Jesus’ Seven Visits to Jerusalem

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We cannot know how many visits Jesus actually made to Jerusalem, but we can know how many are specified in the New Testament. Each time the Gospel narratives tell us of Jesus going up to Jerusalem, it was for a purpose, and that purpose was to celebrate one of the Jews’ annual holy days. To be in Jerusalem during one of the holy day seasons meant there would be many pilgrims there to whom Jesus could preach the Gospel of the Kingdom. Josephus tells us that at the time of the Passover, just before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, there were more than two million pilgrims worshiping in the city.[1] So, one can only imagine how important Jerusalem was for the preaching of the Gospel in the first century AD. Jesus took advantage of great number of pilgrims worshiping there during these seasons and so did the Apostles later, as we are able to understand from the book of Acts.

Jesus’ parable of the unfruitful fig tree (Luke 13:6-9) represents three years of his public ministry, whereby he came to Jerusalem (the fig tree in the parable) seeking fruit. Jesus’ public ministry began in Galilee during the seventh month of the Jewish calendar in the year 27 AD. His first visit to Jerusalem came in John 2:13, during the first month of the Jewish calendar in order to celebrate the Passover in 28 AD. So, the anniversary of the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry would be the Feast of Trumpets or the first day of the seventh month in the Jewish calendar, so when he went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, it would have been six months after that anniversary, which came in the seventh month of the prior calendar year In other words John 2:13 in 28 AD comes six months after Luke 4-6 in 27 AD.

Jesus’ second visit to Jerusalem came during the feast of Tabernacles of 28 AD, but he had to cut his visit short, because the Jewish authorities sought his life (John 5:18). This occurred about about the time of the first anniversary of his public ministry. Sometime in 29 AD Herod Antipas beheaded John the Baptist, and the fourth Gospel tells us that this took place near the Passover season (John 6:4). Therefore, Jesus spent the second Passover of his public ministry in Galilee (29 AD), ministering to the multitudes who had lost their shepherd (Matthew 9:36; Mark 6:34). Therefore, the feast that Jesus celebrated at Jerusalem (John 5:1) had to have occurred before John’s death and the Passover in John 6. Luke also mentions this time of year in Luke 7:36-50. As I concluded in a previous study,[2] Simon the Pharisee is Simon the Zealot, one of Jesus’ disciples. He lived in Bethany and was Martha’s husband, and Mary, the sinful woman in the text, was his sister-in-law. It is inconceivable, if Jesus was only a few miles from Jerusalem that he didn’t visit and teach there in the Temple. So John 5:1-47 occurred during the same season Simon the Pharisee made a feast for Jesus (Luke 7:36-50).

Jesus began the third year (29 AD) of his public ministry in Jerusalem by celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles there (John 7, 8 & 9). Later that same year (but the next calendar year – 30 AD) Jesus went up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover (Luke 9:51 to Luke 10:38-39; cf.13:1-9).

Jesus began the fourth year of his public ministry probably in Galilee, and this actually turned out to be the final six months of his life, because he was crucified before he could complete the fourth year. Since Luke shows Jesus teaching in the synagogues in Luke 13:7, he is no longer at Jerusalem, because, when he was in Jerusalem, he had always taught in the Temple. A few months after the third anniversary of his public ministry (fall of 30 AD), Jesus journeyed for a fifth time to Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (Luke 13:22; John 10:22). He had to retreat, however, to where John had first baptized (John 10:40), because the Jews at Jerusalem sought his life (John 10:31-39). Later, he would return to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Purim in the 12^th month of the Jewish Calendar (31 AD). Nevertheless, Jesus healed ten lepers (Luke 17:12) and nine of them, must have come to Jerusalem before it was time for Jesus to arrive. In the face of such a miracle, it was difficult for the Jewish authorities to arrest him without incurring the wrath of the people. Nevertheless, Jesus left Jerusalem for a short time only to return to Bethany (not Jerusalem) in order to raise Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-57). Afterwards, the authorities pulled out all stops and sought to arrest Jesus wherever he could be found and have him killed as soon as possible.

	Jesus’ Recorded Visits to Jerusalem
	Scripture	Year	Purpose
1	John 2:13	28 AD	Celebrate Passover
2	John 5:1-47; Luke 7:36-50	28 AD	Celebrate Tabernacles
3	John 7:2, to 10:21	29 AD	Celebrate Tabernacles
4	Luke 9:51 to Luke 13:9	30 AD	Celebrate Passover
5	Matthew 19:1-12; Mark 10:1-12; Luke 13:22 to 16:31; John 10:22-39	30 AD	Celebrate Hanukkah
6	Matthew 19:13 to 20:26; Mark 10:13-31; Luke 17:11 to 18:30; John 10:40-42	31 AD	Celebrate Purim; he left but returned to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead. However, because the authorities sought his life, he left for Ephraim without going to Jerusalem following Lazarus’ resurrection. He stayed in Ephraim, until it was time to celebrate the Passover (cf. John 11:1-57)
7	Matthew 20:17 to 27:6; Mark 10:32 to 15:47; Luke 18:31 to 23:56; John 12:1 to 19:42	31 AD	Celebrate Passover and was crucified

Jesus final trip to Jerusalem was begun from Ephraim, just north of Jerusalem (Luke 18:31) to celebrate the Passover, and it was at that time he was crucified (i.e. the 14th day of the first month of the Jewish calendar, which was the day the Passover lamb was slain). My purpose in this particular study is to give a perspective of Jesus’ ministry that we might miss otherwise. Namely, Jesus spent his entire ministry rejected by the Jewish authorities, and he had to be in constant vigilance for his life. We can also see that at least some of the miracles he performed were done to keep the authorities at bay, so that he could move among the Jews and preach the Gospel without being killed, though many threatened his life.

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[1] Josephus: Wars of the Jews (6.9.3)

[2] See Who Is Simon the Pharisee? and Who Is the Unnamed Woman of Luke 7?