History YMMV / TheFourGospels

* JerkassWoobie: Judas has been interpreted as this by some modern readers. While selling Jesus out was obviously a very bad deed, his regret and subsequent suicide [[AlasPoorVillain can elicit some pity]]. The fact his betrayal may have even been preordained by God as a necessary step to ensure Jesus' death and subsequent resurrection can almost make it seem like the guy had no choice but to become a traitor.

** Related to the above, Jesus letting a woman anoint him with expensive perfume over the objections of the disciples, particularly Judas, who say it should have been sold and the proceeds donated to the poor. Jesus says they will always have the poor but they will not always have him. Various works like ''Music/JesusChristSuperstar'', ''ComicBook/TheCartoonHistoryOfTheUniverse'', and ''Judas'' from Creator/BoomStudios present this as a BrokenPedestal moment for Judas who feels that Jesus is being [[{{Hypocrite}} selfish]], and this ultimately helps motivate his betrayal. Left out are the parts in the gospels where Jesus says he was anointed for his coming burial, thus predicting/{{foreshadowing}} his death, and that Judas is said to not really care about the poor since he was StealingFromTheTill.

** A specific one is the case of Judas. The Gospels all say Jesus foresaw that Judas would betray him, but Jesus' words to him in the Gospel of John, "[[GetItOverWith What you are about to do, do quickly]]" is sometimes taken further to mean that Jesus ''ordered'' Judas to betray him beforehand. This interpretation appears in the Gnostic Gospel of Judas, which was never part of the Biblical {{canon}}, and the novel and film ''Film/TheLastTemptationOfChrist'', as well as in many of Creator/ShusakuEndo's novels, including ''Film/{{Silence}}'' (also made into a film by Creator/MartinScorsese who clearly likes the theory very much). Endo noted in ''A Life of Jesus'' that Judas cannot be entirely condemned if his action played a part in Jesus' sacrifice and salvation, and that Jesus' AllLovingHero nature meant that he would have forgiven and pardoned Judas for his actions, which is how he interprets the exchange in the Gospel of John.

** The guy running naked during the arrest of Jesus. Some scholars actually use this as an argument for the historicity of Mark's gospel-- a good author would never include such a bizarrely off-key event at the dramatic high point of the story, unless maybe he was recording something that actually happened. Some even think the guy was Mark himself.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The healing of the centurion's servant and the Parable of the GoodSamaritan have critical context behind them that is often lost on casual readers. A Roman [[UsefulNotes/TheGloryThatWasRome Centurion]], as a military officer, would have been hated by the local Jewish population and seen as a cog in an [[OccupiersOutOfOurCountry occupying force]], while Samaritans were an ethnoreligious group related to the Jews but with difference in theology, and the two groups would sometimes come to violence. Here the centurion is described as humble and genuinely believing in Jesus, despite being a pagan, while the Samaritan shows more kindness and compassion than a priest and a Levite. This message was outright radical for the time.
* ValuesResonance: A major reason why the Four Gospels have endured the test of time is that (most of) the teachings and the overall narrative still resonate today: Jesus is a WorkingClassHero whose Apostles are a RagtagBunchOfMisfits, struggles against a contemporary CorruptChurch in the form of the Pharisees that perverted the Laws to their personal benefit, and ''really'' wants him dead. The teachings encourage pacifism (Jesus is a MartialPacifist at most, but even then He never kills or maims anyone) instead of PayEvilUntoEvil and forgiving people for their mistakes instead of outright [[FelonyMisdemeanor punishing them]], Jesus also treats the Samaritans, an ethnic group that was often discriminated against by Jews, as just as capable of good, if not even more, than a Judean, which was considered controversial at best by the time Jesus lived in, and there's even some parts that can be interpreted as Jesus believing men and women were equal, or at least equally capable of learning the Word of God, which again was not all that common in that era. This is to the point that [[JesusWasWayCool even people who are critical of the Bible and/or religion as a whole tend to respect Jesus and the teachings for the most part]]. Not bad for a millennia-old holy text.

* ValuesResonance: A major reason why the Four Gospels have endured the test of time is that (most of) the teachings and the overall narrative still resonate today: Jesus is a WorkingClassHero whose Apostles are a RagtagBunchOfMisfits, struggles against a contemporary CorruptChurch in the form of the Pharisees that perverted the Laws to their personal benefit, and ''really'' wants him dead. The teachings encourage pacifism (Jesus is a MartialPacifist at most, but even then He never kills or maims anyone) instead of PayEvilUntoEvil and forgiving people for their mistakes instead of outright [[FelonyMisdemeanor punishing them]], Jesus also treats the Samaritans, an ethnic group that was often discriminated against by Jews, as just as capable of good, if not even more, than a Judean, which was considered controversial at best by the time Jesus lived in, and there's even some parts that can be interpreted as Jesus believing men and women were equal, or at least equally capable of learning the Word of God, which again was not all that common in that era. This is to the point that even people who are critical of the Bible and/or religion as a whole tend to respect Jesus and the teachings for the most part. Not bad for a millennia-old holy text.

** Ever hear a gun-toting badass proclaim "[[KillEmAll let God sort them out]]"? Yeah, that originated as a reference to the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares,[[note]]Weeds[[/note]] a rather different context...

