John 19:14

‘Now it was the Friday (or preparation) of the Passover, it was about the sixth hour.'

The word for ‘preparation' (paraskeue) meant primarily ‘Friday', as it still does in modern Greek, and had done from time immemorial. This was because it was the day before the Sabbath. Thus this need mean no more than that it was the Friday of Passover week. It could, however also mean ‘preparation day', i.e. preparation for a festival, in this case the Passover.

‘About the sixth hour'. This is the comment of someone who vaguely remembers roughly the time of day. There were no watches or public clocks and time was not as important then as it is now. If ‘about the sixth hour' is in Roman time indicating around six in the morning, this would be about 6:00 am on a Friday morning, but it probably means nothing more than a vague ‘early in the day'. If it is Jewish time it is ‘about noon'. In this case it may be simply John's intention to link the time in the reader's mind with the time when the Passover sacrifices could commence, stressing that Jesus is the Passover lamb, without being too specific as to time. The former seems more probable as John appears constantly to use Roman time.

The term ‘paraskeue' could be used for the ‘preparation day' for a festival, and some would see it as referring to the day for preparing for the Passover feast. If in this particular year two Passovers were celebrated on successive days then this could be its meaning, but it is not required by the Greek (see on John 18:28). The idea that John would actually seek to change the well established tradition in the early church, recognised in all three Synoptic Gospels, that this was the day after Jesus' celebration of the Passover, is ludicrous and could only be considered if there were no evidence to the contrary.

The good detective and the good historian do not jump to conclusions on just ‘the obvious'. They try to fit all the pieces together. It is often the unwillingness to reject the clue that appears out of line that results in the truth being discovered. This is the basis of true scholarship (and true detective work).