When Did Jesus Die? (Hour)

When did Jesus die? The Gospels do not provide a single, unambiguous, answer.

This issue may be most easily addressed by breaking it down into more specific questions:

what hour of the day?
what day of the week?
what date in the month?
what year?

Hour of the Day

The Synoptics write that Jesus was near death by the ninth hour (Mk 15:34; Mt 27:46; Lk 23:44). In the Fourth Gospel, Jesus is before Pilate at the sixth hour (Jn 19:14). The most common way of counting the hours was to begin at 6 AM. This means that in the Synoptics, Jesus is near death at 3 PM, while in John he has yet to be crucified by noon.

Folks who feel the need to harmonize suggest that John starts his numbering of the hours from midnight, while the Synoptics numbered the hours from 6 AM, as above. John then reports that Jesus is in front of Pilate at 6 AM. This fits more comfortably with Mark’s indication (Mk 15:25) that Jesus was crucified at the third hour, that is, 9 AM.

Since there is no need to harmonize, I am satisfied to say simply that Jesus died sometime in the late afternoon.

Your thoughts?