History Literature / TheFourGospels

* WeedingOutImperfections: In the Parable of the Tares, Jesus tells a story about a man who sowed wheat seed in his field, but an enemy came in the night and planted weeds. When the man's servants learned what had happened, they offered to pull out the weeds, but the man refused as the weeds and wheat look similar and thus the servants might accidentally pull out the wheat as well. He thus orders the men to leave both types of plants to grow together, and when the harvest time comes they will separate the wheat from the weeds and take one for harvest and another to be burned. When Jesus's disciples ask for an explanation, he explains that this is a metaphor for the coexistence of good and evil people in the world and the judgment that will come at the end of time.

JustForFun/TheOneWith UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}.

* OutDamnedSpot: Pontius Pilate washes his hands after sentencing Jesus to death, to assuage his guilt. Church tradition claims that after he was exiled from his post, he spent his retirement ritually cleaning his hands in the snow over and over and over again.

** Matthew, Mark and Luke have Passover beginning on Thursday night, with the Last Supper as a seder Jesus celebrated with his followers the night before he was crucified on Friday afternoon. The issue with this is that, according to the rules of the Hebrew calendar, Passover can't start on a Thursday night (though the rules governing that weren't completely codified until TheMiddleAges).[[labelnote:Explanation]]It's convoluted, but basically, the calendar is structured so that the major holidays can only fall on a specific set of four days of the week, and Passover can only start at sundown on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday.[[/labelnote]] John avoids this by explicitly placing the start of Passover on Friday night, after the Crucifixion.

* ThisIsUnforgivable: Jesus taught that [[{{Forgiveness}} any sin can be forgiven]], with the one exception of "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit." (This is most commonly understood as refusing to repent, or [[EvilCannotComprehendGood attributing the works of God to the Devil]].)

* MoralEventHorizon: In-universe. Matthew 12:31-32, Mark 3:29, and Luke 12:10 mentions the "unforgivable sin" of [[RedemptionRejection blasphemy against the Holy Spirit]].

* ThisIsUnforgivable: Jesus taught that [[{{Forgiveness}} any sin can be forgiven]], with the one exception of "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit." (This is most commonly understood as [[RedemptionRejection refusing to repent]], or [[EvilCannotComprehendGood attributing the works of God to the Devil]].)

** As noted below, the inferred blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is understood to mean RedemptionRejection.

* RedemptionRejection: "Blasphemy against The Holy Spirit", which is the only sin God will not forgive. [[note]]The exact text is "...will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come", possibly implying that it can be forgiven in later ages.[[/note]]
** Note however that, like with many things in [[Literature/TheBible the anthology these biographies come from]], this is subject to interpretation. Some say that this trope isn't really what's happening in this passage; according to them, Jesus is not saying that God will [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness uncharacteristically hold a grudge]] against those who reject the Holy Spirit, but rather that to reject the Holy Spirit is to reject forgiveness itself, as per the nature of The Holy Spirit.
** Another interpretation is that this is a highly specific form of sin that would be virtually impossible to replicate outside of the context of Jesus ministry. Basically you would need to see direct, undeniable proof of the miracles of the Holy Spirit, and instead say it's the work of Satan.

* JesusTheEarlyYears: Except for His birth and a brief ([[CallToAdventure but important]]) story that takes place when He was twelve, the Gospels are [[AvertedTrope pretty much silent on this]]; we just get a TimeSkip to His early thirties when He took up the preaching gig. [[StockUnsolvedMysteries Speculation abounds.]] The [[OccamsRazor most likely but boring explanation]] is that He just spent His time working for His dad's carpentry business, which wasn't exciting enough to write about. Indeed, the Gospels' lack of info on Jesus's childhood is probably why this trope exists in the first place.

* ApatheticCitizens: In the Matthew and Luke renderings of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus warns that the days before His SecondComing are going to be like "the days of Noah" (and in the gospel of Luke, "the days of Sodom") where people will be doing seemingly ordinary things like "marrying and giving in marriage" until disaster strikes without any warning. Jesus also warns His disciples in the gospel of Luke to not let their hearts be weighed down with "carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, lest the Day of His Coming will catch them unaware, for it will be like a snare to those who live on the face of the whole earth.

* AccompliceByInaction: In the parable of the "sheep and goats" in Matthew chapter 25, Jesus says the King will judge the goats for their doing nothing good for "the least of My brethren", saying that what the "goats" didn't do for them, they also didn't do for the King.

** Among Jesus' disciples, there were two men named Jacob, two named Judas, and two named Simon (one had to be [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname nicknamed]] "Peter"). On one occasion, John has to introduce dialogue by saying, "Judas, [[NamesTheSame not Iscariot]], said..."

