Shabir on when Jesus was crucified

Shabir claims that Mark and John contradict each other on the time Jesus was actually crucified:

> "It was the third hour when they crucified him." Mark 15:25
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> "It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. 'Here is your king,' Pilate said to the Jews." John 19:14

First, John does not contradict Mark since John does not mention when Jesus was actually crucified. John only points out that Jesus' trial before Pilate where Pilate petitioned the crowd in deciding Christ's fate occurred at the sixth hour.

Furthermore John may have been using Roman time, with Mark using Jewish time. In light of this, John would be suggesting that Christ's trial before Pilate took place at 6:00 A.M. Mark would then be implying that the actual crucifixion occurred several hours later at 9:00 A.M.

Mark 15:25 (cf. John 19:14)—Was Jesus crucified in the third hour or the sixth hour?

Problem: Mark’s Gospel account says that it was the third hour (9 a.m. Jewish time) when Christ was crucified (15:25). John’s Gospel says that it was about the sixth hour (12 noon Jewish time) when Jesus was still on trial (19:14). This would make His crucifixion much later than specified by Mark. Which Gospel is correct?

Solution: Both Gospel writers are correct in their assertions. The difficulty is answered when we realize that each Gospel writer used a different time system. John follows the Roman time system while Mark follows the Jewish time system.

According to Roman time, the day ran from midnight to midnight. The Jewish 24 hour period began in the evening at 6 p.m. and the morning of that day began at 6 a.m. Therefore, when Mark asserts that at the third hour Christ was crucified, this was about 9 a.m. John stated that Christ’s trial was about the sixth hour. This would place the trial before the crucifixion and this would not negate any testimony of the Gospel writers. This fits with John’s other references to time. For example, he speaks about Jesus being weary from His journey from His trip from Judea to Samaria at the “sixth hour” and asking for water from the woman at the well. Considering the length of His trip, His weariness, and the normal evening time when people come to the well to drink and to water their animals, this fits better with 6 p.m., which is “the sixth hour” of the night by Roman time reckoning. The same is true of John’s reference to the tenth hour in John 1:39, which would be 10 a.m., a more likely time to be out preaching than 4 a.m.

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