“Was Jesus Married?”

Was Jesus married? That’s the main contention of this book. The book sold 45,000,000 copies. As we’ve studied in the first six sermons, most of the book is based on lies. There are a few facts, but most of the book is just plain error and is wrong. The movie came out and the actor who plays an historian, Ian Ian McKellen, a Scotsman, said that the Bible should have disclaimer in it that says, “This is fiction.” They have a worldview of the Bible that it is something that is absurd, out-of-date, and irrelevant. Because of The Da Vinci Code, there are millions of people now who say that Christianity as we know it is a lie, and that everything our (church) fathers have taught us about religion is untrue, and that book debunks Christianity.

In the last six sermons, you have heard their arguments. Do you agree with what they say? (No!). Neither do I.

The final contention about Mary is really the whole premise of the book and the reason they made it into a movie. The Da Vinci Code is largely the story of the Holy Grail. Most folks think this is a cup or chalice that was used during the Last Supper, and they think it was the same cup caught Jesus’ blood at the Cross. As the legend goes, Joseph of Arimathea took this cup to England. Anyone who drinks out of this cup is supposed get eternal life: perpetual youth. But in the novel, instead of the Holy Grail being a cup, it’s actually a person. Specifically, Mary Magdalene, whom Dan Brown says Leonardo Da Vinci actually painted

into The Last Supper—taking the place of the Apostle John.

Now as you look at the picture of The Last Supper, Dan Brown is convinced that the person sitting to Jesus’ right [under the green arrow in Microsoft PowerPoint] is not the youngest Apostle John—as almost every art historian believes—but instead is Mary Magdalene. He ignores the fact that Renaissance artists often painted young men with apparent feminine qualities, and when you look at the painting, you see that Jesus and Mary Magdalene have a space between them that forms the shape of a “V.” This “V” shape is supposedly the ancient pagan symbol representing the Sacred Feminine which some believe is basically the female side of God. Never mind that Jesus says in John 4:24 (NIV) that God is “neither male nor female but Spirit.” In the painting, you see this “V” shape as well as another important letter—the letter “M.”

“If you view Jesus and Magdelene as compositional elements rather than as people, you will see another obvious shape leap out at you glaring in the center of the painting was unquestionably the outline of an enormous, flawlessly formed “M.”

Now this guy (actor, Ian McKellen) here is the one that says the Bible is fiction and (that) you can’t believe the Bible. He is also a homosexual; part of the homosexual lobby, and he despises Christianity. And he’s one of the main actors in the movie.

The “V” and the “M,” and all these things are part of the theory. It kind of makes you want to buy a vowel, doesn’t it? Anybody like Wheel of Fortune?

In is book, Leigh Teabing, the British royal historian character played by the actor Ian McKellen in the movie, says to Sophie who is the female lead in the movie, “‘If you view Jesus and (Mary) Magdalene as compositional elements rather than as people, you will see another obvious shape leap out at you.’

Glaring in the center of the painting was the unquestionable outline of an enormous, flawlessly formed letter ‘M.’” [The PPT slide illustrating this first reveals the “V” and then the M] (The Da Vinci Code: Dan Brown, 243–245)

“‘A bit too perfect for coincidence, wouldn’t you say?’ Teabing asked. Sophie was amazed. ‘Why is it there?’ Teabing shrugged. ‘Conspiracy theorists will tell you it stands for Matrimonio or Mary Magdalene. To be honest, nobody is certain. The only certainty is that the hidden ‘M’ is no mistake.’” (The Da Vinci Code: Dan Brown, 243–245)

Leaving additional clues to the identity of Mary in other famous pieces of art, most notably Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Brown not only claims Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married, but also that “The social decorum during that time virtually forbids a Jewish man to be unmarried. According to Jewish custom, celibacy was condemned, and the obligation for a Jewish father was to find a suitable wife for his son. If Jesus were not married, at least one of the Bible’s gospels would have mentioned it and offered some explanation for His unnatural state of bachelorhood.” (The Da Vinci Code: Dan Brown, 245)

He obviously doesn’t know how the Bible looks at single people. The Bible teaches that you’re supposed to single and stay that way unless God indicates otherwise, and that singleness is a gift, there’s nothing wrong with it, and a person who’s single is not somehow incomplete! But somehow Mr. Brown misses that fact.

