OPINION: A lesson learned from Olympic opening ceremonies

Last week’s official global controversy (because there is a different one each week) was the alleged parody of The Last Supper at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.

I heard about it I guess minutes after it happened on Friday night (I’m hardly ever interested in the Olympics, so I don’t usually watch). And I did a couple things I tried to refrain from in my older, more wise years – reacted quickly and jumped into arguments.

But when I did see an image from it – a group of 17 people seated on the same side of a table with the person in the center having what appeared to be a halo behind their head like Leonardo da Vinci’s classic painting “The Last Supper” – I made the assumption (which I know the danger there) that since it was a global event produced for network television that it was designed with woke intentions, which wouldn’t be good for an image depicting Jesus Christ at His final meal with the disciples before dying the following day.

I posted two questions in a Facebook post: Was that what I was seeing and if so, why does Christianity get treated like this unnecessarily at big events like this.

A lot of my Christian friends jumped in quickly agreeing with me and asking the same question. Other friends – Christian and otherwise – chimed in throughout the weekend repeating the production’s leader’s sentiment that it wasn’t a Last Supper parody.

And a few people explained it to me, and to a person with an open mind like myself, it made sense.

Essentially, the explanation was it wasn’t about “The Last Supper,” but about another painting sitting in a museum in Paris that depicts one of the Greek gods, which is the blue man that was sitting on the table.

Like I said, it makes sense. The Olympics originated in Greece, and this year’s competition is in Paris, so why not do something that honors both legacies?

But Olympic officials apparently spoke out later in the weekend saying “The Last Supper” was the subject of the brief portion of the production.

So then after that when I’d posted another post about 24 hours later thanking one of my friends – a former educator here in Jackson – for insight, a few of my Christian friends came back saying that the explanation is weird since they admitted they were parodying “The Last Supper.”

This is the annoying part of technology in 2024.

There can be a something appear to happen on television, 20 of us can be watching and see it and think it’s plainly obvious what’s happening before our eyes but then the 20 get together to discuss it and have 20 different versions of what we saw with 20 different explanations that support each viewpoint.

Did we see “The Last Supper” in that performance? Yes we did.

Is it easily explainable in what it was happening (not being “The Last Supper”)? Yes it was. And logical.

Did Olympic officials admit it was about “The Last Supper?” Apparently, according to reputable news sources like New York Times and ESPN.

It got to the point, I went back and asked myself a question that I originally asked before I posted anything: “Is this worth the relentless fighting that’s going to happen because some were OK with it and others weren’t?

“This is parodying a painting and not the story of from? So is it that bad? And even if it is ‘that bad,’ does my opinion on it matter?”

The answer I came to is not really. And my non-Jackson Post posts on social media cool down significantly when I keep that mindset.

Jesus told the disciples at the very meal “The Last Supper” depicts that the world hates Him, so the world will hate His followers too. And that since the servant is no better than the Master, if the world persecutes and kills Him (which He was murdered less than 24 hours later), then the servants should expect similar treatment.

So here’s why I should’ve typed my post out and then deleted it – because getting riled up because the world behaved the way the world behaves isn’t worth pointing out on social media. Now if a follower behaved like the world, then I hope one of his or her Christian siblings would pull that follower to the side, point out the failing and discuss not continuing in that behavior.

But the world? The world is going to do what the world is going to do.

A second point to that is when Jesus said His followers should expect persecution (John 15:18-25) because He was. But Christians in the United States aren’t persecuted. We have friends who are missionaries in China, and they have to be very secretive in every conversation and gathering connected to Jesus. When he tells me about that, I come back with, “Yeah, but have you ever been persecuted like we are here in Tennessee because someone said they didn’t think God was real on Facebook?”

I’m not dumb enough to ask that question. I know we who claim to follow Christ in the South enjoy a peaceful time for now because we’re the cultural majority, and because of that, hopefully we act accordingly.

Jesus didn’t say the world will know we are His by how many people we offend talking about Him. They’ll know we are His by the love we show for each other and the genuine kindness we show for other people, no matter their level or status within our society.

So, yes, there will be shots taken at Christianity that aren’t taken at other religions. That’s the fulfillment of the words spoken by Jesus Himself. That’s the world doing what it’s going to do. For now, the world doing its thing has no direct impact on me, and it won’t impact me until God says it’s time for it to have impact.

Until that happens, it’s our job as Christians to have as much impact as possible on behalf of Jesus.

So my goal this week is to make sure I understand that I’m not persecuted – no matter what images I may see that I don’t like.

Brandon Shields is the managing editor of The Jackson Post. Contact him at brandon@jacksonpost.news. Follow him on X.com @JSEditorBrandon or Instagram @Editorbrandon.