John 12, Jesus anointed at Bethany, the triumphal entry.

We are now at A.D. 30.

Spikenard is still available ( and still expensive)

The most important week in history is about to begin.

This raises one question:

Passover A.D. 30 was the most important in world history, so let us find out the exact date. To find out we must know about

The Jewish calendar is luni-solar. Leap months occur in year 3,6,8,11,14,17 and 19  to make Passover occur early spring. The keys on a piano can help memorize which year has a leap month. (The Muslim calendar on the other hand is strictly lunar, so the month of Ramadan occur 11 days earlier every year, making 103 Muslim years every century).

We must synchronize time with a total solar eclipse, which gives the perfect time for starting a Jewish new month. There was a perfect Solar eclipse in 2006.

There is a second source for solar eclipse calculations

The eclipse had its maximum 11 37 A.M. Nov 24 A.D. 29 over Jerusalem (solar time)

But there is one more twist in the calculations:

Now back to the biblical narrative:

Prophecy from Psalm 118:²⁵ Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord: O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. ²⁶ Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord, and from Zechariah 9:⁹ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

The sign was not that he rode on a donkey. Lots of people rode on donkeys. No the sign was that the donkey colt was unbroken, and that was the sign.

Isaiah 53:1-5 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? ² For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. ³ He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. ⁴ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. ⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Is 6:⁸ Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. ⁹ And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. ¹⁰ Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.