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The Da Vinci Code - The Real Jesus

Who is Jesus?

The issue of who Jesus really is perhaps the most contentious of many ideas raised in the book The Da Vinci Code. According to Dan Brown Jesus was just another man and happy to remain that way. He remained so until the Roman Emperor Constantine looking for a political force to unite the Empire, saw that Christianity was on the rise and decided to back it as a uniting force. It suited his purpose to endorse Jesus as the Son of God and so at the Council Nicea in 325 AD Jesus was proclaimed to be the Son of God.

Actually Christians believed that Jesus was God for long before that, from the earliest stages of the Church. The reason being simply that Jesus had shown himself to be the Son of God.. It certainly wasn't politically expedient because the fact caused the early Church a lot of trouble. The early Christians by claiming that Jesus was Lord, were implying that Caesar did not deserve their ultimate loyalty, and came under suspicion of treason.

The reasons the early Christians had come to this conclusion was because it reflected what they had experienced themselves, and later had seen and read of Jesus in the Gospels. The Council of Nicea was useful and important since it put into a concise form what the people already believed about Jesus. The evidence of the council was so clear that only about two Bishops out of three hundred voted against this decision

The view that Jesus is not God is not new. You may or may not be going to see the film about the book but Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Muslims, and Christadelphians are all united in believing that Jesus was not divine.

Dan Brown in the Da Vinci Code also has an alternative view of Jesus. He was not divine, he married Mary Magdalene, she had children and his bloodline continues to this to this day. The original goddess worship which Jesus pursued with Mary Magdalene has been surpressed and is only known by the faithful few.

Mary Magdalene

In Dan Browns theory the identity of Mary is very much tied in with the real identity of Jesus. However although much has been written about Mary we actually know very little about her. Luke 8:2 records here as one of the female followers of Jesus, out of whom he had cast seven evil spirits. She appears gain at the crucifixion and resurrection. She was clearly a close and devoted follower of Jesus. After the resurrection she disapears from the Gospel accounts. This is not surprising. Many characters in the Gospels narrative (e.g Nicodemas, Thomas, Jesus Mother, Bartholomew, Joseph of Arimathea) are never heard of again after the resurrection or Pentecost. The writers focus is Jesus.

Sometimes people have assumed that the sinful woman who anoints Jesus in the previous passage (Lk7) is Mary. However this is unlikely. If it was Mary why doesn't Jesus introduce her as such? In addition why is she introduced in the next chapter (Lk 8:2) as if we have never met her? The confusion of these two women dates from the mistake of a 7th century Pope. dan Brown rightly corrects it.

Did Jesus Get Married?

There is no mention, not hint of Jesus getting married in the Gospels. If it had happened it would have been a significant event and would have been recorded.

Practically and morally it is very unlikely that Jesus would have married. He knew that his work would lead him to an early death. It would hardly have been right to have married knowing that he would soon leave behind a widow and children. Whilst it was the norm in Judaism to marry, it was not unknown for Jewish leaders to be unmarried. Examples include the Jeremiah in the Old Testament and Paul in the New Testament. Both had very dangerous and unsettled callings that might have precluded marriage.

In addition if we look in the writings of the early church, no one in the first four centuries suggests Jesus marrying Mary Magdalene.

Dan Brown quotes two late non canonical Gospels as supporting The idea of Jesus marriage. The Gospel of Philip The Gospel of Mary Magdalene

This is not surprising since the sort of world view of the Gnostics (probable authors of many alternative Gospels was extremely anti-women and anti-sex. They tended to believe that the physical world was a hindrance to true spiritual enlightenment.

Here is the view from one alternative Gospel, the Gospel of Thomas "Simon Peter said to them, "Let Mary leave us for women are not worthy of life". Jesus said "I myself will lead her in order to make her a male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of God." . To be radical means to go back to the roots. I suppose that this is then a sort of stone age radicalism.

Jesus lived in an age that was sexist and discriminatory, but in contrast to the spirit of his age he treated women with respect and dignity.

The place to find out about the real Jesus is from the four Gospels. These are reliable historical documents and give us the best picture available of Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus encountered a wide variety of people. In Luke 7:36-50 we read of a dinner party encounter with religious leaders and an outcast woman. Through the lens of this short encounter we can gain some insight into the sort of man he was.

Jesus - the man who mixes with everyone

Jesus is eating with a Pharisee. These were keen religious lay people. They knew the scriptures well and were keen to live according to what they believed they taught. They had strong convictions about what was right and wrong, and as a consequence their own righteousness. Suddenly in the midst of this very upright gathering appears a very different sort of person. a woman who Luke describes as having led a sinful life. This phrase together with the fact that her hair is loose strongly suggests that she was a prostitute. Without has led a sinful life. guests look on and in their hearts condemn the woman.

Perhaps she feels a sense of self condemnation and disgust about herself. Maybe she feels trapped by her past. Everyone looks down on her, gossips about her and abuses her. And yet in Jesus she has seen someone who is different He treats her with dignity and as a fellow human being.