** In the gospels of Matthew and Mark, the Pharisees find fault with Jesus and His disciples for not washing their hands before they eat, with the gospel of Mark going into explaining why the Pharisees do this, and ask Him, "Why do Your disciples transgress against the tradition of the elders?" Jesus in turn asks them, "Why do you transgress against the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?" and tells them about one of their traditions that goes against the commandment of God, namely the Corban tradition that goes against "honor your father and your mother." He goes on to say that eating with unwashed hands does not defile a man, for food only goes into a man's stomach and then into the sewer, "thus purging all foods," but rather what comes out of a man's heart is what defiles him.

** Jesus Himself was presented with a few Morton's Fork situations Himself. In the Gospel of John, the teachers of the Law present him with a woman caught in adultery and says that the Law of Moses demanded that such women should be stoned. They expected him to answer either a yes or a no so they could find a way to accuse Him[[note]], as if Jesus answered "yes", then they could discredit Him as a hypocrite who talked a good game of mercy, but wouldn't stand by it when it counted; if he answered "no", then they could charge Him with blasphemy, as Leviticus, part of the Mosaic law, demanded that a couple caught in the act of adultery was to be stoned[[/note]]. Instead, Jesus answered, "Let he who is without sin be the first to cast a stone at her." In three of the Gospels, some Herodians ask whether it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not for similar reasons, but after Jesus asks for a denarius and they say it has Caesar's face and inscription on it, Jesus answers, "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God."

** Jesus Himself was presented with a few Morton's Fork situations Himself. In the Gospel of John, the teachers of the Law present him with a woman caught in adultery and says that the Law of Moses demanded that such women should be stoned. They expected him to answer either a yes or a no so they could find a way to accuse Him. Instead, Jesus answered, "Let he who is without sin be the first to cast a stone at her." In three of the Gospels, some Herodians ask whether it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not for similar reasons, but after Jesus asks for a denarius and they say it has Caesar's face and inscription on it, Jesus answers, "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God."

* HatePlague: In Matthew 10:34-36, Jesus says that He will cause families to turn against each other.
-->''"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household."''

* RevisedEnding: In the earliest manuscripts of Mark's gospel, the story ends abruptly after the women discover Jesus' empty tomb, "and they were greatly afraid." Later versions, found in most [[Literature/TheBible Bibles]] today, expand the story with more details about His [[BackFromTheDead post-resurrection appearances]]. [[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+16&version=NIV Compare them here]].

*** They devoured [[WidowWoman widows]]' houses and made [[HolierThanThou long showy prayers]]. (Notably said in the gospels of Mark and Luke right before He sees an old widow tossing her last two mites into the collection box, commenting how she gave more than the others because she gave all that she had to live on -- not really a commendation of her giving, but a sad lament on how [[ElderAbuse she was being taken advantage of]], given that Exodus 22:22 says you shall not afflict or take advantage of a widow or orphan.)

John is substantially different from the other three, and may have been included in the canon primarily because of its depth of theology despite the fact that it does not precisely align with the Synoptics on the details of Jesus' life at certain points. Again, we must emphasize: the Gospels are supposed to be "good news", not "modern historiography"; the chronological difficulties aren't meaningful in the face of the overall message.

--> Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble."

-->''“Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”'' (Mark 11:17)

* EasyEvangelism: {{Deconstructed}} by Jesus himself in the Parable of the Sower. Some people just won't hear the message, while others accept the word with joy right away, but then give up just as quickly as soon as the going gets tough. Real faith requires depth and time to grow.

-->''"Enter at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who are going through it, because small is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."''

* EvilGloating: The Romans mock Jesus heavily while torturing him before finally killing him, asking him if he's really the King of the Jews. They even put up a sign above his head on the cross reading ''Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum'' (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews). [[note]]And that's where that INRI thing comes from in paintings.[[/note]]

* GetOut

** Satan tries to invoke this by suggesting Jesus prove he was the son of God by turning stones into bread. Jesus refused, saying "It is written; Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from Godʼs mouth." Not to be put off, Satan told him to jump from the roof of the temple, saying "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." Jesus refuses again, saying "Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.'"

--> ''"Eloi eloi lama sabachthani - [My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?]"''

* HaveYouSeenMyGod: Jesus' dying words (quoting from [[Literature/BookOfPsalms Psalm 22]])-- "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" This has led to endless theological discussion as to whether Jesus was literally forsaken by God the Father (as He suffered for our sins), merely felt forsaken by God (as he was being unjustly executed by torture), or was just reciting a Psalm for spiritual support as He died-- or any combination of the three.

