This whole argument is a bogus one that has been perpetuated in the last 200 years, primarily by Sabbathkeepers who want to label the rest of Christianity as false, and to bolster up support for their observance of Saturday.
Read the book Three Days and Three Nights by Ralph Woodrow. He taught the same view that Sabbathkeepers teach; that Christ died on Wednesday afternoon and rose on Saturday afternoon. He recanted his position after careful examination of the facts.
Christ died on the Preparation Day. Preparation day is a direct reference to Friday. It is never used in reference to an annual festival. He was in the grave Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until morning.
Those who claim that Wednesday was a preparation day for Thursday, which was the first day of Unleavened Bread, are in error. The Israelites were allowed to prepare their food on the first day of unleavened bread. Read Exodus 12:16. The "preparation day" referred to food preparation. If anyone can find any incident where a preparation day was referring to anything else, I'd like to see it. If they can find any incident where a preparation day was observed prior to a festival, and not the weekly Sabbath, I'd like to see it.
In fact, you can find very few references to any festival day being called a Sabbath even in the OLD TESTAMENT.
Christ was crucified on Friday. The following day was the first day of Unleavened Bread, and it was ALSO the weekly Sabbath. He was resurrected on Sunday, sometime before Sunday morning.
There is a Hebrew idiomatic phrase in which "in three days" refers to the day after tomorrow, and it is perfectly consistent with what Christ said.
The only real "problem" verse is Matthew 12:40. The other 20 verses in this regard are in perfect alignment with the idiomatic phrase.
By the way, the word in John 19:31 for Sabbath is sabbaton, and it is UNDENIABLE that it has a weekly context. In fact, sabbaton is translated "week" in other contexts. So, it was talking about Saturday, the weekly Sabbath.
See this word study:
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4521&t=KJV
John 19:31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the
Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
In addition, church history since the first century made references to the details in regards to this.
So, the question is, do you base your doctrine on one single verse and your understanding of it, or the preponderance of the evidence, and church history? If you're a Sabbathkeeper or person who wants to cast rocks at orthodox Christianity, you're going to select the first option. You have a vested interest in discrediting orthodox Christianity. It fits your conspiracy theory views.
For those who are open-minded I'd suggest reading Ralph Woodrow's book "Three Days & Three Nights". He held the same views on this topic, and changed his mind after studying it in more depth. This book explains the problems with the Wednesday - Saturday view very well.
There are cults who use this topic to discredit the rest of Christianity. Some Hebrew Roots and Messianic Jews and Armstrongites (Restored Church of God, Philadelphia Church of God, United Church of God, and tons of other Churches of God) are part of those. Don't fall for their foolishness. They, like many other rogue Christians, think that they were placed here on earth to straighten out the rest of Christianity. Their arguments are full of logical problems which can be refuted.
