(Opinion)—Offense and outrage seem to characterize the Christian responses I have heard so far to the drag queen reenactment of The Last Supper at the opening festivities of the Parisian Olympics yesterday.
After dancing about provocatively, participants assembled themselves into a live tableau intended to mimic Da Vinci’s famous work of art. A loud chorus of denunciations across all media soon followed.
The bit was a tasteless, ugly, mean-spirited, blasphemous mockery of a sacred event that Christians hold dear. But I have a word to say to my fellow Christians on this matter.
We Christians should be used to mockery. Our Lord Jesus experienced derision and contempt in spades, and set us an example for how to respond to it.
First Peter 2:23 says, “When they hurled their insults at him he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats.”
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Jesus was spit upon, verbally taunted, and beaten to a pulp. His enemies put a crown of thorns on his head and a scepter in his hands, and then bowed to him in mock worship: “Hail, King of the Jews!”
His response was to pray, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44). So, even if we regard ourselves as victims of drag queen persecution, that just means we should love them and pray for them.
The apostles of Jesus learned this lesson well and passed it on to their readers.
Peter wrote, “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing” (1 Peter 3:9). Paul wrote, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” (Romans 12:14). He also wrote, “When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly (1 Corinthians 4:12-13).”
That is the Christian way. If it is important for you that your religion be esteemed and respected, then perhaps you need to pick a different religion. Biblical Christianity isn’t for you.
Real Christians carry a cross as they follow a much-despised Messiah.
Hebrews 13:13 says, “Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.” Opposition along the way will come as no shock.
First John 3:13 says, “Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.” And 1 Peter 4:12 says, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you.”
Calm love, thoughtful engagement, earnest prayer and humble indifference to scornful contempt are the best answers to blasphemous reenactments on display at the Paris Olympics. Who knows? Maybe some day some of those drag queens will bow the knee to Jesus Christ, and take to themselves with trembling hands the bread of blessing and the cup of hope.
In C.S. Lewis’ classic tale, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, when young Edmund set out on a traitorous mission, he came across a statued lion that he thought was Aslan turned to stone. (For those not familiar with the story, Aslan is the Christ figure in the story.)
Edmund scribbled a mustache and spectacles on the figure and sported with it contemptuously, saying, “Yah! Silly old Aslan! How do you like being a stone?”
Later, of course, the real Aslan showed up, and submitted to death on the Great Stone Table so that the one who mocked him might live.
This post originally appeared at Pastor’s Pages and has been reprinted with permission. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of The Roys Report.
Paul Lundquist works at Flavorchem in Downers Grove, Illinois, and occasionally guest preaches in churches. Years ago, he worked as a linguist with Wycliffe Bible Translators. He is married and has two children and three step-children.
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74 Responses
They pick on Christians as they know they will not get killed or attacked like they would if they mocked Mohammad or Islam. We may protest but we are not going to physically assault them. This speaks of religious tolerance. We can say that this is a tasteless intrusion and an affront to the millions of families whether Christian, Muslim, or Hindu families who are watching. Then again the Olympic Committee is allowing men (transgender) to box women, which is even more cringeworthy. Our female athletes are getting hurt. Thank you Olympics. It is not worth supporting them. Frankly, these pagan demonstrations are boring, without any redeeming qualities. Ugliness personified. Laughable.
I am not suggesting we respond angrily. However those who keep pushing the Dionysius propaganda just need to stop. Here is info from one of the “performers.”
Barbara Butch, a lesbian who donned a silver aureole halo crown headdress and low-cut dress while portraying the figure of Jesus in the Last Supper sketch, said the opening ceremony was intended to bring people together.
According to her Instagram profile, Butch is “a Love activist, Dj and producer based in Paris.
Butch posted a screenshot image of her performance in the Last Supper parody above an image of Da Vinci’s original painting to her Instagram account with the comment, “Oh yes! Oh yes! The new gay testament!”
The post was subsequently deleted.
Note: You can do a simple google search to find the above or else use waybackmachine.
Don, if you have credible links showing that, you should post them. I can’t find them. I can’t find where Jolly, the show’s producer says it was anything other than Dionysus. I have not seen quotes of any of the performers, including Butch, saying that they were recreating the last supper, so please share those if you have them.
The big blue guy in the middle leads me to believe that it at least wasn’t ONLY to recreate DaVinci’s painting. I get how there’s overlap though. Even still, the christian response has been pretty un-Christ-like, and from what I’ve seen, largely based on conjecture. Not much considering it all joy when facing trials of many kinds. not much perserverance. A whole lot of being snide on the internet to people they find disgusting, rather than recognizing the Imago Dei in all of them. I get it, sometimes it’s hard for me to recognize the Imago Dei in christians who are cruel and judgemental to our queer brothers and sisters. We can all do better.
jen,
You have asked Don for credible links. I would ask you for the same: Can you point to credible proof that Christians are “cruel and judgemental” when it comes to our queer brothers and sisters? I have seen Christian compassion and kindness toward queer people, not cruelty. Perhaps you are confusing God’s judgment of sin with the actions/words you see coming from Christians?
Not sure. I would just like to understand your comments. Thanks for your honesty and willingness to engage.
Cynthia –
A mere scroll through social media accounts of professing Christians will point you to hateful namecalling, bullying, profanity and the like – including encouraging suicide – towards the LGBTQIA community.