Brown is confident this marriage is also clearly recorded in the “historical record.” We’ll talk about what he means shortly. Additionally, Brown says the word [this is important] “companion” in the first and second centuries literally meant “spouse” (The Da Vinci Code: Dan Brown, 246) and then he quotes from a passage in the Gnostic Gospel of Philip which says “The companion of the Savior is Mary Magdalene. Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples were offended by it and expressed disapproval. They said to him, ‘Why do you love her more than all of us?” (The Gospel of Philip as quoted in The Da Vinci Code: Dan Brown, 246)

Which apparently made Peter jealous of Mary Magdalene. In fact, if you take another look at the picture of The Last Supper, Brown says that’s why Peter has a dagger behind his back in his right hand and is advancing with a threatening “off with your head” type gesture toward Mary’s neck with the other. Art historians disagree. They have always said the dagger and obvious hostility foreshadows Peter’s defense of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane where John 18:10 records how he cut off the high priest’s servant’s ear with his sword. But Dan Brown says it’s Peter demonstrating his jealousy of Mary Magdalene because quote “According to these unaltered gospels [the Nag Hammadi Texts/Gnostic Gospels], it was not Peter to whom Christ gave directions with which to establish the Church. It was Mary Magdalene.” (The Da Vinci Code: Dan Brown, 248)

Some of you are wondering: How does all this make Mary Magdalene the Holy Grail? Brown says it’s because Mary Magdalene was from the tribe of Benjamin, which made her “of royal descent.” (The Da Vinci Code: Dan Brown, 248) And this royal bloodline was to be carried on by Jesus’ daughter Sarah which Brown says is “The greatest cover–up in human history. Not only was Jesus Christ married, but He was a father. A child of Jesus would undermine the critical notion of Christ’s divinity and therefore the Christian Church, which declared itself to be the sole vessel through which humanity could access the divine and gain entrance to the Kingdom of heaven.” (The Da Vinci Code: Dan Brown, 249, 254)

Consequently, according to grail legend, Brown says the pregnant Mary Magdalene was smuggled into France by Jesus’ uncle Joseph of Arimathea to live happily ever after where Sarah married into the royal Merovingian bloodline allowing her to eventually rule Palestine and wrest control of Europe from the Catholic Church. Or so the story goes. That’s the big picture.

Now that you see that, you’ll understand why we’re now responding to the following questions in this book:

Let’s start with Mary Magdalene. Who was she according to the Bible? Matthew 27:55 and Mark 15:41 (KJV) say Mary Magdalene was a follower and friend of Jesus—as were many devoted women which “Ministered unto him of their substance.” Mark 16:9 and Luke 8:2 both tell us that Jesus cast seven demons out of her. Matthew 27:45 tells us that she was present during Jesus’ trial and sufferings and John 19:25 tells us that she was at the Crucifixion. Luke 23:56 makes note of the fact that she watched Joseph of Arimathea place Jesus’ body in the tomb. And after three days, John 20:1 says Mary and some other women returned to Jesus’ tomb, found that the stone had been rolled away, and ran back to tell the disciples that someone had taken the body. John 20:15–16 also tells us that she was the first person that Jesus appeared to after His resurrection and verse 18 says she returned to the disciples confirming the fact that she had seen the risen Lord. Ellen White talks about Mary Magdelene becoming the first evangelist commissioned by Christ to preach His resurrection to the world. Mary was in the counsel of elders, sat in the circle, she had some authority from Christ. She obviously was a preacher of righteousness. We’re told that she went forth and proclaimed Christ’s message everywhere.

So she was a great woman, but she was not the rock upon which Jesus built the Church. She was not the Holy Grail as Dan Brown tries to propose. Neither was she the villain that Roman Catholicism tried to make her.

The fact that she was known as Mary Magdalene suggests that at some point she came from the small town of Magdala, 120 miles north of Jerusalem, on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee. Its full name is Magdala Tarichaea. Magdala means, “tower” and Tarichaea means “salted fish.” So if the name of the town was “Tower of Salted Fish,” guess what their main occupation was: fishing. And if she was a prostitute, she could probably make a pretty good living in a town of sailors. So for those folks who don’t believe she was a prostitute, they say she may have worked in the fish markets. Others say her name Mary “of Magdala” means she wasn’t married since a married woman would have carried her husband’s name instead of where she lived. And while an unmarried woman was viewed 2,000 years ago with suspicion, which could have contributed to her isolation, it doesn’t explain her overwhelmingly negative reputation Mary has as a repentant prostitute. Unless you combine John 11’s Mary of Bethany with Luke 8’s Unnamed Woman sinner, and all references of Mary of Magdalene together as the same person, then you could get our picture of Mary Magdalene. Interestingly, this is exactly what the Seventh–day Adventist Church does, and they differ from many Protestant churches, and they agree with the Roman Catholic Church on this. Both Roman Catholicism and Seventh-day Adventists are the only two churches that consider Mary to be the prostitute that Jesus rescued. Read the Identity of Mary Magdalene Handout for more on that.