* HopeSpot: Pilate tries to have Jesus released, but the mob insists on his crucifixion. Although Pilate was a jerk, depending on who you talk to. In other branches,[[note]] Most prominently the Ethiopian Church.[[/note]] he's a saint. Literally.

* IntimidatingRevenueService: Whenever Jesus needs an example of a profession that everyone will instantly recognize as corrupt and sinful, he mentions... Prostitutes? Torturers?... ''[[EvilDebtCollector Tax collectors]]''. {{Justified|Trope}}, since in AncientRome tax collectors were pretty universally reviled for extorting money from their countrymen while being on the take.[[note]]The Romans relied on tax farming to supply their revenue, contracting the actual collection out to middlemen who were expected to fill a certain quota on a regular basis. As long as the quota was met, the authorities didn't ask too many questions, and the tax collectors were entitled to keep any excess money as part of their commission. The rest is left as an exercise for the reader.[[/note]] Also {{averted}}, in that some tax collectors such as Matthew and Zacchaeus are shown to be redeemed. Of course, that's kinda the point -- if people as corrupt and reviled as tax collectors can be redeemed, there's hope for all.

-->"But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’" (John 15:25)
** In Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, He says that being angry with your brother or sister "without a cause" [[note]]The "without a cause" part is found only in the King James Version and other translations that use the Textus Receptus for its New Testament.[[/note]] makes you just as liable for judgment as if you murdered your brother or sister, and so you should make amends as soon as possible.

* JacobMarleyWarning: {{Invoked}} in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. After his death, the Rich Man in {{hell}} asks Abraham to send Lazarus back with warning to his surviving brothers so they can repent and avoid his fate. Abraham [[SubvertedTrope subverts the trope]], however, explaining that if they didn't believe [[Literature/TheBible Moses and the prophets]], they wouldn't believe a ghostly messenger either.
* JesusTheEarlyYears: Except for His birth and a brief ([[CallToAdventure but important]]) story that takes place when He was twelve, the Gospels are [[AvertedTrope pretty much silent on this]]; we just get a TimeSkip to His early thirties when He took up the preaching gig. [[StockUnsolvedMysteries Speculation abounds]]. The [[OccamsRazor most likely but boring explanation]] is that He just spent His time working for His dad's carpentry business, which wasn't exciting enough to write about. Indeed, the Gospels' lack of info on Jesus's childhood is probably why this trope exists in the first place.

* JumpedAtTheCall: This happened with most of the apostles, because any Jewish person would've jumped at the chance of being a disciple to a rabbi. Jesus would simply say "Follow me," and they would drop everything they were doing and follow Him. Only the Gospel of Luke among the Synoptics has Peter hesitate to follow the call because he is a "sinful man". In the Gospels of Mark and Matthew he just follows without comment.
* KangarooCourt: The Sandhedrin (high court of ancient Judea) that tries Jesus. Not only do the judges violate every ''single'' Jewish law governing trials, but they put on clearly perjured witnesses to convict him. The conduct of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who approves his death sentence (the Romans required it) also counts here, as even he acknowledges that no Roman (or Jewish) laws were broken by Jesus. Roman magistrates had the power to have non-Romans crucified at will, however, making the whole Roman "justice" system essentially this for them. Even trials of Roman citizens often went this way, as the magistrate was free to admit or ignore any evidence they pleased. Later on Paul, a Roman citizen, was given a trial, but the outcome was never in doubt. The only real privilege they had was that citizens could not be crucified. Thus in Acts Paul is beheaded, while Peter gets crucified (upside down, as he doesn't want it to resemble Jesus' death).

-->“Now Jesus did many things in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name.”

--> "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

* MeaningfulName: Jesus' Hebrew name, Yeshua, means "He saves". ("Jesus" is the Latin version.) A direct translation from Hebrew to Modern English would be "Joshua". We get "Jesus" through the Greek translation of the hebrew to Iesous (prounounced roughly "yayzous"), through the greek to Latin "Iesus", finally to the English "Jesus" after English writers started converting Random I's to the newfangled J's.

* MeeknessIsWeakness: Jesus preached that the meek are blessed and said "I am meek and humble of heart." However, the "weakness" part is pretty thoroughly {{defied}} by Jesus' BadassPacifist tendencies.
* MessianicArchetype: At least the TropeCodifier if not the [[TropeMakers Trope Maker]].

* MusicalEpisode - Luke chapter 1 is chock full of moments where people just burst into song.

** After His resurrection, Jesus tells the women to "Go tell his disciples and Peter." This is an {{inversion}} of the trope, however, since Jesus is saying "Despite his FriendshipDenial, make sure that Peter knows [[{{Forgiveness}} he's still included]]."

