May 28, 2006

Da Vinci Code Sermon

Here was an actual conversation overheard on an airplane:  Passenger 1: “You’re a Christian, too?  So am I.  That’s great.”  Passenger 2: “Yeah, that’s great.”  Passenger 1: “I just read The Da Vinci Code.  Have you read it?”  Passenger 2: “Sure did.”  Passenger 1: “What percentage do you think is true?”  Passenger 2: “Oh, about 80 percent.”  One woman, told that the novel was bunk, replied, “If it were not true it could not have been published!”  One man said now that he has read the book, he will never be able to enter a church again.

You ask: why are we spending another week talking about a movie?  The answer is because it is being watched by millions of people who could be led astray by the fiction in the book that is passed off as fact.  The information about the Bible, about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and the Holy Grail in the book is called fact, when it isn’t.  The story contains many details about history that aren’t true, showing the source is unreliable.  Last week, we showed how the book misrepresented the Truth about the Scriptures and Jesus.  Today we are going to talk about Mary and the Holy Grail.  Why?  To help you to answer your own questions and those of your friends and neighbours who might become confused by such a story.

The third thing we need to look at then is the truth about Mary Magdalene. This is where the book becomes really bizarre. Brown, through his characters, claims that Mary Magdalene, not Peter, was Jesus’ chief disciple and that she and Jesus were not only romantically involved but were married had a daughter named Sarah and their descendents are still around today. In fact, Teabing, the Historian in the book, says at one point “the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is part of the historical record.”  Hmm, what history is he reading?

What do we know about Mary?  In Luke 8:2 we are told that Jesus cast seven demons out of her. In Matthew 27:32-56 we know that she was one of the five people named who watched the crucifixion. We know that she was there when Jesus was buried. (Matt.27:57-61), that she was one of three woman who went to anoint Jesus’ body after his burial (Mark 16:1) and we know that she was the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection, (John 20:10-18). And that’s all we know about Mary Magdalene. The book maintains the church was responsible for trying to discredit Mary by saying she was a prostitute.  The fact is the Bible never calls her that.

The Da Vinci Code claims that Jesus was the original Feminist, married Mary Magdalene, and wanted to start his church through her, but the male dominated church wanted to hide that fact, so they suppressed women and suppressed the Gospels which taught Jesus’ real teachings on this.  Jesus wasn’t a “feminist” in today’s definition, but the truth is He was definitely revolutionary in his treatment of women, involving them and including them in a way they were never before.  Jesus highly valued women, considering them his disciples and relying on their support. And it wouldn’t be fair to say that the church, when it has followed Biblical teaching, suppresses women.  The truth is, women were some of the most key and influential players in God’s salvation story.  Helping Jesus.  Witnessing his resurrection.  On the other hand, pagan goddess worship generally “used” women.  It did not exalt them.  And those other Gnostic gospels actually are far less favourable in their treatment of women!  And finally, there are no historically viable documents anywhere that could show Jesus and Mary were married.

In the book, Mary is identified as Jesus’ closest disciple and lover based on Da Vinci’s rendition of the Last Supper.  We are told that when we look closely at it, we will discover that the person on Christ’s right, that has been identified as John throughout history, is in fact Mary. OK, the guy in the picture does look a little girly, but then look at the way Leonardo draws King David as a young man!  That was actually the way that Leonardo and other Renaissance painters often painted men at that time.  The best art historians today all agree that the person in the painting is John the Apostle, not Mary.  First, John is not seen anywhere else in the painting. Why not?  Second, John is often depicted as being more feminine looking.  And third, Leonardo Da Vinci himself recognized this as John the apostle, and he even said so in his early sketches!  So Da Vinci himself disproves The Da Vinci Code’s claims about Mary Magdalene!

So there’s the truth about the gospels, Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Now let’s take a look at the truth about the Grail.  As I mentioned last week most of us have learned all we know about the grail either from Indiana Jones or from Monty Python.  But what does history actually teach us about the grail?  Nothing, zip, nada, nothing at all.  It’s a legend!

For 1200 years after the death of Christ, nobody mentioned anything about the cup that Christ drank from at the last supper, nor about his plate or bowl or his knife. They were just utensils. He probably never even had a cup that He passed around!  And then in the late 1300’s legends started being told about King Arthur and his quest for the cup, which was said to not only have been present at the last supper but was used to catch the blood of Christ while he was hanging on the cross. Pure fiction!  The Roman Catholic church, which has promoted many relics through the years, has never promoted the grail as a holy relic!

In the Da Vinci Code we are told that the church has spent 2000 years trying to suppress the true identity of the chalice.  That the “holy grail” was really the “royal blood,” the bloodline of Jesus through Mary Magadalene.  But that is a fabricated story from forged documents.

