The Last Supper: Controversy at the Paris Olympics and Preparedness for the Master's Table

Can a globally celebrated event like the Paris Olympics really cross the line into religious insensitivity? Join me, Jared Colombel, as we dissect the storm of criticism sparked by the opening ceremony, accused of mocking Christianity with a controversial performance thought to parody da Vinci's "The Last Supper." We discuss French DJ Barbara Butch, who remains steadfast in defending her artistic vision, despite facing a barrage of online threats and insults. We'll reflect on the broader societal implications and emphasize the importance of staying anchored in Christ amid a world that often distorts the truth.

What do the ten virgins in Matthew 25 teach us about preparedness in a world where values seem increasingly inverted? I'll share my own journey of standing firm in my faith during a federal lawsuit, highlighting the cost of upholding Christian values. We'll also explore the modern distortion of Christianity and the search for community within the LGBTQ agenda, contrasting it with the authentic, love-filled fellowship found in the Church. This segment is a call to genuine preparedness and an invitation to find true community rooted in faith.

Anticipating the joy of the marriage supper with Christ offers a profound sense of hope and purpose. We'll examine the significance of the Lord's Supper and the promise of eternal communion with our Savior. Drawing from scriptures in Matthew 26 and Revelation 19, we’ll highlight the importance of preparing our hearts and lives for this heavenly banquet. Despite a world that often mocks our faith, we are called to stand boldly and share the good news. Join me in embracing a life dedicated to Christ, filled with hope and grounded in the promise of eternal fellowship at the Master's table.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:11

Hello and welcome to Dedicated Devoted. I'm your host, jared Colombo. Today's episode is titled the Last Supper. Right now, olympics are in full swing, and the Olympics kicked off with a ceremonial event, and apparently it's being challenged or some Christians believe that it was a mockery of Christianity. On today's episode, we're going to unpack the topic of what is it like in our current day and age when others decide or perhaps inadvertently decide that they need to attack the truth, and in this case specifically, we're going to be talking about Christianity. Right now, there is much investment and interest in sports, and so, obviously, the Olympics are going to be one of those type of events that are going to be very important on a national and a global level. Well, it looks like the Olympics kicked off in Paris, france, right underneath the Eiffel Tower, and they started with what can only be deemed as debauchery, a show of debauchery. Essentially, there was a show that was put together and it's an opening celebration, ceremonial-type show and they decided that, in order to kick off this event, they need to spice it up a little bit, and so it appears that drag queens were in order and grotesque individuals, and the LGBTQ community is in just full swing, and so one of the things that I want to take a look at today is what is this current debate about, or what is happening in regards to whether or not Christianity is being mocked? So I want to go directly to an article from the New York Times. I just want to read this real quick, and then I got another article that I'm going to dive into, and then I want to talk about some scripture and ground us in what is happening in our current day and age. So, directly from the New York Times, this article gives a little bit of oversight into this controversy, so I'm going to go ahead and start reading directly from this article.

Speaker 1: 2:14

A performance during the Paris Olympics opening ceremony on Friday has drawn criticism from church leaders and conservative politicians for a perceived likeness to Leonardo da Vinci's depiction of a biblical scene in the Last Supper, with some calling it a mockery of Christianity. The event planners and organizers have denied that the sequence was inspired by the Last Supper or that it intended to mock or offend. In the performance broadcast during the ceremony, a woman wearing a silver halo-like headdress stood at the center of a long table, with drag queens posing on either side of her. Later, at the same table, a giant cloak lifted, revealing a man, nearly naked and painted blue, on a dinner plate, surrounded by fruit. He broke into song behind him to drag queens danced. The tableau drew condemnation among people, who saw the images as a parody of the Last Supper, the testament scene depicted in da Vinci's painting by the same name. The French Bishops Conference, which represents the country's Catholic bishops, said in a statement that the opening ceremony included scenes of mockery and derision of Christianity, and an influential American Catholic bishop, robert Barron of Minnesota, called it a gross mockery. I think that's enough from that article. I want to jump over to another article from NBC News, and it reads as follows the French DJ at the center of the storm over an opening ceremony performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics that critics claimed mocked the Last Supper, says she stands by her artistic choices.

Speaker 1: 3:55

Meanwhile, barbara Butch's lawyer has filed a legal complaint alleging that her client has been threatened online with torture and rape and death. Of course, her lawyer, audrey Messoliti, said in a letter posted on the DJ's Instagram page that Butch has also been the target of numerous anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist and gross phobic insults. That's a new one for me. She is today filing several complaints against these acts, whether committed by French nationals or foreigners, and intends to prosecute anyone who tries to intimidate her in the future. Butch's letter states I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to pause right there, and I just want to say whether or not this event was a parody or a mockery of Christianity.

