How should Christians respond to the Olympic's opening ceremony?

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How should Christians respond to the Olympic’s opening ceremony?

July 29, 2024 -

View of the colorful Paris City Hall building and Olympic sign for the Paris 2024 Olympics to illustrate the opening ceremony on July 26, 2024. By f11photo/stock.adobe.com

View of the colorful Paris City Hall building and Olympic sign for the Paris 2024 Olympics to illustrate the opening ceremony on July 26, 2024. By f11photo/stock.adobe.com

View of the colorful Paris City Hall building and Olympic sign for the Paris 2024 Olympics to illustrate the opening ceremony on July 26, 2024. By f11photo/stock.adobe.com

The opening ceremony for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games took place on Friday night throughout key locations in the historic city. The ceremony quickly became wrought with controversy after featuring segments that included a headless Marie Antionette and a ménage à trois. The majority of the discourse, however, has surrounded a recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, the 15th-century painting that depicts Jesus with his disciples the night before his crucifixion.

In the live-action parody, a woman sat in Jesus’ seat, with a variety of men dressed in drag and evenly distributed on either side of her, much like the disciples in the painting. At the historic Last Supper, Jesus served the disciples bread and wine, a sacrificial symbol of his body broken and blood poured out (Matthew 26:26-29). In contrast, on Friday, a naked man, painted blue, was served on a food platter to those at the table. He represented Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, theater, and ecstasy. Needless to say, “family-friendly” was not a common descriptor for Friday’s internationally broadcast ceremony.

Responses to The Last Supper

While some embraced the sequence as an allusion symbolizing diversity and reflecting France’s history of secularism, many have pointed to it as a mockery of Christians and a blasphemous depiction of Christ. Mike Cosper, from Christianity Today, provides a helpful distinction between an allusion, a parody, and mockery in this recent response on X. Though the painting has been parodied countless times before, none have ignited the culture war flame quite like this one, likely due to its overt message regarding sex and religion.

Major political and faith leaders from Europe and the United States publicly shared their displeasure with the parody. Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, called it “shocking and insulting” toward Christians. Political commentator Piers Morgan expressed doubts that a similar mockery of a faith other than Christianity would have been permitted. Even Elon Musk chimed in to share that he viewed the parody as disrespectful to Christians.

There has been widespread pushback against the outrage since many believed the spectacle was not a reflection of The Last Supper. The most prominent alternative perspective is that the creators sought to interpret Dionysus, a mythological figure that represents a fusion of Olympic heritage with French culture. Others have concluded that both The Last Supper and the pagan feast were in view. In her response on Sunday, Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps did not deny accusations that the act was meant to invoke The Last Supper, stating, “Clearly, there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. [The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance. We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offense, we are really sorry.”

However, Thomas Jolly—the opening ceremony’s artistic director—stated that they “never wanted to be subversive,” and that the event was simply meant to convey the “diversity” that France holds so dear. And, as Dr. Jim Denison describes, in many ways, that’s even worse than if they’d been trying to be offensive toward the Christian faith.

How to respond with grace and truth

Though The Last Supper is simply a painting, it is a genuine depiction of a benchmark biblical event, one that is sacred to believers around the world. While the decision to choreograph and air the sexualized drag sequence on global television, at the very least, displays ignorance, it’s understandable that many—both Christians and non-Christians—have seen it as a form of aggression.

However, despite Speaker Johnson’s aforementioned statement, followers of Jesus should not be surprised by either.

If this was an act of ignorance, with no intent to harm, then it reinforces the fact that those apart from Christ are lost in sin, suppressing the truth of God (Romans 1:18-20). Romans 1 also serves as a sobering reminder that apart from the grace of God, I too would be ignorant, participating in my own form of mockery. If this was an act of aggression, then what may have been engineered as an attack on Christian beliefs is ultimately an attack on Christ. Jesus made it known that he would be hated by the world, and therefore, his followers would be, as well (John 15:18-19).

The spectacle featured an important distinction of values between the church and the world: sacrifice versus indulgence. Everything from the sexual nature of the sequence to the pagan god of good times prepared for consumption represented indulgence. Jesus’ dinner with his disciples represented the complete opposite as he washed their feet and prepared to sacrifice himself for their sins.

Despite what may be offensive and distasteful, Christians have a duty to respond with grace and truth. We must not expect unbelievers to hold the same reverence for God or the same biblical worldview as believers. Simultaneously, Christians must not compromise. We have a responsibility to live counter-culturally, resisting conformity to a world that despises the tenets of our faith (Romans 12:1-2). Christians can also find confidence knowing that vengeance and justice for sin are carried out by our Holy God, who is not mocked (Galatians 6:7-8).

Lastly, we should be saddened by what is now celebrated as progress and freedom. True freedom is found in Christ, and we have a pivotal role in making that known to those who remain ignorant or aggressive toward him. Yes, we are to love even those who choose to mock our precious savior, praying that one day they might come to love our precious savior instead. Perhaps God will even use this debacle as a catalyst for many to seek the truth about the historic Last Supper and the eternity-changing events that followed. I pray he does.

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