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Back to Sermons Index Back to Home Page 11th June 2006 PMTHE 'DA VINCI CODE' JUST WHO IS JESUS? Pastor Colin Meadows Bible Readings: John 1:1-5, 14-18, John 4:25-26, John 10:27-33, John 20:30-31
Ø The Runaway Bestseller! When the book, ‘The Da Vinci Code’ was released in March 2003, it very quickly hit the best sellers’ lists. Today, over 40 million copies have been sold in 44 different languages around the world. Its publisher now calls it ‘the all time best selling adult novel.’ Its author, Dan Brown, claims it is a fictional fact-based conspiracy theory alleging scientific evidence that the New Testament is false testimony’ (Haan, 2006, p1). The film of the same name was released in Australia in May 2006. During the first week, it grossed $8.6m in Australia and $147m in the US! Many people in Australia are fascinated by the story-line and this provides a great opportunity for Christians to connect. People in Australia are interested in spiritual issues and we need to respond to that interest. A recent survey noted however that only 19% of West Australians attend church. Other pathways to help people find spiritual connection with God thus need to be explored. Let us seek to use this film as a means of helping people move on a journey to discover who Jesus really is! It has been said that while there is only one way to God, through Christ, there are many ways to Christ. I feel that this film can become one of those ways. Ø The story of the book in a nutshell The novel begins with the murder of Jacques Sauriere, the curator of the Louvre Museum in Paris. As he is dying, he is aware that he has ‘the truth’ and when he dies this truth will be lost. He thus leaves clues so that others may be able to follow the trail to find the truth. Robert Langdon, a Harvard professor, along with cryptologist Sophie Neveu, follow the clues left in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci as they seek to find the secret of the ‘Holy Grail’. According to the book the Holy Grail is not the chalice used by Christ in the Last Supper, but rather is Mary Magdalene, who carried the bloodline of Jesus Christ by having His child. This bloodline has allegedly continued to this day. This secret has been supposedly suppressed by the church down through the ages until this time. It is further alleged that Emperor Constantine during the fourth century made radical changes to the Bible, including introducing the notion that Jesus is God, orchestrating the selection of the books of the New Testament and suppressing the ‘sacred feminine.’ Before that time, it is claimed, Christ’s followers saw him as a mortal prophet who said and did many wonderful things, but who never the less was just a man. Brown had earlier been accused of ‘borrowing’ the story line for his book from the 1982 book, ‘The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail’. A court case in the UK between Brown and the authors of the book resulted in a win for Brown. Both books are published in the UK by Random House and sales of both books soared due to the court case (Sunday Times, April 9, 2006). Ø Is the book fact or fiction? If the book is fiction, then why be concerned? In fact, why make a fuss at all? The interesting part is that Brown says his book is based on historical facts. Brown was interviewed by Matt Lauer on ‘The Today Show’, NBC on June 9, 2003. Lauer asked how much of the book was based on reality in terms of things that actually occurred. Brown replied, “Absolutely all of it. Obviously Robert Langdon is fictional, but all of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies – all of that is historical fact.” Brown however has created fictional characters and put them in a falsified historical setting. For someone unaware of what he has done, reading the book can be very disconcerting as one may think that the historical details he gives are all actually true. Such is not the case at many critical times. Let’s examine a few now. Ø Who really was Emperor Constantine? Brown’s storyline focuses a lot on the influence of Constantine. This Roman emperor (272-337AD) came to power in 306AD. After a dramatic encounter with God, Constantine came to faith in Christ around 312AD at Trier, before the battle of Milvian Bridge. Later he proclaimed the Edict of Toleration towards people of all religious faiths in 313AD. Up until that time, Christians had faced widespread persecution interspersed with periods of calm. Constantine then reimbursed the church for damages suffered during the persecutions, exempted the clergy from taxes and called the first great ecumenical council in Nicea in 325AD. Constantine was baptized near the time of his death in 337AD. This was in keeping with the thinking of the time that baptism had power for cleansing and preparing a person for heaven. He and his mother were instrumental in the building of many great cathedrals and other church buildings. While there were inconsistencies in his behaviour as a Christian, it is drawing a long bow to claim as Brown has that Constantine was basically a politician who used the church for his own purposes. Ø How was the New Testament compiled? Brown says that Constantine decided which books were to be included in the New Testament to suit his own agenda. Such is not the case. By the end of the first century all 27 books of what we call the New Testament had been written and were in general circulation amongst the churches. The test for inclusion of a book was whether it had been written by an apostle or someone who knew the apostles, was it accepted by the churches and was it in harmony with other accepted doctrine? The Holy Spirit directed in this amazing process. The list was settled in the second century AD but the first time all 27 books appeared