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Rector's Easter Message
Home > Recent Reflections > Da Vinci Code
I keep coming across people who want to know my opinion of the latest rave book - The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I must admit to being sceptical about books like this. In my opinion they are more about making loads of money, and I would not expect to learn much from them about Leonardo da Vinci or about anyone else mentioned in them. But this novel, which was only published last year, has already sold more than 5 million copies and has even made it onto 'Richard and Judy'. So perhaps I should make the effort!
One reason for the book's popularity is that it promotes the theory that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and that she was the Holy Grail (renowned from the legends of Arthur). She was the vessel that held the blood of Jesus Christ in her womb while bearing his children, and these were shepherded off to the south of France. Because this would undercut any claims that Jesus was divine, the Church allegedly suppressed this information by way of the mysterious order of the Knights Templar, the Grail-keepers, who have been guarding the true (and continuing) bloodline of Christ and the relics of the Magdalene, not a material vessel. Da Vinci is claimed to have been in on the secret, which is referred to in code in his famous painting of The Last Supper. And the novel tells a whodunit story of how a Harvard specialist, Robert Langdon, who joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, to open up these lost secrets.
A heady cocktail, but not one to take seriously, in spite of Brown's bold claim: "All of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies, all of that is historical fact." The evidence that Jesus had a special relationship with Mary Magdalene or with any other of his female followers is very thin. Mary is a key witness to his death and resurrection. But there is no hint in the four gospels that she was his lover. We need to access the writings of a later religious sect known as Gnosticism to support this theory, and even then the texts are difficult to
interpret.
Sometimes people say that singleness was not an option for Jewish men in that time. Certainly it was not the norm, but there are parallel examples to Jesus in other Jewish groups. The common thread here would be singleness arising, not out of a repudiation of sex and marriage, but the outcome of a special commitment to God's work that left little time for a family. On the other hand we need to remember that there is no embarrassment about the fact that some prominent Christian leaders, like Peter, were married and travelled around the world with their wives.
What interests me is the question of Jesus and marriage. Why do people feel that it would diminish his divinity if he had married and had children? Such questions betray negative attitudes to human, sexual love. But God is the Creator of humanity and of sexual attraction. Like all his gifts, sexual love can be abused and debased, but in itself it is neither tainted nor beneath God's concern.
The idea that Jesus should want to be married is of course explored in the controversial film The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) directed by Martin Scorsese. As Jesus is being crucified, he fantasises about an alternative ending to his life. This entails first marriage to Mary Magdalene and then, after her death, to Mary and Martha. The last temptation is not a temptation to enjoy sex for itself, but the pleasure of an ordinary life with sex, marriage and children. In the end Jesus resists this test, and ends up dying on the cross to become the Saviour of the world. Provocative - yes. But perhaps this movie puts its finger on an important insight. Jesus did not forego marriage and the procreation of children because there is anything wrong with these things. No. He denied himself these good things because of his dedication to his mission of speaking about God's love and showing it in his actions. This tragically led to an early death, which paradoxically is the reason why we remember him today and seek to follow him.
David Bryan, The Rectory, Haughton Green.
For a careful rebuttal of Brown's more outrageous claims see Sandra Miesel's 'Dismantling The Da Vinci Code' (http://www.leaderu.com/popculture/ dismantlingdavinci.html).
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