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The Criterion of Embarrassment is a tool used by New Testament scholars to determine whether certain actions or sayings by Jesus in the New Testament are historically authentic or not. As a notable example, the Baptism of Jesus would have been doubly embarrassing, since he supported the authority of John the Baptist. The Gospel of Matthew copes with the embarrassment by recording John's statement to Jesus that "I should be baptized by you." Gospel of John goes further and simply omits the whole story of the Baptism. Similarly, John was so embarrassed by the very idea that the Christ and Savior should be tempted that he also eliminated the story of the Temptation of Christ, leaving no trace of it in his Gospel. The story of The Blind Man of Bethsaida was embarrassing because Jesus had to apply his healing touch twice before the patient was totally healed. Therefore, the narrative is preserved only in Mark, having been suppressed by Matthew, Luke and John. John was offended by the story of Judas kissing Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and suppressed the kiss. In general, the rule is: The more embarrassing an episode, the more likely it is to be authentic. Image File history File links Stop_hand. ... For other uses, see Jesus (disambiguation). ... See New Covenant for the concept translated as New Testament in the KJV. The New Testament (Καινή Διαθήκη), sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures, and sometimes also New Covenant, is the name given to the part of the Christian Bible that was written by various authors c. ... The Baptism of Christ, by Piero della Francesca, 1449 The Baptism of Jesus is the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. ... The Baptism of Christ, by Piero della Francesca, 1449 John the Baptist (also called John the Baptizer or Yahya the Baptizer) is regarded as a prophet by at least three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Mandaeanism. ... The Gospel of Matthew (literally: according to Matthew, Greek: Κατα Μαθθαιον ) is one of the four Gospel accounts of the New Testament. ... The Gospel according to John is the fourth gospel document in the sequence of the canon of the New Testament, and scholars agree it was the fourth to be written down. ... In Christianity, the temptation of Christ refers to the temptation of Jesus by Satan as detailed in the New Testament, specifically: Matthew 4:1-11 Mark 1:12-13 Luke 4:1-13 According to these Gospels, Jesus has fasted for forty days and nights in the desert or wilderness... The Blind Man of Bethsaida is found only in Mark 8:22-26. ... The Gospel of Mark is traditionally the second of the New Testament Gospels. ... The Gospel of Luke is the third of the four canonical Gospels of the New Testament, which tell the story of Jesus life, death, and resurrection. ... Judas Iscariot (died April AD 29–33, Hebrew יהודה איש־קריות ) was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve original apostles of Jesus, and the one who is said to have betrayed him. ... The Garden of Gethsemane. ...

The most embarrassing event in the Gospel story is the Crucifixion itself. This method of execution was considered the most shameful and degrading in the Roman world, and therefore it is the least likely to have been invented by the followers of Jesus, and the most likely to have actually taken place. Crucifixion is an ancient method of execution, where the victim was tied or nailed to a large wooden cross and left to hang there until dead. ...

A limitation of this criterion is that embarrassing details may be included as an alternative to an even more embarrassing account of the same event. As a purely hypothetical example, Peter's denial of Jesus could have been a substitution for an even greater misdeed of Peter - such as killing a guard and letting Jesus take the blame.

The Criterion of Embarrassment supports the theory that Jesus led the Nonviolent Resistance against Pilate. This would have greatly embarrassed the Gospel authors, whose goal was to convince the Roman authorities that Christianity was no threat to Roman rule. Nonviolent resistance (or nonviolent action) comprises the practice of applying power to achieve socio-political goals through symbolic protests, economic or political noncooperation, civil disobedience and other methods, without the use of physical violence. ...