on a written list is in an Easter letter written by Athanasius in 367AD. The list was later ratified by the Council of Hippo in 393AD and the Council of Carthage in 397AD, and not at the Council of Nicea in 325AD as claimed by Brown. Emperor Constantine had nothing to do with the selection of the New Testament books. ØWhat about the Priory of Sion? This Priory features strongly in the book, with Brown claiming it was founded in Jerusalem in 1099AD. Such is not the case. Instead it was set up as a small social club in Paris in 1956, having been created by a forger Pierre Plantard, along with three other men. They planted false documents in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris that referred to a bloodline descending from Mary Magdalene down to the present day, a listing that included Pierre Plantard himself! The club was dissolved in 1957. Each of the documents they planted has been found to be forged. Plantard later in 1993 under oath admitted that he had made up the whole Priory scheme and that it was all fiction. Ø Were Jesus and Mary Magdalene an item? There is no evidence in any of the gospels or the Gnostic writings of Brown’s assertion that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had a child. Jesus’ specific mission was to die on the cross for the sins of the world, not to marry and have children. The suggestion that ‘The Last Supper’ painting shows Jesus with Mary Magdalene next to him is refuted by Leonardo Da Vinci himself in his earlier writings. He said that the person he painted next to Jesus was the Apostle John. Mary Magdalene rather should be remembered as the first and most prominent witness of the resurrection of Christ and as a faithful follower of the Lord. There is truth however in Brown’s assertions that the church down through the years has not treated women as equals. There is much for which we must ask Christ’s forgiveness and seek to move forward in our own generation. Remember the truth of Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Ø Was Jesus just a good moral teacher? This I feel is the most critical issue raised by Brown. Should we accept the statement from the book that Jesus should be seen as just a good moral teacher and nothing more? Let us look to the reliable historical record concerning Jesus as we find it in John’s gospel! Ø Jesus the Word who reveals God: John 1:1, 14 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Jesus was the Word, who came from God and who was God. The Greeks used this term to speak of ‘the rational principle that governed life’. For Jews, the Word was God. Here the two thoughts come together. Jesus is God who controls all things. As God he became a human, just like us, living amongst the people of his time. He experienced all of the human condition, except without sin. He revealed God to the world, the divine in human flesh. He was thus much more than a good moral teacher. It was thus not Emperor Constantine who introduced the teaching that Jesus is divine. Christ himself claimed to be God! The early disciples accepted that he was God. The New Testament writings time and time again affirm that he was God. Yes, Jesus cannot be accepted as just another good moral teacher. Ø Jesus the Messiah who saves: When Jesus confronted the woman of Samaria, she was amazed at what Jesus said. John 4:25-26 ‘The woman said “I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, ‘I who speak to you am he.”’ The word ‘Messiah’ or ‘Christ’ is speaking of the anointed one, the one selected by God to bring salvation to his people. Down through the centuries the people of God had longed for the Messiah, the one who would set them free. Now this one had arrived! Now the promised Messiah was here. He was thus much more than just a good moral teacher. Ø Jesus the Shepherd who cares: Jesus was thus God in human flesh, the promised Messiah. But he was also the caring shepherd who watched over his people. John 10:27-29 ‘”My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.’” Jesus, in oneness with the Father, will care for his sheep. He will protect them, no matter what may happen. ‘The LORD is my shepherd’, the Psalmist cries, ‘I shall not be in want.’ Jesus will provide for all our needs. He will meet the deepest longing of the human heart. He was thus much more than just a good moral teacher. Ø Where do I go to from here? What should we do now in response to who this wonderful Jesus is? The gospel of John helps us here in very clear terms. John 20:30-31 “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you might have life in his name.” God’s revealed Word to us calls for a response of faith. We are to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God so that we might find life. Have you made that step of faith? Don’t sit on the fence any longer. Step into faith and keep walking! A quote from the English author C.S. Lewis from his book ‘Mere Christianity’ concerning who Jesus really was is helpful as we close – ‘Many people say about Jesus that they are ready to accept him as a great moral teacher but don’t accept his claim to be God. This is the one thing we must not say. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.’ What is your view of Jesus today? Can I encourage you to read through Jesus’ biography in the gospel of John and find out for yourself? I am so glad that many years ago I went on my own personal search to discover who Jesus really is. As I read through the gospels and as I talked with Christians, I slowly grew to understand the wonder of Christ the Lord. He was far more than just a good moral teacher. I discovered him as the Word who came to reveal God to the world, the Messiah who came to save, and the Shepherd who came to care. Can I encourage you to do the same?
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