Like everyone else, I’ve seen the video of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics in what is said to be a mocking depiction of Jesus’ last supper with drag queens and other sexually charged characters. The Olympics X account has since posted that the scene was supposed to represent the Greek god Dionysus who was the god of wine, fertility, and excess. It still appears that the blue Dionysus character was performing on the backdrop of a depiction of da Vinci’s famous last supper painting. Regardless of the original intentions of the performance, this moment has caused me to have a few meandering musings. Some shallower and some deeper.
1: Satire is an important part of a free society.
When my family visited Athens a couple years ago, one of the theaters we toured as we ascended the Acropolis, was a theater for political and religious satire. It was one of the key features that set apart the first truly democratic society from dictatorships around the world. In cultures ruled by autocratic forces, no one dared to mock or make fun of the powers that be. But like a forerunner to SNL, citizens, politicians, and religious leaders alike would come together in Athens to be roasted, mocked, and jeered. It was an important medium to provide corrective measures for those in power. Part of an open society is to be able to satirize aspects of culture which may seem to otherwise be considered off-limits. I am critical of the recent far-left mantra that words are violence and anyone who disagrees with a person’s lifestyle choice is essentially committing violence. People need to be free to have an opinion and to express their opinion. I don’t think it’s ever wise to mock of someone’s religious beliefs or lack thereof, and was grieved by the mockery of the last supper at the Olympics. But I would rather be part of a free society which allows such expression because it is far better than the alternative. I still think it was a really stupid choice (see #4).
2: Christianity is beautifully non-violent.
Despite how our modern media tends to depict Christians as raging blood-thirsty lunatics, moments like these remind me that our tribe has a peace-making instinct at its core, just like Jesus our leader. Sure, there have been terribly embarrassing seasons in our history like the crusades, but that violent instinct by-and-large no longer marks our faith. The reason the opening ceremony designers were emboldened to do something like this is because they know Christians don’t resort to vengeful murder when they’re offended. I’ve seen a couple of responses to the opening ceremony by Christians online saying, “we need to fight back.” No, we don’t. In a sad irony, almost 10-years ago, also in Paris, the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly magazine poked fun at Muhammed bringing an outcry from the Muslim community around the world. On January 7, 2015, a response by two Muslim extremists was a targeted shooting attack against the magazine, murdering 12 people and injuring 11 others. I’m aware that all religions have extremist factions. But I’m reminded again that the heartbeat of Jesus was for peace and love, maybe most vividly displayed during his passion week. As he was being unjustly accused, arrested, tortured and executed by his enemies; his instinct was to heal (as he reattached the ear of the soldier Peter tried to violently take out) and to forgive (as he prayed from the cross, pleading God’s forgiveness for his executioners).
3: We must steer our emotions to fuel our mission.
Don’t let your emotions fuel outrage. Don’t let your emotions fuel revenge. Don’t let your emotions fuel violence. Let your emotions fuel your mission to reach more people with the love of Christ. There are many people, including many from various sexual minority groups as depicted in the opening ceremony scene, who feel like they’ve been deeply hurt by the church. This hurt creates the backdrop for displays like this to feel justified. The truth is, people who have been deeply hurt by the church, are people for whom Jesus died. And when their pain overflows in anger and mockery toward Christianity, our missional Spidey senses must kick in. These aren’t our enemies; these are people who need the love and hope of Christ. When I saw the last supper scene, my mind went to another table Jesus sat at and was criticized for. He ate with “tax collectors and sinners.” The people around that first century table probably had a similar cultural reputation to the religious people of the day as drag queens and sexual minorities do in our day. As Christians, we should probably be sitting at more irreverent tables. We should be building more missional bridges to people who are far from God.
4: This was a stupid decision by the French opening ceremony planning team.
Now that I’ve made a case about tempering our response, it has to be said … this was really stupid. There is a place for “art forms” that promote questioning of the status quo, even in the name of dissent or derision. The Olympics’ opening ceremony isn’t it. This is not the moment for a depiction that would offend 1/4 of the world’s population. The Olympics is supposed to be a celebration of our unity and a transcendent spirit that rises above the divisiveness that is already so prevalent in our world. This is not the time to mock the deeply held faith by so many people. I can only imagine how many Olympic athletes from all over the world are Christians. I think of the Nigerian Christians, and Australian Christians, the Chilean Christians, et al, who may now feel ostracized from an event that’s supposed to celebrate their amazing skills and life’s work.
5: Secularism has overtly declared Christianity as the enemy, we should believe them.
There is a worldview advancing in our modern world that supersedes left or right politically here in America. It’s an overt secularism with an increasingly overt agenda to declare war on all things Christian. This has been true for much of history, but it’s becoming more and more pronounced in our day with the help of the internet and social media. Please understand this reality should not invoke a culture war of our own. This doesn’t mean we should buy guns and build bunkers and hunker down for a physical battle. But it does mean that we should not be naive to the spiritual battle that is unfolding. Christianity is squarely in the crosshairs of secular ideology, and we must be spiritually prepared to stand firm in our faith convictions. It is natural that we should lament the moral decline of our culture and lament the growing intolerance of this anti-Christian movement. In these moments we must go to the words of Jesus himself who said in John 15:18-21;
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.”
Derwin Gray recently said on X, “Our response to instances where we see the embracing of moral wickedness and mocking Jesus must be different than the world. We must not return hate for hate. We must not return mockery for mockery. We must respond with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must obey the voice of our Savior who tells us in Matthew 5:43–48 how to respond,”
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”