So in a combination of desperation and gratitude she starts weeping, so much that the warm salty drops splash on Jesus feet. She then falls down and begins wiping his feet with her hair. To clean the feet of a guest was an a normal act of hospitality. she goes further than this pouring perfume on his fee to complete the job. Perfume is rarely cheap. It is possible that this perfume was a tool of her trade or bought with the proceeds of her work.

Early in his ministry Jesus had been accused of mixing with the wrong sort of people. His reply was "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick...I have not come to call the righteous but sinners." (Mk 2:17). That includes both Pharisees and prostitutes. He was man who mixed with everyone.

Jesus the Man who breaks down religious barriers.

See how the Pharisee reacts to Jesus. He thinks here is a notorious prostitute draping herself all over his feet and so he concludes in "if this man were a prophet he would know kind of woman was touching him what kind of woman she is - that she is a sinner". He is wrong on two counts. Firstly Jesus knows exactly who this woman is. He knows all the wrong that she has done and yet he still loves her. Secondly what counts is not whether she touches him or not but whether he cares for her or not. Holiness is not a matter of outward forms but of the heart. Jesus breaks down the accepted idea of what is to be religious. It is not about ceremonies, or ritual washings, nor keeping lots of difficult rules or doing the right things in religious services. Jesus knows that what God looks at is the heart.

Jesus is a wise teacher to you, we might think it was the prostitute that had the problem but actually it was as much Simon the Pharisee, if not more.

Jesus could have just rebuked him but perhaps because he was to proud or self righteous he disarms his defences by telling a story. Two men owe some money. One a few hundred pounds an overdraft at the Bank, the other massive debts amounting to tens of thousands of pounds. Incredibly the Bank writes off both debts. Who would you expect to be more excited? Simon answers v 43 "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled". He had far more to be grateful.

Jesus' answer to Simon goes something like this - you wonder why this woman acts likes this? I tell you it is because her sins have been forgiven. Where does all this weeping, kissing my feet and all this expensive perfume come from? Did you not just say when a debtor has been forgiven a huge debt he feels great loving gratitude to the one who has released the debt? This women had a huge debt of sins. Look at her gratitude towards me? "You said I suppose the one who had the bigger debt cancelled". Isn't it by your own omission evidence that she has indeed been forgiven! You see the wisdom in Jesus teaching? He cuts through empty religion. This story gets to the heart of the problem between man and God, forgiveness and our response.

Jesus the one who forgives

So here we have Jesus the one who accepts all who come to him, who breaks through the sham of false religion and was a wise teacher. He was one who had a radical acceptance of women and including a women who had broken all the taboos, went far beyond what anyone else did in his day.

That's very good but if so why is there all this fuss about the Da Vinci Code and it's view of Jesus? This is exactly the view that the Da Vinci Code has of him. One character in the book describes Jesus this way "Jesus Christ was a historical figure of staggering influence, perhaps the most enigmatic and inspirational leader the world has ever known" (The Da Vinci Code page 313)

I can think of other and inspiring people. For instance Mahatma Ghandi was a wise teacher accepted all and in one sense he was a spiritual man deeply concerned with seeking the sham of false religion. In some ways someone like Nelson Mandela we see someone passionately concerned for the truth. He is a wise man whose concern to make his nation a place where everyone, whatever the race had a place. And so we might wonder is Jesus any different?

Look at the end of his encounter he turns to the women he turns to the women who feels so deeply guilty and says to her "your sins are forgiven". Note he does not says your sins can be forgiven, or your sins might be forgiven but they have been forgiven. Perhaps he is referring back to a previous encounter she had with Jesus. As he says this an absolute gasp of amazement runs round the table as people realise the implications of what he is claming. People say "who is this who even forgives sins?" v 49.

We can only forgive a wrong if it has been against ourselves. If I reverse my car into your car in a parking space there is no point in me apologizing to a passerby. Or if a Policeman was passing and he saw it he could not say "Oh its only a little bit of paint it doesn't matter I will let you off" he could not do that because it was not his car that had been damaged it had not been done to him. We can only forgive what has been done to us. So how can Jesus forgive this women her sin. He can only do that if it has done against him implying that he is God.

Jesus and us

When we encounter the person of Jesus in the New Testament he is clearly a most remarkable person. He makes the most astounding claims about himself such as that he is the way to God, that a persons eternal destiny depends on following him or not, but his followers must love him more that anything else. And when he makes claims like that the Jewish leaders attempt to stone him because he blaspheming.

His followers make similar claims about him. His miracles support it and yet his care and concern for all around make it clear that he is not mentally ill nor an egomaniac. He works miracles and even rises from the dead. Who then is this man? If Jesus was a great religious leader as Dan Brown claims and perhaps we could say that this may be a truth that works for you but not for me and leave it at that. However if he is God then he is Lord of all. For the sinful women it meant sacrificing a bottle of expensive perfume and for us it means laying our lives before him and saying Jesus you are Lord.

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