I remember attending a showing of The Last Temptation of Christ at a movie theatre in Manhattan in 1988.  Dozens of policemen were watching over a large crowd of protestors with bullhorns. I remember thinking at the time: “Jesus, you can sure still draw a crowd!”

He still can. On it’s opening weekend, The Da Vinci Code sold $230 million worth of tickets worldwide.  I saw no protestors at the Henrietta theatre where I viewed the move, but there were protestors in some places.

The move is based on the bestselling book by the same title. The book is a fictional account of a conspiracy to hide the fact that Jesus had had a child by Mary Magadalene and their descendants continued until this day.

As for its entertainment value, I only found the movie (and the book) mildly interesting. I don’t really know why the movie was worth protesting. There is nothing here of any serious historical worth.

I kind of like the cartoon that showed a parishioner in a confessional booth saying to his priest, “I know it’s just an adventure yarn wrapped around a few tired old conspiracy theories, Father, but this book has me really wrestling with my faith!”

The priest answers, “I’d say faith that weak could use the exercise--”

Of course, there is value to getting people to talk about Jesus anytime. When he walked the earth 2,000 years ago he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” and then the more pointed question, “Who do you say that I am?”

Who is Jesus? The most important question any person can ask in life. If The Da Vinci Code gets anyone to seriously think about that, I am thankful.

 
©2006 C. David Hess

In an Adult Sunday School class some years ago, a woman remarked that even if no life awaits us after death, believing in Christ brings benefits to our life in the here and now. I agreed with her, but my agreement was not total.

To really believe in Christ may in some ways make our present lives worse. This was very much the case for the Apostle Paul. He writes: “Five times I was given the thirty-nine lashes by the Jews; three times I was whipped by the Romans; and once I was stoned. I have been in three shipwrecks, and once I spent twenty-four hours in the water...There has been work and toil; often I have gone without sleep; I have been hungry and thirsty…” (II Corinthians 11:24 ff.) Such were some of the “benefits” for Paul in this life for believing in Christ. That was why he could write: “If our hope in Christ is good for this life only and no more, then we deserve more pity than anyone else in all the world.” (I Corinthians 15:19)

For Paul, believing in Christ meant taking up his cross and following. For us, I am afraid believing in Christ means taking comfort from such belief in this world and hope for the next. If we really believe in Christ, our lives in the here and now would be much less comfortable. True belief in the Resurrection gives us the strength to take up the cross in the here and now. This also was true for Jesus, who “because of the joy that was waiting for him...thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross….” (Hebrews 12:6)

The benefits (both positive and negative) of believing in Christ in this life are well expressed in the words of Phillip Brooks: “The great Easter truth is not that we are to live newly after death---that is not the great thing---but that we are to be new here and now by the power of the Resurrection; not so much that we are to live forever, as that we are to, and may, live nobly now because we are to live forever.”

©2006 C. David Hess