** In Matthew, Jesus goes back to Nazareth, where he grew up. His frigid reception causes him to [[LampshadeHanging Lampshade]] this trope. But Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor." Things don't go so well, because, honestly, how seriously would you take your old neighbor if he suddenly showed up after years of living out of town, going on about how he's the son of God and the new age is at hand?
** In the gospel of Luke, Jesus says this after He stands up in the synagogue in Nazareth to read Isaiah 61:1,2 (stopping short of adding "and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn") and then declares “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: John's gospel says that {{Satan}} entered into Judas to make him betray Jesus, leading to Jesus' death-- which directly brought about the forgiveness of sins, the Resurrection, and the founding of the Christian faith.

* OneSteveLimit: {{Averted}}.
** Lots of people were named Jesus, hence him always being referred to as "Jesus of Nazareth". Tradition states that Barabbas, the man released in Jesus' place, was also named Jesus [[note]]Barabbas, or Bar Abba in Aramaic, is actually his last name, meaning "son of the Father." Some people therefore interpret this as allegorical, with the Jews accepting Barabbas the rebel (as they viewed the Messiah to be a warrior leader) instead of Jesus.[[/note]]

--> I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.

* PlayingWithFire: In the gospel of Luke, Jesus sent His disciples into a Samaritan village to get things ready for Him, but they did not receive Him as He was heading for Jerusalem. His disciples asked if He wanted them to command fire to come down on that village just like Elijah. Jesus rebuked them for making such a suggestion, saying, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”[[note]]The rebuke quote is found only in the King James Version as well as the translations that use the Textus Receptus for its New Testament.[[/note]]

** Martha the sister of Mary also has a bit of a pride issue. When she invites Jesus into her home in the gospel of Luke, her sister Mary spends her time sitting at Jesus' feet listening to Him while Martha is distracted with getting things ready for a supper she was putting on for Him. Annoyed at her sister not doing anything to help while she was doing all the busywork, Martha bids the Lord to tell Mary to help her. The Lord tells her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed. And Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken from her.”

* PurposeDrivenImmortality: In the gospel of Luke, an old man named Simeon was told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Christ. The minute he saw Joseph and Mary bring the infant Jesus into the Temple to dedicate Him to the Lord, he took Jesus in his arms and said, “Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)

* OneHundredPercentCompletion: In the gospel of Matthew, at His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells His followers that "until heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle [meaning the smallest letter or the tiniest pen mark] will in no way pass from the Law until it is all fulfilled" when He talks about not coming to "destroy [or ''abolish''] the Law and the Prophets" but to fulfill it. Some Bible students interpret that as the Law of Moses still being in effect for believers in Christ, while most others interpret that the same Law was brought to its completion at the cross when Jesus said in the gospel of John, "It is finished."

-->Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
-->“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
-->Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
-->Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and worshiped him.

** the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard describes a variety of laborers who work different amounts of time, building expectation for a lesson about the rewards of hard and patient work. Unexpectedly, Jesus ends the parable with all the workers receiving a day's wage, even those that didn't start working until near the end of the day. A mundane and cliche story turns out to be communicating something much more unexpected.
** the Parable of the Good Samaritan usually ended with a Jewish layman as the third person, both as a TakeThat against the clergy of the day and to encourage everyday people to engage in random acts of kindness; that the third man was a ''Samaritan'' (whom the Jews hated for being of mixed lineage and having impure worship practices) was unthinkable.

-->'''Jesus''': "''Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."''
* {{Allegory}}: Most of Jesus' parables fall into this genre. For instance, after telling the Parable of the Sower, Jesus [[WordOfGod explains to his disciples]] that the sower is the one who tells the gospel, the seed is the word, and the four different types of soil are four possible responses the hearers may have to it.

--> And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
--> '''Blessed are''' the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
--> '''Blessed are''' those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
--> '''Blessed are''' the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
--> '''Blessed are''' those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
--> '''Blessed are''' the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
--> '''Blessed are''' the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
--> '''Blessed are''' the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
--> '''Blessed are''' those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
--> '''Blessed are''' you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

* AngerBornOfWorry: In Luke 2, 12-year old Jesus gets lost when the family is returning from Passover in Jerusalem. Mary and Joseph are frantic (this is GOD'S SON they were supposed to keep an eye on!), and they return to Jerusalem to search for Him. When they find Jesus safe in the temple, Mary's worry (like any mother's) turns to anger: "Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You."
* AnimateInanimateObject: In the gospel of Luke, when Jesus makes His triumphal entry, and the priests tell Jesus to make His disciples stop praising Him by silencing them, Jesus says that "if these were to remain silent, then the rocks would immediately cry out."

** Mark 9:45,46 adds this:

** Ex-tax collector Matthew focuses on money. Example: He was the only one to say how much Judas was paid for his betrayal.