The offering of the wafe sheaf is closely related to Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Resurrection of the Messiah
In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover.
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. Lev.23:5-6 .11
The symbolism is very powerful. Just as the first omer of barley was offered as the firstfruits of the entire harvest, so too the resurrection of the Messiah was a firstfruits from the dead. Paul refers to this image with the words
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 1 Cor.15:20
The first sheaf of the harvest as a wave offering represents the raising of the Messiah from the dead. The preordained day of the barley sheaf harvest (Omer) always coincides in the lunisolar calendar with the resurrection of the Messiah.
Both Philo and Josephus agree that the wave offering was made three days after the Passover, that is, on day 16/month. Josephus, himself a member of the priesthood in the temple, reports in Jewish Antiquities
":On the second day of Unleavened Bread, which was the sixteenth day of the month [Abib], they partake of the fruits of the earth for the first time, for before that day they do not touch them.... They likewise, in partaking of the first fruits of the earth, offer a lamb as a burnt offering to G-d."
Source:: Antiquities of the Jews 3:10:5
Similarly, Philo, another first-century Jewish eyewitness, reports
"There is also a feast on the day of the Passover, which follows after the First Day, and this has the name sheaf [Omer], because of what occurs on that day; for the sheaf is brought to the altar as a firstfruits..."
Source: Philo, Apologia pro Judaeis
Quite differently, however, if one assumes a calendar with uninterrupted weekly cycle and assumes as date for the wafe sheaf offering the Sunday during the days of the unleavened bread. There the distance between the 15th day and the day after the Sabbath can be already several days.
Thus again e.g. the United Church of G-d (UCG) writes
The wave offering was offered on Sunday within the Days of Unleavened Bread. Consequently, the offering of the wave offering in 2013 took place on March 31, a Sunday, since the Passover on March 25 fell on a Monday.
March 31 would have already been day 6 of the unleavened bread. But this day does not coincide with the resurrection of the Messiah, because retroactive.
The opposite case occurs in those years in which the Passover falls on a Saturday, since then the counting of Pentecost would begin on the first day of unleavened bread.
Again, this day does not coincide with the resurrection of the messiah, since it was brought forward.
Another article, for example, of the Christian Churches of G-d (CCG), "The swinging of the firstfruits sheaf" writes
The produce from the new harvest was not allowed to be eaten until the day after the Sabbath when the waving of the sheaf was completed. This did not take place on a Sabbath (Shabbaton) of the Holy Festival, but following the weekly Sabbath (or Shabbat).
As we can see in detail in the previous post, however, the first day of unleavened bread is not a shabbaton from a biblical point of view
the word shabbathown occurs in the description of the day 7/week, the 4 holy feast days of the month 7, and the land Sabbath (Sabbatical year). In contrast, the word shabbathown is not used for the Day of Pentecost nor for the two Holy Days of Unleavened Bread.
The first fruit wave sheaf offering of barley was always waved on the 16th day of Abib
and he shall lift up the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you. On the morrow of the first day the priest shall lift it up. Lev.23:11 LXX
Our Messiah is called the first fruits of them that sleep
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 1 Cor.15:20-23
The Apostle Paul also stated in the same chapter, that the Messiah was buried and rose the third day according to the Scriptures
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 1 Cor.15:3-4
If He really did rise according to the Scriptures on the third day, the only sequence that fits the typology of YHVH’s festivals is the 14, 15, 16 sequence during the month of Abib. Nowhere is there a 72-hour first fruit wave sheaf.
Many Bible students assume, based on the statement in Matthew 12:40, that the crucifixion took place on a Wednesday and that the Messiah rose from the dead on Saturday afternoon. But this is not in accordance with the scriptures of the Old and New Covenants. The “three days and three nights” are believed to include exactly 72 hours during which the Messiah was dead.
At the same time, many believe that the Messiah arrived in 31 C.E. was crucified. This assumption of a Wednesday crucifixion this year is correct if one further assumes that at the time of the Messiah the Jews used the same uninterrupted weekly cycle as our modern Roman-Papal Gregorian calendar. Because the Gregorian calendar is based on the year 31 CE. back, the 14th of the biblical month Nisan/Abib (which fell on the Julian-Gregorian April 25th in the year 31) falls on a Wednesday! However, such an assumption is incompatible with the clear statements in the Bible.
The day of the crucifixion was neither a “Friday” nor a “Wednesday.” It was the sixth day of the biblical week, the 14th day of the biblical month.
The first sheaf of the harvest as a wave offering symbolises the resurrection of the Messiah from the dead.
In addition, He offered his first fruits to the Father on this day
And the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and entered the holy city and appeared to many. Mt.27,52-53
He not only rose from the dead on the first day, but also ascended into heaven on the first day, when the priests were offering the omer - the sheaf or firstfruits.
This is why the writers of the Gospels emphasise the
day after the Sabbath, Lev 23:15b
or the first day on which the sheaves were sacrificed, which was a prophetic foreshadowing of Yeshua's resurrection and ascension to His Father in heaven,
Jesus said to her, "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brothers and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my G-d and your G-d. John 20:17
to be accepted as the first of the firstfruits of those resurrected from the dead; cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23.