What is the fascination about The DaVinci Code? For most people, it is because they love a conspiracy theory. For some it is “proof” that the Bible is simply a fairy-tale as one woman said, “It shows that the Bible can’t possibly be accurate and that the text was changed.” One self-proclaimed Christian said, “It nearly made me lose my faith.”

The whole focal point of The DaVinci Code can be summed up in this line: “Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.” So Dan Brown has written a Christological novel…that is, a study about the person of Jesus--who he was and what he was about.

We move now to the 3rd great issue of Dan Brown’s conspiracy theory: “Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and they had a child. After Jesus’ death, Mary fled to France. Today, there are physical descendants of Jesus’ bloodline.”

The ‘theory’ is that there was contention between Mary and the disciples. After Jesus’ death, her presence and that of her baby possessed a serious threat to the disciples’ plans and schemes of making Jesus into a folk hero. They then threatened her into fleeing. Dan Brown gets this idea from the gospel of Phillip, a Gnostic gospel written at least 100 years after the New Testament gospels and includes only a few sayings attributed to Jesus. It is quite a stretch to make this out to be reality even in the gospel of Phillip. There is no hint at all in the New Testament or even among the Gnostic writings that Jesus was married, nor is it found in any of the early church fathers. This idea is pure fiction without any shred of historical evidence. If you say a big enough lie, you become a multi-millionaire.

The larger issue here is the resurrection of Jesus that “Jesus died on a Friday and was alive again on a Sunday.” The idea that Jesus was married presumes that Jesus died and stayed dead. There then followed these power struggles between his wife and the disciples to define Jesus. All of this occurred because Jesus was dead. But what if the Bible is really true… that on the 3rd day Jesus really did rise from the grave?

As we see in the New Testament (which Brown debunks) Jesus predicted His death and subsequent resurrection. We see this in Mark 8:31, 9:31, and 10:33-34. Recorded in the other gospels, it is clear in Mark’s gospel that Jesus told his disciples again and again, “Here’s the point of why I came: I’m going to die and then come back again.” In the Bible we see that Jesus was not a victim of a cruel, bloodthirsty crowd; He chose to go the cross and He knew ahead of time it was coming.”

Take note in the Bible that the disciples’ behavior was dramatically changed. When the soldiers came to the Garden of Gethsemane to take Jesus, the disciples ran for their lives. After Jesus’ crucifixion his followers cowered behind locked doors “for fear of the Jews.” But notice in Acts 2:14-39 something happened. Peter and the disciples are standing boldly in the marketplace proclaiming Jesus to be risen from the dead. What happened between ‘the cowering’ and ‘the proclaiming?’ Two things: the resurrection of Jesus and the disciples saw Him for themselves, and the experience of the empowering of the Holy Spirit. A dramatic change occurred from cowardice to courage.

Another reason not to believe Dan Brown’s conspiracy theory is the fate of the 11 disciples of Jesus. What happened to them? While we do not have biblical information, we do have historical data and tradition. Let me ask you a question: would you die for a lie? Would you undergo the cruelest torture you can think of to maintain what you know to be a lie? By inference, that is exactly what Dan Brown is saying, and not that just one disciple died for a lie but all 11 disciples died, some very cruelly. Think about the implications here. Now compare this to the Watergate conspiracy. As President Nixon’s chief counsel Chuck Colson was convicted in the ensuing cover-up. Colson speaks of how quickly the cover was blown by those wanting to save their own skin. These White House men couldn’t keep a secret for a few months, let alone a lifetime. They faced jail-time not tortuous death.

The point here is that the disciples of Jesus were willing to die for Jesus and that only makes sense if they had seen Jesus alive again.

If Jesus was really dead as Dan Brown asserts, the authorities of Jesus’ day failed at the simplest rebuttal and proof of all: they couldn’t produce Jesus’ body. The easiest and most obvious way for the Roman or Jewish authorities to have shut down the rumor of Jesus’ resurrection would have been to produce Jesus’ body for all to see. Down through the centuries there have been other theories about Jesus’ resurrection. One is called the Swoon Theory that states that Jesus didn’t really die on the cross but fell into a swoon or a coma. In the cool of the tomb he came back to consciousness. The problem with this theory is at least 2 fold: the Roman guards stationed at the tomb and the heavy stone rolled in front of the tomb’s opening.

Then there is the Hallucination Theory that purports that the disciples really didn’t see Jesus because they really saw a vision. Yet the Bible says that Thomas touched him and that he and the disciples ate fish together on the beach of the Sea of Galilee.

Which takes more faith and which takes more rational thinking?

For those revelling in this conspiracy known as The DaVinci Code I have some bad news: there are no blood descendants of Jesus living in France and Jesus was not married to Mary Magdalene.

Jesus does however have a bloodline—a bloodline through God’s grace by our faith. In Romans 5:6-9 we read that Jesus died for the ungodly, that He showed His love by His actions, and that we can be justified through His blood! That happens by faith—faith in Jesus and what He did for each and all of us.

For some, even in the church, speaking of the blood of Jesus is akin to cruel and unusual, barbaric, violent talk. They prefer to speak of God’s love and kindness, those positive things that make us feel good and give us warm fuzzies, but don’t get at the core of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible is clear. Orthodox, traditional Christian doctrine and teaching is clear. Our United Methodist Book of Discipline is clear. It is only by, through and because of the shed blood of Jesus as the Lamb of God, are we saved, justified, regenerated, transformed, and made new in God’s sight. Everything else is a sham, false, and untrue. The Bible tells us “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.”

Sin is serious business, so serious that God can’t simply ignore it nor give it a wink. Sin is so horrible and devastating that only the highest and best is capable of destroying it. The highest and best is the shed blood of God’s own Son, Jesus. He paid this price for us who could never pay it.

In a sense Dan Brown is right. Jesus does have blood relatives not only in France, but millions living around this globe in every nation, from every tribe, in every language and dialect, from every ethnic group, from Morocco to South Africa, from Alaska to the Florida Keys, from Columbia to the tip of Argentina, in Jerusalem, Baghdad, Islamabad, New Delhi, Bangkok, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, and from Manchuria to Canton.

Life is in the blood!

Thank You for Taking The Time to Read This Message.
May God Use These Words to Help You and Strengthen You.