In a move that has sent bonfires of indignation roaring throughout the Catholic Church, knighted Cambridge physicist Sir Colin Humphreys has claimed the day Jesus had The Last Supper with his disciples was on Wednesday, April 1, AD 33, not Thursday, as is traditionally celebrated.
Renown for his contribution to science, Sir Colin has used a combination of astronomy and ancient texts (such as the Dead Sea Scrolls) to make his claims, further stating the Gospels have been misinterpreted, as “we don’t understand sufficiently life in the first century AD”.
If that wasn’t enough to blow the calottes right off the heads of most Catholics, Sir Colin added “biblical scholars don’t tend to be very mathematical”.
While many scholars have responded, calling him a “bumptious British bullshit artist”, Sir Colin’s methods have, on the whole, been widely recognised for their integrity.
In fact, his theory explains apparent inconsistencies between the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke – which label The Last Supper a Passover meal; and John – dictating Jesus being tried and executed before the Jewish festival. Furthermore, Sir Colin’s theory explains why the Bible hasn’t allowed enough time for events to be recorded between The Last Supper and the Crucifixion.
Indeed, many eyebrows have now been raised, especially after Sir Colin added that Jesus celebrated Passover using a calendrical system dated before the Jewish exile to Babylon, which some have labelled “a damn good spot of lateral thinking”.
Riding high this week on the release of his new book, The Mystery of the Last Supper, Sir Colin states the reason Jesus chose not to use the official Jewish calendar, was because he was “really reaching out to all sorts of people”.
While suspicion has been drawn to Sir Colin’s proposed new date as falling on April Fools, others appear to find accord with this reinterpretation of Jesus’ intentions.
For today, Melbourne’s The Age reports Catholic Priest Father Bob Maguire, who is the patron of InterAction – a faith network that encompasses Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Sikhs, pagans and even agnostics – is sending the same message. The unification of all.
Sir Colin and Father Bob are now being hailed as the true messengers of Jesus before Earth’s ‘coming’, or alleged spiritual awakening, which many believe will occur on Dec 22nd of next year.
Meanwhile, Leonardo da Vinci is set for further posthumous recognition this week when he enters the Guinness World Records – for having the most mysteries surrounding an artistic collection ever recorded.