Jesus and the Cult of Celebrity

Jesus is among us. Or rather, Jesus is among us through his living heirs. That is the premise of the Da Vinci Code and I think that is one of the reasons for its sensational appeal.

In a post 9/11, secular and questioning world where the Church is in decline and fragmented with internal arguments about
sexuality and AIDs, among other things, the myth offered up by the Code resonates at many levels.

Jesus - The Human Story

The hallmark of modern Christianity is its questioning and seeking, ever since the days of Martin Luther. In the Anglo
Saxon Anglican countries, our modern emphasis on individuality and personal choice is a direct evolution out of the spiritual (an sometimes political) strugges that resulted in the Church of England itself and subsequently, denominations such as the Quakers, Methodists, Presbyterians and non-Conformists where the personal relationship with God is a strong focus. We in the West in
the 3rd millenium have now questioned ourselves out of a faith but the pull of spirituality is strong - many people may not go to church but they believe in "something out there" and some look to Buddhism, other religions and New Age
practices to fill the gap.

Then this myth comes along that Jesus the man fathered a child with Mary Magdalene, who, after his death on the cross and
bearing his child, was spirited away to a secret location in Provence. Here is a recognisable real man with his recognisable human desires for love and family. Here is a tragic human story of loss and survival that we can all relate to at a human level. And as for running away to start a new life in Provence - well, we can connect with that completely.

In today’s world, it is also easier to believe those events could have happened than to believe in the "rose from the dead and ascended into heaven" thing.

Euro-Jesus

For a myth to be successful like this one, it has to fall within the realms of plausibility - and if the events narrated also
could have been possible, that is even better. So far, so plausible and so possible. Add on a theme that picks up on the current zeitgeist and you have a true zinger.

So, let’s take the location. In this post 9/11 world, it is significant that the myth places Jesus’s bloodline in Europe and
away from the Middle East. He - through his purported descendants - become French: still foreign and exotic enough for English speakers and the rest of the world but not as foreign and unsettling as being Israeli or Arab. In the present climate, it claims Jesus for Europeans - and by extension for Western civilisation.

And fortunately, the French don’t have an official royalty any more so this myth comfortably blends with the other haunting legends of secret princes living among us. You can test the power of this construct by asking yourself this question: Would the myth work if Mary had run away to live in the Home Counties and it is revealed that Prince Charles is the Holy Blood incarnate?

Blood

In a time of HIV and AIDS and anxiety about disease, a secret founded around blood - royal and holy blood, no less - has a
contemporary resonance that builds on our primordial response to blood as family, sacrifice, honour and death. Against all our instincts, the Christian story tells us letting of blood brings life, not death and the duality for us in modern times is hauntingly hopeful.

Pilgrim Tours

Medieval pilgrims made their way to Jerusalem to seek expiation of their sins, collecting holy tokens and relics at significant
way stations along the route - here is the finger of St. Someone or Other; here, so-and-so saw a vision of the Virgin. Pilgrims today travel by Easyjet and bring home tokens of David Beckham from the World Cup. So the cult of Jesus that became Christianity comes full circle. We need to see for ourselves, touch for ourselves, come within the lingering aura - whether it is a celebrity’s sweaty football shirt or a holy bone of a saint or the shroud that wrapped Jesus himself. We can now travel around England and France and do the Da Vinci tour, seeking out the glamour of the book and the movie and at some level, reaching
out to the aura of Jesus himself.

Easyfaith

It is so much more beautiful and safe, picturing a nice European great-great grandson of God in France that one might bump into while sipping espresso at a lovely cafe. He might truly be one of us, a man yet God, that suave Frenchman at the next table. It’s easier for the Western world to connect with that than to think of Jesus, the icon of love and forgiveness, (with or without descendants) as part of the troubled and wartorn Jerusalem and rooted in the Middle East. A trip to France is so much more do-able than a visit to Israel. Playing puzzles and codes is so much safer than having any true faith. The myth gives us this short cut to Jesus, if only we can be clever enough to solve the riddles. In some ways, it’s salvation by Sudoku.

pic from flickr by rk catch; non commercial use; no derivations