Did Jesus really die on this date and time—or is that just a viral claim?
This year, Good Friday falls on April 3, and social media is buzzing with posts saying, “This is the exact day and hour Jesus died!”
Many Catholics are asking if that’s actually true or just a guess.
Catholic apologist Jimmy Akin has done some fascinating “biblical detective work” and argues that we can get surprisingly specific: he proposes that Jesus likely died around 3 p.m. on Friday, April 3, A.D. 33.
He wrote a fascinating article for the National Catholic Register in 2013. Here’s a quick, easy breakdown of how he gets there—and why we still want to be humble about what we can and can’t know for sure.
So… Can We Really Pinpoint the Exact Day Jesus Died?
Akin doesn’t just pull a date out of nowhere. He stacks several historical and biblical “clues” together:
1) The High Priest: Caiaphas
The Gospels say Jesus was condemned under the high priest Caiaphas (Matthew 26:3-4; John 11:49-53). Historical sources place Caiaphas’s tenure as high priest from A.D. 18 to 36. Therefore, the crucifixion must have occurred within that timeframe.
2) The Roman Governor: Pontius Pilate
All four Gospels agree that Pontius Pilate ordered Jesus’ crucifixion (see