Bachelorhood – was it condemned – and celibacy forbidden by the Jews during the first century? According to The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church: “Celibacy was foreign to the Hebrew culture...but marriage was not compulsory. For some the demands of the kingdom might involve a celibate life.” (The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church: J. D. Douglass, General Editor, 633–634) This was not condemned. Now it’s true marriage was the norm, but nowhere in Scripture does it say that being a bachelor was condemned or that celibacy was forbidden.

This lack of clarity is obvious in the life of Paul. Some say Paul was married because he was a member of the Sanhedrin, and he was a rabbi. And the Mishnah describes that a man should be married to be a member of the Sanhedrin.

In Galatians 1:14 (NLT) Paul said that he, “…was one of the most religious Jews of my own age, and I tried as hard as possible to follow all the old traditions of my religion.”

And yet Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7:1, “It is good to live a celibate life; and in verse 7 he adds, “I wish everyone could get along without marrying just as I do.”

This indicates that Paul was single. But we are not all the same. God gives some the gift of marriage; others the gift of singleness. So, basically, Paul leaves marriage up to the person’s choice. So I think we can dispel the theory that Jesus had to be married because it was the required thing to do. Basically, Paul leaves marriage up to each person as a choice. So I think we can dispel the theory that Jesus had to be married because it was the required thing to do.

And as for Jesus, He had a couple pretty good reasons for not getting married. Predicting his death in Matthew 16:21, Jesus obviously knew He would die young first of all. He knew leaving a wife and child behind would be irresponsible and hurtful. I’m sure He didn’t want to be a deadbeat dad (no pun intended)! So freedom of choice is the other reason why He didn’t marry. Matthew 19:12 (NLT), “Some are born as eunuchs, some have been made that way by others, and some choose not to marry for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let anyone who can, accept this statement.” So Jesus said whatever you choose, if you have the gift of singleness or marriage, one is not any better than the other.

But what about the word “companion?” Was the word “companion” synonymous with the word “spouse” during Jesus day? This is important, because according to the Da Vinci Code, Mary Magdalene is referred to as “Jesus’ companion.”

The cool thing about computers these days is that we can search word by word or phrase through a ton of information very quickly. For example, if you go online to Google and type in the words “etymology spouse” it will take you to a web site that traces the origins of the usage of words. If you type “spouse” into its search engine, the Online Etymology Dictionary will tell you “spouse” first began being used in the 13th century—not the first (century).

Also, unless Brown based his word studies from the Gnostic Gospels on different Greek words for marriage or spouse or companion than those universally known, there is not one single instance when those were used interchangeably!

So what I’m saying to you is, if you go back and do the research, he says “companion” and “spouse” were interchangeable, there’s no evidence of that anywhere! He just made that assertion. It’s not true! What difference does that make? Well, it’s pretty incredible when you think about it. With all the Greek literature available on the Internet and on reputable Bible research software (e.g. Logos and E-Sword) which include tools that search the meaning of Greek words not just in the Bible, but throughout all of ancient literature. It’s incredible that with all that technology, nobody has found one instance where the word “companion” meant “spouse” or “bride” or “bridegroom” for that matter—that’s staggering don’t you think? But that’s the truth. So “spouse” and “companion” were not used interchangeably in the first and second centuries. Dan Brown is stretching the truth to spin a good yarn by implying ancient Greek writing, inside or outside the Bible, says otherwise. He’s lying!

But what if Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married? Would that have really compromised Jesus’ divinity? He makes a big deal of it. (A child of Jesus would undermine the critical notion of Christ’s divinity and therefore the Christian Church…) Why? Has anybody asked why? Is there something wrong with marriage? Is there something wrong with sex in marriage? Hello? I can’t think of any reason why it would undermine the whole church and everything about the church. I mean it’s not sinful to get married. Didn’t God ordain marriage in Genesis 2:24?

It is still a holy covenant between a man and a woman, isn’t it? The Bible has only the highest view of marriage. Hebrews 13:4 (NLT) says, “Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage.” Is it wrong for Jesus to marry? Why? For it to be wrong for Jesus to get married and experience sex in marriage, that would mean that there is something inherently sinful about marriage and sex which there is not. Now I don’t think Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene or anyone else. But neither do I believe it would have undermined His divinity if He ever was. Scripture simply does not say He was married, it doesn’t say He fathered a child, which makes me think He wasn’t and He didn’t.

