Millions of folks throughout the world watched the opening ceremonies of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics almost a week ago. Celine Dion made her first comeback appearance after having been diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome a number of years ago and leave it to the French to create quite a stir with part of their opening program.
Unless you are living underground, it is virtually impossible to ignore the noise surrounding a very liberal portrayal of what many Christians believe is the Last Supper. It is the meal that Jesus shared with His disciples prior to His betrayal by Judas and His subsequent crucifixion and burial on what we call Good Friday. Of course, Jesus beat death, once and for all, and we celebrate that victory on Easter morning when the disciples discovered that the tomb was empty and Jesus once again lived in the flesh…
The main characters in this “portrayal” are numerous drag queens and other aberrant folks who insist that the “show” had nothing to do with the Last Supper but, rather, was a depiction of a Greek character named Dionysus and the program was designed to promote acceptance, tolerance, fun and diversity. Clearly, there is a great difference of opinion of what the actual presentation was taken from but Christians throughout the world were outraged and incensed at what they saw during the opening ceremony.
There has already been quite a bit written about how the event was perceived and anger expressed on various fronts. But we must understand that we are speaking about the French here. According to Glenn McDonald, author of a daily “Morning Reflection” and former Presbyterian pastor, France’s religious history is rather complicated. Throughout the years, it has gone from a devout country to one that may well be one of the least religious countries in the world today.
Back several centuries ago, the French were helpful in our early wars. And Catholicism ruled the day in France. However, eventually, in response to the French Revolution, more than 1400 Parisian streets were renamed to erase any reference to their Catholic origins. Churches became public property, priests were relieved of their duties and some were compelled to join the Revolution or face the guillotine. Even Notre Dame was renamed the Temple of Reason to divorce it from references to the Church. Let’s not forget that Christ had been worshipped for more than 600 years in this place. Today, France has more registered witches than it does Christian clergy.
Several years ago, Notre Dame suffered a devastating fire and it was doubted at the time that the church could ever be rebuilt in its entirety. However, during the last several years, more than $1 billion dollars has been raised for the project. Who can forget the crowds holding candles outside the walls of the charred landmark. It wasn’t the architecture as much as the crowds represented worshippers who supported God whose work has never been dethroned by fire or revolution. And finally, more than 2000 days after the fire, the bells of Notre Dame rang out once again, announcing their return at the opening ceremonies in Paris that we witnessed almost a week ago.
So, as Christians, what should our response be to such an absurd and demeaning portrayal of the Last Supper or the pagan Dionysus? My suggestion may surprise you…
In one word, we should PRAY – for the poor souls who took part in this mockery. But in order to understand why, it’s important that I share one of the things that I learned from Dr. Branine during my seminary days. Of all the areas of theology that we studied, including Trinitarianism, Soteriology, Angelology and Demonology, along with a host of other fields of study, the one course that was not offered had to do with Apologetics, the defense of the faith. I found this quite odd and so I inquired why we wouldn’t become familiar with this area of study. Dr. Branine reminded us that God is quite capable of defending Himself and the job that we could do would be vastly inferior to the way that God may choose to handle situations where the faith was questioned or even rejected.
That simple realization has helped shaped my response to “attacks” on Christianity. Our job is to extend grace and to pray for those who must lash out at the faith. It has been my experience that those who mock Jesus and the cross are those who are most lost. While each much accept the free gift of salvation, perhaps God can use us to soften their hearts through our acts of grace. Anger at them won’t change anything. And we already have eternal life but, as Christians, our mandate is to be good ambassadors for Christ.
Our verse for tonight may seem counter intuitive. Once again, the apostle Paul speaks to his young protege and pastor friend, Timothy, telling him, in 2 Timothy 2:24-25, “And the Lord’s servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth…” Notice that Paul doesn’t say that we are defend God… no, my encouragement is that we are to be gentle and not be resentful, but kind. My prayer is that we will forgive those who are trying to denigrate the faith and pray that through the work of the Holy Spirit, they may be moved to a place of curiosity about the Lord and perhaps, someday, become brothers and sisters in Christ, having repented of their sins. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…