Pineman,
I agreed with "most" of what you said. Jesus died on Wednesday. Three days and three nights does equate to 72 hours. Jesus died at 3 in the afternoon. But, I believe the prophecy says Jesus will be in the grave for three days and nights (72 hours) not be dead for 72 hours exactly. This is a minute point, but it makes a huge difference.
If Jesus died at 3PM and Joseph then went to Pilot to ask for the body, then Pilot sent a soldier to check to see that Jesus was dead, and the soldier had to go out and return and report.....and then Joseph had to go back out and collect Jesus and take Him to the tomb and then wrap His body, place Him in the tomb, roll the rock in place.....are you getting the picture I am drawing here??!!?? It took several hours to get Jesus moved, prepared, placed in the tomb and sealed. It was probably right at sundown if all went well. So, therefore, Jesus was actually buried just at the start of the new day (sundown.) This makes your 72 hours work out perfectly. He rose at or near sundown on Saturday night which is early Sunday by Jewish reckoning.
Hope this helps.
Dan Cooney