Disclaimer: I am an atheist and I am used to talk about religious figures as if they were fictional characters. Do not read any further if it might cause discomfort.



SHERLOCK HOLMES AS JESUS

There are some parallels between Sherlock Holmes and the figure of Jesus, in particular regarding the events of Series 2.



Jesus is arrested because he claims to be the Son of God, but he’s considered a fraud by the authorities.

Sherlock is arrested because he’s believed to be a fraud and have faked the resolution his cases.





Jesus is requested by the Devil to jump off the Temple in Jerusalem to prove he’s the son of God.

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU’ and ‘ON THEIR HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ ”.

Matthew 4: 5-6

James Moriarty asks Sherlock to jump from Bart’s rooftop as requested by James Moriarty.





Another parallel can be seen with Jesus being crucified for the sake of mankind.

Sherlock fakes his death in order to save his friends.





But both tombs are actually empty. Jesus resurrects…

…and Sherlock’s actually not dead.





Sherlock and Moriarty also make a number of references to hell and to being on the side of the angels throughout The Reichenbach Fall.

MORIARTY: You’re on the side of the angels.



SHERLOCK: Yes, but I’m not my brother, remember? I am you, prepared to do anything; prepared to burn; prepared to do what ordinary people won’t do. You want me to shake hands with you in hell? I shall not disappoint you.

MORIARTY : Naah. You talk big. Naah. You’re ordinary. You’re ordinary. You’re on the side of the angels.

SHERLOCK: Oh, I may be on the side of the angels, but don’t think for one second that I am one of them.





After the resurrection, Jesus is tipically depicted in a the burial shroud.

In A Scandal In Belgravia, Sherlock is seen wearing only a sheet.





There’s also a background halo visual metaphor for Sherlock:





Jesus was executed by the means of crucifixion.

In Series 3 we have a scene reminiscent of crucifixion.









After Jesus resurrected three days later, his tomb was found with the stone blocking its entrance moved and empty inside, thus becoming known as the Empty Tomb.

Sherlock comes back from the dead in and episode called “The Empty Hearse”. Since ACD canon Sherlock Holmes returns in a story called “The Empty House” after three years, this parallel is probably coming from Doyle.

To note that the episode title appears over the closing doors of an empty carriage in the London Underground, which can be a parallel the door of the Empty Tomb moving.





Upon his death, Jesus had famously five wounds, two in the hands, two in the feet and one in the chest, usually depicted in the proper right side.

A picture of said Jesus exposing this wound has also been posted by Gatiss during the hiatus before series 4.

In his Last Vow, Sherlock gets shot in the chest in the proper right side.









JOHN WATSON AS JOHN THE EVANGELIST, APOSTLE JOHN AND THE BELOVED DISCIPLE

Another thing that Jesus and Sherlock have in common: a biographer called John.

Sherlock’s adventures are reported by his companion John Watson.

One of Jesus’ most famous biographers was John the Evangelist, author of The Gospel of John. He’s symbolically represented by an eagle and his account of Jesus’ life was guided in part by his own witnessing of the events and in part by divine inspiration.





John Watson is the person Sherlock Holmes loves the most.

Traditionally, John the Evangelist is identified with Apostle John, even if the authorship of the book is debated by modern scholars.

Apostle John is believed to have been the favourite among the Twelve Apostles and he’s also often identified with the one who is called “the disciple whom Jesus loved”.





Some have proposed the possibility of a homoerotic reading to the relationship between John and Jesus. Evidence of this kind of interpretations goes as far as the 16th century, when the suggestion that John could be Jesus’ catamite started (and who ever suggested such a thing would obviously be tried for it). The speculation is still alive in our days.

A similar rumour, as we are well aware, persists since the 19th century and concerns the love life of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.

One may wonder if Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s choice of name wasn’t quite so coincidental.



Another interesting fact is that Apostle John had a brother called James (who was another member of the Apostles) and that this was the given name which Doyle once erroneously used for Watson.



John has a background halo visual metaphor too, in the same scene as Sherlock’s:





JIM MORIARTY AS THE DEVIL

As noted before, there are similarities between the scene in which Moriarty asks Sherlock to jump off Barts’ roof and the story in which the Devil asks Jesus to jump from the roof of the Temple in Jerusalem.

The following lines of dialogue let us know Sherlock owns Moriarty a fall.

MORIARTY: It’s gonna start very soon, Sherlock, the fall. But don’t be scared. Falling’s just like flying, except there’s a more permanent destination.

SHERLOCK: Never liked riddles.

MORIARTY: Learn to. Because I owe you a fall, Sherlock. I … owe … you.







The Devil was a former angel fallen which God cast out from heaven.



Moriarty declare Sherlock owes him a fall. He might resent a fall that he believes to be Sherlock’s (Son of God) or one of his parents’ (God) fault.





The I O U painted outside of Bakerstreet is surrounded by black wings.





In The Hounds of Baskerville, Sherlock hallucinates Moriarty in Dewer’s Hollow, which, as Henry informs as at the start of the episode, is an ancient celtic name for the Devil.





just-sort-of-happened​ discovered some other parallels beween Moriarty and the Devil, read her full metas here:

Here’s a brief description of the parallels.