Now, the next piece of the puzzle is kind of irrelevant due to that fact but nevertheless, it’s fascinating. Did Jesus and Mary Magdalene intend to establish a new dynasty by uniting their two royal bloodlines as they propose (in the book)?

If you were here a couple weeks ago, we talked about why Jesus was the Messiah, and you already know where we’re headed but for those of you who missed it, I’m going to refresh your memory. This is an easy question to answer for two reasons:

Number one – if Mary Magdalene as Dan Brown says was from the tribe of Benjamin—of which there is no genealogical proof in the Bible whatsoever—it wouldn’t matter. Why? Because God in His omniscience and foreknowledge promised hundreds of years before that only one of the 12 tribes of Israel would be the royal bloodline and that is the tribe of Judah—not Benjamin. Genesis 49:10 (NLT) says, “The scepter will not depart from Judah.”

Now why did Dan Brown come up with this theory about (the tribe of) Benjamin? Why does he call Benjamin a royal bloodline? Because originally it was! According to 1 Samuel 9:1, King Saul, Israel’s first King, was from the tribe of Benjamin. The problem is Dan Brown didn’t keep reading 1 Samuel. If he did and had come to 1 Samuel 13:13–14 (NLT). He would’ve read how Scripture records that God cut this tribe off from being a royal line. First Samuel 13 describes a time when the Philistines were about to attack the Israelite army and Samuel the Prophet hadn’t showed up yet to offer the sacrifice before the battle—sort of like the pre–game prayer or the National Anthem that they sing before a Nascar race.

So what did Saul do? He decided, “I’ll just offer the sacrifice myself! Gentlemen, start your engines!” He offers the sacrifice, and away they go. Then Samuel shows up. “Uh-oh!” Here’s what he said to King Saul:

Doesn’t that sound similar to what we discovered through the prophet Jeremiah that King Jeconiah many years ago in Jeremiah 22:30 was cursed? So Saul’s royal bloodline was cursed too. Even if Mary Magdalene was a descendent from the tribe of Benjamin, it wouldn’t matter because that dynasty ended with Saul. God made no special arrangements to circumvent the curse of Saul like He did for the curse of Jeconiah. Instead, the Bible confirms there is only one royal bloodline, and as we traced it through, it is through the tribe of Judah and specifically from the lineage of David (cf. Matthew 1:1–17 and Luke 3:23–37).

The second reason we know Jesus didn’t intend to establish a new dynasty is because He said so in John 18:36 (NLT). He said, “‘I am not an earthly king. If I were, my followers would have fought when I was arrested by the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.’”

Do you get the point? Jesus would not have married Mary Magdalene to create a new dynasty because, number one, she wasn’t royal, and number two, He didn’t have a political agenda.

He said His kingdom was not of this world.

But what about those Gnostic Gospels? The latest one to receive major publicity is the Gospel of Judas. Did you hear about it around Easter this year when National Geographic re–released it in hardback? You can purchase it at any Barnes and Noble or Borders. They advertise it as the “unaltered gospels” credible “historical records” dating from the “earliest Christian records” as Brown claims (The Da Vinci Code: Dan Brown, 245).

A little background may be helpful. The historical record Dan Brown is referring to are the Coptic Scrolls found in 1945 by two guys one of whom was a guy, no lie, named Muhammad Ali—not the boxer. He and a friend found them in sealed ceramic jars in some desert caves in southern Egypt at a place called Nag Hammadi. Now these are old. They were found five years before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Today, these ancient apocryphal (which means non–Biblical) writings are also known as the Gnostic Gospels. There are 52 texts that were found which included titles such as The Gospel of Thomas; The Gospel of Phillip; The Gospel of Truth (the creation account from the Dragon’s perspective; from the Serpent’s viewpoint. How interesting.); and The Gospel to the Egyptians. Other texts claim to be written by some of Jesus’ followers include The Secret Book of James; The Apocalypse of Paul; The Letter of Peter to Philip; and The Apocalypse of Peter.

Now, the essence of these Gnostic books is a teaching derived from the Greek word “gnosis” which means “knowledge” which I don’t have time to explain. For more information on Gnosticism, you can “Google it” online, purchase the book The Gospel and the Greeks by Ronald H. Nash, or just rent the Matrix movies because Chris Seay and Greg Garrett, authors of the book The Gospel Reloaded say this trilogy of movies is nothing but 21st century Gnosticism re–packaged for the reading impaired. (The Gospel Reloaded: Chris Seay & Greg Garrett, 43)

So, the Lord Of The Rings, and The Matrix, and Star Wars, and all these trilogies, and all these fantasy movies usually derive their origin from these kind of sources. So you are just steeping your mind in ancient error as you watch some of them. They may be entertaining, but they’re certainly not true. And someday they will all be gone, won’t they? But the Bible will still stand true.

