the tradition even comes in contradiction with the Bible (actually, the "perpetual virginity of Mary" is in conflict with the fact that the Bible mentions siblings of Jesus at a number of occasions).


In those cases that there seem to be a contradiction between traditions (doctrins) and Bible, the Spaniards mostly are not aware about this. They only know about the traditions, not what the Bible says.

Therefore the doubts and conflicts that exist around the Bible in general, and the Holy Week in specific, are by large unknown by the Spaniards.


One of the clearest contradictions  regards which day Jesus actually dies, and when he was resurrected.

• The claim that Jesus died on a Friday is based on the statements that Jesus died on the "preparation day" (Mark 15:42) before the Sabbath, understanding Sabbath as Saturday.
• The claim that he resurrected on Sunday is based on, for instance, Mark 16:2 where it says that "Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise," Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome found the resurrected Jesus
• The claim of resurrection after three days is based on Matthew 12:40 where Jesus says that  "the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" [before resurrecting].

The fact that there are not three days and three nights between Fridy and Sunday doesn't seem to bother anyone.

There are more contradictions regarding the  day of Jesus´ death.

• According to Mark, Jesus was cruzified the day after the Passover meal (the Last supper was the Passover meal). [Mark 14:12, 15:25]
• According to John, Jesus was cruzified before the Passover meal (throughout his Gospel John calls Jesus "the lamb of God" and, at the end, he makes the point that Jesus died at the same time as the Passover lamb is sacrified.)

Other contradictions regarding Jesus last day:


Who carried Jesus' cross?

• Did he get help from Simon of Cyrene? (Mark 15:21, Matthew 27:32, Luke 23:26)
• Or did he carry the cross the whole way? (John 19:17)

What inscription did Jesus' cross have?

• “The King of the Jews.”? (Mark 15:26)
• “This is Jesus the King of the Jews.”? (Matt 27:37)
• “This is the King of the Jews.”? (Luke 23:38)
• “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”? (John 19:19)

Was the women close to the cross, or far away?

• Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. (Mark 15:40)
• Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.  When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"  and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.(John 19:25-27)

Which were the last words of Jesus?

• “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” ( Mark 15:34-37, Matthew 27:46-50)
• “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46)
• “It is finished.” (John 19:30)

What happened just before and after Jesus died?

• At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. (Mark 15:33)
• At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. (Matt 27:51-53)
• darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. (Luke 23:44-45)
• Nothing worth mentioning (John) (One would think that an earthquake that resulted in many people raising from the death would be worth mentioning, even outside the Bible). 

Who discovered that Jesus had resurrected?

• Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome? (Mark 16:1)
• Mary Magdalene and the other Mary? (Matt 28:1)
• Mary Magdalena? (John 20:1)
• Luke just says "the women" without specifying

What happened when Mary Magdalen (and her possible accompanions) went to the tomb?

• According to Mark: They saw that the stone, which was very large,had been rolled away. Inside they met a man in white. The man told them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee to meet Jesus. The women were so afraid that they told nothing to anyone. (So how do we know this if they never told anyone?)
• According to Matthew: The two Mary's saw an angel roll back the stone, causing an earthquake, and sit on it. The angel told the women to that Jesus had risen and that they should tell the discipes to meet Jesus in Galilee.
• According to Luke: The women saw that the stone was removed and entered the tomb. Inside they first saw nobody, but thereafter two men appeared for them. When they bowed in fear the men remembered them that Jesus already had told them that he was to raise on the third day.
• According to John: Mary Magdalena saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance and ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!".  Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb and they saw that Jesus was no longer there.
  First when Peter and the other disciple had gone Mary Magdalena saw two angels, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

The Gospels also describe Pontus Pilatius role very differently, putting more guilt on "the jews" and less guilt on Pontus, as time passed between Jesus' death and the actual writing.