The Devil takes the form of a snake and tempts Eve by offering her an apple.



John’s mug in A Study in Pink is located next to an apple and has a picture of a snake wearing regalia. Moriarty will wear regalia in The Reichenbach Fall.



In The Reichenbach Fall, Moriarty offers Sherlock an apple, which has IOU written upon.





In The Abominable Bride, Sherlock has Mrs. Hudson referring to Moriarty as the Devil:

MRS. HUSON: He says he’s waiting.

LESTRADE: For what?

MRS. HUDSON: The devil.





Still in The Abominable Bride, Moriarty hisses and launches forward like an attacking snake.





MYCROFT HOLMES AS JUDAS

More parallels, most concentrated in Series 2, can be drawn between secondary characters, like Judas and Mycroft Holmes.

Judas sells his friend to his enemies and this ultimately leads to Jesus’ death.



Mycroft spills all of Sherlock’s life story to Moriarty, information which Moriarty later utilizes to establish Sherlock as a fraud as part of his plan to have him commit suicide and die in disgrace.



This parallel might not be over yet, there is speculation in the fandom that Mycroft could be eventually revealed to be, probably unwillingly, working for the side of evil.







IRENE ADLER AS MARY MAGDALENE

Even if not originally depicted as such, during the centuries Mary Magdalene became renowned as a sinner and prostitute, who was probably saved by Jesus, to later became the most important among the women who followed him.

Comparably, Irene Adler is a dominatrix professionally known as The Woman, who makes her way through the world by misbehaving. She gets in really serious trouble, but gets saved by Sherlock Holmes.



In iconography Mary Madgale is often portrayed with:

A perfume bottle, because she’s associated with the sinner who poured perfume on Jesus’ feets.



The red egg that she gives as a gift to Emperor Tiberias.



Perfume bottles appear next to Irene Adler while she’s preparing for meeting Sherlock.

And she gives as a Christmas gift her phone to Sherock in a little red package.



Mary Magdalene is also the first “tart with a heart of gold”.

Considering the phone = heart metaphor, she has a really valuable heart.





GREG LESTRADE AS PETER

Gregg Lestrade is a firm believer of Sherlock’s, but when Sherlock gets exposed as a fraud, he denies the extent of his involvement with the latter.

In a similar fashion, after Jesus is accused of being a fraud, Peter denies ever being acquainted with him.



Moreover, in The Hounds of Baskerville, he appears:

In front of a door;

With the sign “The Cross Keys” above his head.

The cross keys are the official symbol for the Keys to Heaven.



Peter, who is Heaven’s gateskeeper, traditionally:

Stands before the entrance to Heaven;

Is in possession of the Keys to Heaven.





In the first part of A Scandal in Belgravia he appears next to a car tag which starts with PYO3, followed by a space and other letters.



There are some languages in which PYO3 could be read as Peter, considering that the number 3 could stand for the TR or TER sound, depending on the language.

For example, in Russian, the name Peter (and the name of Apostle Peter) is translated Pyotr. Here the link to the name’s page on Behind The Name.

3 in Russian is pronunced TREE, so it may as well be that PYO3 stands for PYOTR, the Russian name for Apostle Peter.

Pyotr is also the first name of Tchaikovsky, the homosexual composer mentioned in The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes.

TO NOTE: It is improbable that they were actually able to choose between many tags, so this is probably a coincidence.



At the start of The Reichenbach Falls, Lestrade appears next to the name Peter.





Finally, we can see Lestrade before a painting featuring a sky with clouds.

That’s the typical representation of Heaven, which Saint Peter guards.





Another clue could be the fact that Apostle Peter was the first Pope and:

Gregory is the 2nd most common name for popes.

Gregory is the 1st most common name for popes starting with G.

I suppose that, if the wanted to name him after Peter but keep the initial G set by Doyle, Gregory was as close as they would get.

TO NOTE: Greg is probably a reference to DI Gregson from ACD canon.







THE THREE MARYS

Considering the characters added in Season 3 and the associations already made, we have three Marys:

Irene Adler as Mary Magdalene;

Sherlock’s Mother as Mary, mother of Jesus (her initials are M.L., so she might as well be called Mary);

Mary Morstan.

Alternatively, one of the three Marys could be Molly, which is the diminutive of Mary and to whom John says at Christmas:



Traditionally, different sets of women have been refferred to as The Tree Marys and the identity of the Marys is uncertain as there are multiple interpretations.

Another possible Mary is Marie Turner.

MARTHA HUDSON AS MARTHA OF BETHANY

For Mrs. Hudson there were no significant parallels in Series 2, but there are a couple of similarities with the character and possibilities concerning plot lines.

Mrs. Hudson full name is Martha Louise Hudson (neé Sissons). Her first name is not given in Doyle’s books, but some identify her with another character named Martha.

In the bible we can find the character of Martha of Bethany, sister of Mary and Lazarus.





Sherlock made sure that Mrs. Hudson’s husband was executed.







Jesus made Lazarus, Martha’s brother, come back to life.





SHERLOCK AS JESUS IN THE DIALOGUE

After Sherlock apparently dies and the body is surrounded by people, John says:

Also, the dialogue itself tells us the Jesus!Sherlock characterization is true.