* CriticalResearchFailure: The timeline the Gospel of Luke gives for Jesus' birth doesn't add up, since Herod the Great died about ten years before the census of Quirinius happened.[[note]]As recorded in the Roman ''Ab Urbe Condita'' dating system, Herod died in 750 AUC, while the census was around 760. Dionysius Exiguus of Scythia Minor, the monk who invented BC[=/=]AD calendar, placed the birth of Jesus in 754 AUC, putting Herod's death in 4 BC and the census in AD 6, but Dionysius was just looking for an ''approximate'' date for the birth of Jesus to use as the basis of a Christian calendar.[[/note]] Also, there's no evidence that the census required people to register in the home of their ancestors instead of where they actually lived (the whole point of the census was to collect taxes). Either the author misreported things or Joseph was ''deeply'' confused.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The guy running naked during the arrest of Jesus. Some scholars actually use this as an argument for the historicity of Mark's gospel-- a good author would never include such a bizarrely off-key event at the dramatic high point of the story, unless maybe he was recording something that actually happened. Some even think the guy was Mark himself.

* CriticalResearchFailure: The timeline the Gospel of Luke gives for Jesus' birth doesn't add up, since Herod the Great died about ten years before the census of Quirinius happened.[[note]]As recorded in the Roman ''Ab Urbe Condita'' dating system, Herod died in 750 AUC, while the census was around 760. Dionysius Exiguus of Scythia Minor, the monk who invented BC[=/=]AD calendar, placed the birth of Jesus in 754 AUC, putting Herod's death in 4 BC and the census in AD 6, but Dionysius was just looking for an ''approximate'' date for the birth of Jesus to use as the basis of a Christian calendar. Any attempt to assign a date to the Nativity is pure conjecture, but scholarly estimates generally hover in the 4-6 BC range.[[/note]] Also, there's no evidence that the census required people to register in the home of their ancestors instead of where they actually lived (the whole point of the census was to collect taxes). Either the author misreported things or Joseph was ''deeply'' confused.

* CriticalResearchFailure: The timeline the Gospel of Luke gives for Jesus' birth doesn't add up, since Herod the Great died in 4 BC and the census of Quirinius was in 6 AD. There was also no particular reason for Joseph to be involved, since Nazereth wasn't part of it and no census ever required people to register in the home of their ancestors instead of where they actually live (and pay taxes). Either the author made a mistake or Joseph was ''deeply'' confused.
** Or maybe Dionysius Exiguus of Scythia Minor, the guy who designed the BC AD Calendar System was wrong. We, to be honest, have very little idea when Jesus of Nazareth was actually born. Just to give you an idea, current estimates put his birth at 4 BC.

** Also relating to Judas are the motives for his betrayal. Most assume it to have been simple greed, but his motives aren't actually given, so many scholars have speculated that it may have actually been a [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] ploy gone wrong. He may have intended for Jesus to ''win'' the trial and thus prove to all that he was the Messiah, he may have been trying to lure the Romans into a trap, he may have been trying to force someone's hand, etc. We can't say for sure, but at the end of the day it's important to remember that Judas had to have had ''some'' redeeming qualities, otherwise Jesus [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter would never have taken him on as a disciple in the first place]].

* JerkassWoobie: Judas has been interpreted as this by some modern readers. While selling Jesus out was obviously a very bad deed, his regret and subsequent suicide [[AlasPoorVillain can elicit some pity.]] The fact his betrayal may have even been preordained by God as a necessary step to ensure Jesus' death and subsequent resurrection can almost make it seem like the guy had no choice but to become a traitor.

* CommonKnowledge: Mary Magdalene wasn't a repentant prostitute in the Gospels. She was conflated with Mary of Bethany and the "sinful woman" that anointed Jesus' feet by Pope Gregory I in the year ''591''. Even after the Catholic Church officially removed the identification in 1969, the imagery of Magdalene as as a former prostitute is so ingrained in popular culture, that [[Film/MaryMagdalene an entire movie was made to try and clear up the misconception]].

* ValuesResonance: A major reason why the Four Gospels have endured the test of time is that (most of) the teachings and the overall narrative still resonate today: Jesus is a WorkingClassHero whose Apostles are a RagtagBunchOfMisfits, struggles against a contemporary CorruptChurch in the form of the Pharisees that perverted the Laws to their personal benefit, and ''really'' wants him dead. The teachings encourage pacifism (Jesus is a MartialPacifist at most, but even then He never kills or maims anyone) instead of PayEvilUntoEvil and forgiving people for their mistakes instead of outright [[FelonyMisdemeanor punishing them]], Jesus also treats the Samaritans, an ethnic group that was often discriminated against by Jews, as just as capable of good, if not even more, than a Judean, which was considered controversial at best by the time Jesus lived in, and there's even some parts that can be interpreted as Jesus believing men and women were equal, or at least equally capable of learning the Word of God, which again was not all that common in that era. This is to the point that even people who are critical of the Bible and/or religion as a whole tend to respect Jesus and the teachings for the most part. Not bad for a millenias-old holy text.

** Part of Jesus's FamousLastWords: "My God, my God, why [[TearJerker have you forsaken me?]]" There's some AlternateCharacterInterpretation as to whether he was really despairing or ''praying'', since the line is the start of [[Literature/BookOfPsalms Psalm 22]].

* {{Misblamed}}: Given that Jesus and all the Apostles were Jewish themselves, it should be clear that Jesus' criticism of the Pharisees is not meant to say that ''all'' [[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} Jewish people]] are bad or hypocritical, just the particular HolierThanThou religious leaders being criticized. Regrettably, this context is largely lost on some later interpreters who have used such texts to justify antisemitism in the name of Christ-- [[InsaneTrollLogic who, it's worth repeating, was Jewish]].

* ObviousJudas: Judas Iscariot is the TropeNamer for betraying Jesus. However, the trope itself is actually {{averted}}: when Jesus tells His disciples that He knows one of them will betray Him, none of them have any clue who it might be, and all ask, "Lord, is it I?"