There are some other things I’m wondering about in the novel. The mysterious Priory of Sion is charged with protecting the descendants of Jesus and Mary. Must be a big organization! Do the math!  In Brown’s book, Jesus and Mary had a child named Sarah. If Sarah married and had only 2 children and they each married and had only 2 children and they each married and had only 2 children and they each married and had only 2 children and they each married and had only 2 children you are now approximately 100 years after the death of Christ and there are 76 descendants, 20 years later there are 148, 20 years later there are 296, 20 years later 592, 20 years later 1184 and in another 20 years there are 2368. That’s two hundred years, another hundred years there are 75,776. If that number only doubled every 100 years the direct descendants of Jesus would number over 100 million people today!   Oops.

And I wonder, if Jesus wasn’t really divine, if He wasn’t God, if He was just a good man, then who cares? Why are they still protecting the descendants of a Galilean preacher and his wife 2000 years later?  If Jesus was just a man, and Mary was just his wife, then what’s the big deal?

And my biggest question of all, if what Brown was saying was true, then I can understand the church hiding the truth.  But why is the Priory of Sion hiding the truth?  If it’s that important why have they been keeping it hidden away for 2000 years?  Would 100 million people be afraid of the Opus Dei?  Just wondering…

Margaret M. Mitchell, the Chair of the Department of New Testament and Early Christian Literature at the University of Chicago writes about the Da Vinci Code: “This is a good airplane book, a novelistic thriller that presents a rummage sale of accurate historical nuggets alongside falsehoods and misleading statements. The bottom line: The book should come coded for “black light,” like the pen used by the character Sauniere to record his dying words so that readers could scan pages to see which ‘facts’ are trustworthy and which patently not.”

There are a couple of reasons I think that people are so taken in by this story.  First of all, suspicion.  Many have lately become suspicious of the church and what the church has done.  The scandals involving Roman Catholic priests and televangelists.  Second, many people have been hurt by the church, and they see things in The Da Vinci Code that they want to hear.  Third, the post-modern movement likes to question all truth.  Finally, if you accept the Bible, if you are led to believe the truth about Jesus, it means that your life will be changed.  And so many fear that!  Add all these up, and that’s why people want to read and believe what is in The Da Vinci Code.  Even though it’s not good history, people still want to believe its general message.  Its story.  But why should we read the Bible critically, but not read a 3-year-old book critically?

Good stories often give us warnings.  So does Holy Scripture: Galatians 1:9:  “If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned.”

Good stories also share secrets.  We love secrets!  Here’s a real one for you: Ephesians 1:9-14:  “9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.  11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.”

“Da Vinci” Didn’t Convince Me! Compared to the avalanche of evidence for the truth of Christianity, Dan Brown offers nothing with any credibility to support his revisions of history.  The Da Vinci Code is a creative yarn that has captured the imaginations of many people.  Give Brown credit for being one of the most successful novelists of all time, but there is simply no rational reason to believe his book’s audacious rewriting of Christianity.

In sharp contrast, I believe that the verdict of history is clear: Jesus is who He claimed to be – the one and only Son of God and Saviour of the world!  The One who changed my life and changed yours with his love and forgiveness.  With his truth and life.  With the fact that our sins are forgiven and we have eternal life to look forward to.

The movie says: “Seek the Truth.”  Let’s seek the truth!  Let’s get into his Word and become more knowledgeable in it.  Let’s know and be assured of what that truth says for our lives!  And let’s always be ready to give the answer and reason for the hope that we have in Christ.  Let’s learn our facts about history.  Let’s not be ignorant.  Let’s not hide the truth.  Let’s not fear the truth.  The Truth is on our side!  Let’s not fear books or movies. They cannot harm the Word of God, which will endure forever!  Instead, let’s arm ourselves to help guide people who are struggling with ideas that might lead them away from God.  Let’s share the real truth with them!  Let’s engage them in important conversations.  Let’s help them on their journey, while we are on our own journey.  Our journey with Jesus: the way, the truth, and the life.

There is a lot riding on that journey!  If Jesus really is the Son of God, then your eternity hinges on whether or not you come to faith in Him.  Jesus said in John 8:24: “If you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”  Those are sober words, offered out of loving concern.  In fact, his love for you is so great that He willingly suffered the agony of the cross to pay the penalty for all the wrong things you’ve ever done!  He offers you complete forgiveness, love, and an opened door to heaven for all eternity.

You’ve probably heard the catch phrase for The Da Vinci Code movie is: “Seek the Truth.”  That’s good advice.  But I like the way Jesus put it better, in Matt 7:7: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”   Amen.

Sources used for this sermon (other than Holy Scripture):
“Exploring the Da Vinci Code” – Lee Strobel and Gary Poole
“Cracking the Da Vinci Code” – sermon by Denn Guptill
“The Da Vinci Deception” – Erwin W. Lutzer

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