Her story begins some time after the resurrection. Mary says she had a secret vision (in this gospel) of Jesus where He gave her some information that He had not given the other disciples. And of course, Peter being Peter wants to know what Jesus said to her.

“Peter said to Mary, ‘Sister, we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of women. Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember—which you know (but) we do not, nor have we heard them.” (The Gospel of Mary Magdalene: The Nag Hammadi Library: James M. Robinson–General Editor, 525)

Mary goes on to tell them what she saw in a vision about how one must pass through four powers to reach the eternal silent rest of the soul (i.e. heaven so to speak).

Aside from being inconsistent with the simplicity and beauty of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, a more pragmatic problem we face with the Gnostic Gospel of Mary Magdalene is its manuscripts are so damaged that most of the content is lost and one has to radically speculate as to what it says. There are literally huge holes in the parchment! I’ve got a picture of one of its manuscripts on the screen. Not only that, but four pages of Mary’s vision are missing, so like a bad movie, all you’ve got is a beginning and the end but no middle.

The problem with all these Gnostic gospels is that they taught that you are saved by having some special knowledge and through your special knowledge and wisdom, you’re saved. And only the elite who learn this special knowledge are going to be saved. It is a false gospel. It is satanic. It is evil! These are evil manuscripts that mislead people. And if you follow what they say, you will be lost. Not a good idea!

And Dan Brown says the Gnostic Gospels like Mary Magdalene’s are “unaltered” giving the implication that they are completely objective and true and that they are the “earliest Christian records,” but guess what? When you look them up, you find out that the New Testament was completed much earlier (dating back to 50AD). These Gnostic gospels date from 150–200 AD! So they are not the ancient, most old manuscripts at all! They’re at least 100 years older than the Gospels! So there’s another lie. Everything this guy says in this book turns out, when you investigate it, to be a lie and not be true. Common sense says the proof he’s using to base Mary Magdalene’s unique role and marriage with Jesus is neither credible nor authentic.

But did Jesus commission Mary Magdalene to be His sole successor? In the Da Vinci Code, quoting those Gnostic Gospels, that’s what Brown says. But as Protestant Christians have been protesting for years, we know Jesus didn’t pick one person to be His successor. Not Peter. Not Mary. Not the pope. The Bible is clear on this. Ephesians 2:19–20 (NLT) says, “So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God's family. 20We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles (plural) and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.”

Peter himself wrote in 1 Peter 2:9 (NLT), “But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God’s holy nation, his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”

So Jesus didn’t choose Mary as His successor. Why? He didn’t choose any one person. The “apostles” plural, and “prophets” plural are the foundation of the church and Jesus is the cornerstone. That conclusion is the bedrock Jesus was affirming in Matthew 16:18 when He said to Peter, “You are a rolling stone (petros), but upon this Rock (Petra; Him)…” He was going to build His church. Christ was the solid Rock that would not move. No pope is the solid Rock! Jesus Christ is the solid Rock upon which He was building His Church!

Jesus said, “Peter, you’re just a rolling stone. But upon this Rock I will build my church.” So He didn’t build it on Mary or Peter, or anyone else. He didn’t leave someone the succession of His Church and make them Number One. He said if you want to be a servant, you have to serve everybody, and the one who is most humble. He didn’t set up some popery where you sit in a temple in Rome and exalt yourself above everyone else.

Finally, was Joseph of Arimathea Jesus’ uncle? The Bible does not say. Here’s what we do know of Joseph of Arimathea. The Bible says he was:

Nowhere do we see him being referred to as Jesus’ uncle. So why does Dan Brown say otherwise? Because legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea took the Holy Grail to England. That he played a role beyond what the Scriptures describe. But that, as the vast majority of things Dan Brown says in the Da Vinci Code, is steeped in fiction not fact.

The bottom line is Jesus was brilliant, fearless, compassionate, unpredictable, but rejected by the vast majority of those who knew of Him. But like Mary Magdalene, you don’t have to be one of them. For knowing some of Jesus is better than all of anything else.

John 17:3 (NLT) says it this way. “And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” Is that your desire? How many of you want that happy ending?

* Special thanks to Pastor Mike Fortune for sharing his research with me and giving me permission to use the information in this message.

All Scriptural References: New Living Translation

Transcription: Wendy J. Riebel

This sermon is also available on cassette tape.

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