The Ceremony that Divided the Church

Note: A shorter version of this article was first published with the Jesuit Institute of South Africa.

Last week Friday, my family sat down to watch the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The French always have a knack for the theatrics and this year was no different. The performances throughout the long ceremony were mesmerizing and provocative. We went to bed that night feeling tired but excited for the Olympic Games that were officially starting the following day. Little did I know that not everyone shared my enthusiasm.

The Outrage

I woke up the following morning and decided to browse social media (when is this ever a good idea?). My feed was filled with people sharing their outrage at a particular scene of the Olympics’ opening ceremony. A still picture of the ceremony was being shared alongside a picture of Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting which admittedly showed a slight resemblance to the original. According to the outraged folk (including some morally questionable celebrities like Elon Musk and Donald Trump), the organizers of the Olympics were attacking Christianity and Christians need to stand up and defend their God. I saw phrases being thrown around like: How could they mock God like this? What a brazen anti-Christian display! Jesus is weeping!

Having watched the ceremony myself, I had not personally been offended, but I decided that it would be best to do due diligence and rewatch the parts that people were complaining about. Alas, I still could not see the connection and decided to wait until more information was available before commenting myself.

What was really going on?

Luckily, we didn’t have to wait long for the organizers of the opening ceremony to make an official statement. They shared a post claiming that the scene in question was an artistic reenactment of the “feast of the Greek God Dionysus which makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings.” They even went so far as to apologize for any offense that may have been caused by the scene. Phew! Finally, we could all take a deep breath and recalibrate our outrage. We may even see some apologies by those who misinterpreted the scene. At least that is what I thought.

Unfortunately, the explanation did not seem to satisfy the angry Christians who were still deeply offended. To them, the apology was a cover-up and the Olympics were intentionally mocking Christianity.

This whole crazy situation got me thinking of what was really going on here.

Persecution Complex

I think that many Christians struggle with a persecution complex. Perhaps because Jesus and the apostle Paul claimed that those who follow Jesus will be persecuted, we are always looking for any opportunity to claim persecution.

We have seen this in many different ways. When other world religions have grown and been given voices in schools and governments, some Christians have claimed that their own voice is being suppressed. When LGBTQ+ Christians have begun taking their rightful seats at Christ’s table, some Christians have claimed that churches are compromising their biblical values. When people have stood up to fight for the rights of women, children and people of colour, some Christians have claimed that the “woke liberal agenda” is somehow taking away their own religious freedoms.

Humans love having something to stand for and fight against. I don’t think standing up for what you believe is a bad thing. But when every little thing we disagree with is claimed as an attack on our religion, we reveal more about ourselves than we do about others.

Does God need to be defended?

I must ask the question, does God need to be defended as aggressively as this? Even if we claim that the Olympic ceremony was intentionally mocking Christianity, do we really think that God would be offended by it?

Jesus was often mocked and ridiculed, even to the point of being crowned with thorns on the cross. He never showed offense or outrage. He was humble and gracious in his response to any and all mockery. He let people experience God through his loving actions and words. The many responses that I have seen to the Olympic ceremony have unfortunately been anything but loving and gracious.

The real issue

As I reflected on this whole situation this week, I kept on coming back to one question - what exactly were people offended by in this scene of the opening ceremony?

Even if we pretend for a minute that the scene from the opening ceremony in question was intentionally a reenactment of The Last Supper, what exactly is the problem?

The problem can’t be that the reenactment isn’t true to the original last supper of Jesus. Even Da Vinci’s beautiful painting portrays a bunch of white dudes sitting on chairs along one side of a table whereas Jesus and his disciples would have been brown middle-eastern men that would have eaten together by sitting on cushions on the floor. Da Vinci appropriated the scene of the last supper into his white European context in Italy in the 1500’s.

Furthermore, Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” is one of the most recreated pieces of art in all of human history. Many TV shows and movies have presented their own portrayal of this painting, such as The Simpsons, The Sopranos, South Park, Battlestar Galactica, That 70’s Show, Dr. House and many more. There was even a wildly popular image circulating a few years back of Donald Trump inserted into Da Vinci’s Last Supper scene. None of these above examples received even close to the amount of hate expressed towards this year’s opening ceremony.

What then is the difference? To me, it is clear. This particular reenactment involved drag queens and members of the LGBTQ+ community. For many Christians, this is the mockery that they are so offended by; that the scene of the Last Supper could be reenacted by this group of people, who are so far beyond their boundaries of love and acceptance, is the true disgrace to them.

This understanding deeply saddens me. Are these not the very people that Jesus would have shared a meal with - those who have been outcast and shunned from society by the religious elite?

Drag queens have gotten a bad rap from religious legalists in recent years with many claiming that they are a bad influence (and even predatory) on children and youth. The truth of the matter is that there have been countless more examples of child and sexual abuse within churches from clergy and church leaders than there have been from drag shows and Drag Story Hour events (many of which bring joy and healing to children and families alike).

It might not be comfortable for many of us to acknowledge the deeply-ingrained fear, hatred and even homophobia within us, but as those who claim to be Christ’s ambassadors in this world, we must do better. Rather than being known for what we are against, can we not be known for what we (and Jesus) stand for? Things like love, peace, joy, hope and faith. As the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, said: “though we may not all think alike, can we not all love alike?”

Image Source: Chatanooga Pulse