Section 2 - Addenda

From Baptism to Ministry: A 52-day Bridge

I've suggested a period of 52 days from Jesus' baptism to the beginning of his public ministry. However, Jesus was only in the wilderness for 40 days after his baptism but before he began his ministry. That leaves a discrepancy of 12 days.

After his baptism in the Jordan River, Jesus traveled to a remote wilderness to fast for 40 days and then returned to John. The Scriptures are silent about the length of his travels to and from the wilderness. But consider this: Jesus told his disciples in Caesarea Philippi, located at the headwaters of the Jordan River, that some of them would witness the coming of the Kingdom of God in power. Six days later, the transfiguration took place in a remote wilderness. If we assume a similar journey after Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River, that would mean 6 days to the wilderness, 40 days in the wilderness, and 6 days to return, for a total of 52 days.

The concept of a "Sabbath day's journey" may also be relevant. Jews were only allowed to travel a very short distance on a Sabbath day. So if Jesus' journey was several days each way, we might expect the Sabbath days to coincide with his departure and return. If we take Heshvan 18, 29 C.E. as the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, then the day before (the last day of his journey) was a Sabbath. If we assume that his baptism took place 52 days earlier on Elul 26, 29 C.E., then the next day (the first day of his journey) was also a Sabbath.

We have calculated Elul 26, 29 C.E. and Heshvan/Bul 18, 29 C.E. by using two overlapping periods of 1,288 days, staggered by 52 days. The dates that conclude these two staggered 1,288-day periods are Passover and Pentecost in 33 C.E. Luke reports in Acts 1:3 that Jesus was seen for "forty days" within the 52 days between Passover and Pentecost in 33 C.E. It is noteworthy that the two 52-day periods in 29 C.E. and 33 C.E. exhibit a striking symmetry, with a span of "forty days" of great significance occurring in each case between two specific dates, separated by 52 days.

It is also noteworthy that these two forty-day periods appear to resonate with a third forty-day period between Jesus' birth and his initial appearance with his mother in the temple for the burnt offering and the sin offering, as prescribed by Mosaic Law. ↩︎