The Da Vinci Code

So by now you have heard all the hype about the soon to be released movie The Da Vinci Code. The movie is based on Dan Brown's best selling fiction by the same title. The book and the movie are pure fiction. I actually read the book a little over a year ago. It was an entertaining, suspense filled novel. I was a little humored by how the author tried to portray his work as historically accurate and factually based. But that was a subtle way to make the book even more fascinating to the reader. There are tons, in fact volumes of books, you can buy to find out all the tricks and deceptions in the "fictional" novel. I will leave that to you to read. I would just simply point out it is a fictional novel. The evidence that Dan Brown uses to suggest that Jesus was married and that he was married to Mary Magdalene is the painting of the Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci. Brown treats this painting as if it is an actual photograph of the Last Supper. He doesn't mention that nearly 1,400 years had passed before Da Vinci painted his famous portrait.
Brown suggests that a feminine looking person in the portrait has to be Mary Magdalene and because this person is seated to Jesus' right it would have to be his wife. Give me a break! Here is a question, there are thirteen people shown in the painting. One of them we know is a portrayal of Jesus. The other twelve are supposed to be his disciples. They are gathered around a table. This is most likely an inaccurate portrayal because they ate while reclining, not sitting on chairs. But at any rate...Let's assume that the person to the left of Jesus is a woman. That would mean only eleven disciples are portrayed. Where is the twelth disciple? We know Judas is portrayed in the painting as holding the money bag, he was the treasurer of the disciples. We know from the bible that the disciple whom Jesus loved leaned close to Jesus. This disciple is John who was very young. His youth might have been portrayed by Da Vinci as feminine. Art historians for years said the person to the left of Jesus is John. But again my point is the painting by Da Vinci is just that a portrayal of the Last Supper. If there is a woman in the painting why would he leave one disciple out? Was one disciple late for supper? To suggest that Da Vinci was a member of a secret order and he was placing a hidden message in his painting is absurd. But it is good enough to sell millions of books and probably even more movie tickets. It doesn't take much to entertain us these days. Again, take it for what it is a work of fiction.