Go read the blogs, tweets, and posts of Christians who went on tirades against Bud Light and Target for their LGBTQIA-friendly marketing campaigns. The death threats against Dylan Mulvaney should have been unacceptable among Christian circles.
Walk past LGBTQIA businesses and Pride events, and take note of the Christians with signs and bullhorns yelling “you’re going to HELL!”, while passing out flyers and church invites (I’ve often wondered who would accept an invite under such cirumstances?!) Oh, and Christians are not above doing this at funerals, yelling this at the friends and family of the deceased.
Engage with LGBTQIA individuals who come from Christian families or who have attended churches about the things that have been said to their faces “in the name of the Lord.”
While I am all about hating the sin and loving the sinner, I am not blind to Christians who do NOT understand or demonstrate this concept at all.
Marin,
I wanted to hear from jen and her perspective as an LGBTQ+ individual.
However, since you answered in good faith, let me respond to you by saying that those who profess Christ and walk in his footsteps would never engage in the activities you have mentioned.
So, be aware that those claiming to be “Christians” may not be who they claim to be. I have never met a Christian who engaged in the behaviors you have described. Instead, I have seen my Christian brothers and sisters reach out to all others with love, compassion, and kindness. The wise know that judgment is up to God. We can stand for the faith without simultaneously hating the lost.
Instead, they should be pitied and we should love and pray for them and for their salvation.
Cynthia –
“I have never met a Christian who engaged in the behaviors you have described. Instead, I have seen my Christian brothers and sisters reach out to all others with love, compassion, and kindness.”
This is wonderful. However, you are a data point of ONE.
This is the same logic used to defend abusers: “I’ve never seen him/her behave that way!” Again, that’s great. Doesn’t make another person’s experience untrue. (As a matter of fact, abusers often rely on the few who’ve seen them behave lovingly to mask the times that they don’t.)
And given this site is full of all sorts of examples of Christians behaving badly, and threads of attitudes that exaggerate, label, and judge people who dare to even vote differently, I’m surprised that you are surprised that there are Christians who are unloving and judgmental towards the LGBTQIA community.
Yes, we have some folks out there who are doing a terrible job of representing Christ and the gospel. The worst part: they think they are doing it FOR Christ and the gospel.
“Consider well who they are that reproach you. They are such as are ignorant of God and spiritually frantic. And are you troubled to have them reproach you, who are not well in their wits? Who minds a madman laughing at him?… Bind their reproaches as a crown about your head… If you cannot bear a reproach for religion, never call yourself Christian… Suffering is a saint’s livery” (Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance).
“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God YHWH except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace …” Martin Luther
To quote a friend of mine’s post regarding this display:
“Why Christians are so Easily Outraged?”
“Because Outrage can be weaponized to beget Unity and Loyalty in the face of an all-encompassing Enemy/survival threat. And the endorphin and dopamine surge from Outrage is so Delicious and addictive – whipping up your Base into a frenzy was a focus of the Nuremberg Rallies as well as long pre-dating those specific revival meetings [a reference to nuttiness of various “revivals” over the course of history]”
You see it with the religious leaders, politicians, and dictators like Putin making political hay of it.
All which is COMPLETELY contrary to the teaching in Scriptures.
The stuff like at the Olympics was par for the course in the early days of the church, and the article tells us what the Apostles did and their attitudes according to Scriptures. Not to do that is in direct violation of Scriptures and you are lying to yourself and to God if you think otherwise.
So Christians are outraged because it raises our endorphin and dopamine levels? Outrage is only an emotion of crazy revivalists and Russian dictators?
An international display of Sodom and Gomorrah with children involved, but only unscriptural fanatics speak against such behavior?
Can someone explain how a born again Christian would not be grieved to see western civilization reject Christianity and morality for sin and debauchery?
Michael Costas:
Excellent points. I stand with you.
There is nothing wrong with being angry, especially if you feel you have been disrespected and/or your faith has been blasphemed. It’s about making sure that anger does not drive you to sin – in word, thought, or acts of comission or omission.
(Disclaimer: I did not watch the ceremony live, but when I saw images of it, I immediately thought of Dionysus; it was by scrolling through online outrage that the Last Supper came to my attention, and I wondered if I got it wrong by initially thinking of Dionysus. Given all I’m seeing now is a lot of confirmation bias – people only acknowledging and validating resources that confirm what they want to believe happened – I don’t have a strong opinion.)
So right, we are living in a divided land and respond to what we do not like the same way the the divisors show as an example. Christianity is supposed to be different. We are not required to be defensive, God can do that Himself way better than we, but, we are to be Ambassadors, examples, having the light, leading the un-enlightened. That is how the early church took over the world, it is the example we should follow.
Doug Mace:
A reminder, by John Stuart Mill:
“Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means which he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.”
So, no. I believe Christians should most DEFINiTELY express outrage when sin is openly committed by those who would try to make a mockery of our faith. Of course God can take care of it ( and will), but we are his eyes, ears, and hands on the ground. We are meant to defend the faith.
I always think of Old Testament Phineas when I hear other Christians claiming we should be “different.”
We should be fighters for the Gospel and we should stand for it with the armor God has provided to all who love him.
Thanks Cynthia. I’m grateful for your comments and your commitment to the truth. It’s baffling so many Christians equate Biblical truth with acceptance and praise of unbiblical behavior. We’re to love all people but we don’t have to call evil good.