Speaker 1: 4:46

It's debauchery. The French are known for being really, really good at this, and I actually have a very strong French lineage. I speak French, my father speaks fluent French, and all I can say is I have a love and I have a heart for all people and French people, and I have a heart for all people and French people, but when it comes to the debauchery that is exercised in that country right now, it seems to just be a godless nation. The fact that the Olympics had to kick off with such an event, to get through such a point, that the LGBTQ crew is so important, is just beyond me. Now, whether or not this was designed as a mockery of Christianity, we need to take note of something Sometimes in our world, there are very wicked and evil things.

Speaker 1: 5:37

There's a lot of malevolent spirits that undertake certain events and certain things, and whether or not the individual knows and understands what they're doing is evil. It's evil. Let's just call it for what it is. As Christians, we're supposed to call evil, evil and good good. And the world in which we live in we call good, evil and evil good, and that's one of we live in. We call good, evil and evil good, and that's one of the telltale signs of where we are in our country, and we really need to understand where we are as Christians, and I said this the other day and I think this is a really good grounding activity. When we get involved in these type of cultural events or we see things that are going wrong or we just think the whole world is falling apart, we need to keep our eyes on Christ. Not only do we need to keep our eyes on Christ, but we need to keep our eyes on the kingdom of God, because that is everlasting and the world that we live in is temporal, and so when we see some of these acts of debauchery occurring, we need to understand that we live in a fallen, sinful world, and sometimes in a fallen sinful world, sinners don't understand that they are trying to jab and punch at God.

Speaker 1: 6:54

Now, I don't know if the coordinator of this performance understood what he was doing. Perhaps he did, perhaps he didn't. Let's just take him at face value and say this individual did not know that the performance he was putting on was going to be a mockery of Christianity. Let's just say that he didn't know. I would say that the way that the devil works is he subvertly takes things and he injects them into the things that we do as humans, injects them into the things that we do as humans. Oftentimes there are many people who are not saved, not Christians, and they undertake evil and wicked things and they do it under the guise of truth and goodness. And so, whether or not this individual knew what he was doing, we need to just take this at face value and say perhaps this is just another godless nation, another godless individual who's wanting to take a jab at God, and he inadvertently did something which had some great impacts.

Speaker 1: 7:56

But let's just go to really the bigger issues here. The fact that this debauchery has to be on parade, full center for the world that's the bigger problem. Is there really a need to have drag queens dancing underneath the Eiffel Tower to kick off a sporting event? Well, apparently this was designed as an act of you could call it entertainment and it was supposed to be based on paganistic rituals. That's still not good. What we're seeing here is we're seeing sinful people publicly acting out in a sinful way and we need to rebuke that. And if it makes you feel bad the day and age in which we live in, and if you're looking around and you're seeing things and you're just going, oh, I'm just so tired of this world, keep your eyes on Christ and keep your eyes on the kingdom of God, for his goodness is immeasurable and it's very easy to get lost in the minutia of things.

Speaker 1: 8:58

One of the things that came to my mind as I was looking at some of the events that are unfolding culturally specifically this one, and then there's many others we're in an election season. There's obviously a lot of contentious talk right now and who knows what's going to happen on the landscape of the presidency within the United States. But one of the things that came to my mind as I'm looking at all of these events unfold is God isn't taken back by what is happening. He knows what's going to happen. He's okay with what's happening. In his omniscience, he understands wholly and fully the events that are unfolding. And the important part for us, as Christians to understand is that, as these events unfold, the Father knows that goodness is going to come from them. Even if it doesn't seem good, he knows they're going to come from them. So what came to my mind is, when I saw these events occurring is I wonder how keen and open Christians are, how keen and open the eyes of Christians are to the events that are unfolding? Folks, we are in a day and age where it seems like the Lord's return is imminent.

Speaker 1: 10:08

I'm not sure of everybody's different, specific views on when the Lord's going to return and what that looks like, but I can say, based on what the Bible says, there's going to be wars and there's going to be famines and there's going to be earthquakes in various places, and they're going to be increasing and the creation is going to cry out for the creator, and we're seeing that more than ever. I recall in college and this was some 10, 15 years ago I was taking a geological class and one of my assignments was to look at seismic activity, and I went all the way back to when the data had first been tracked with seismic activity, ie earthquakes, and this went back, I believe, to the 40s or to the 50s, and so there were some data points that were available on earthquakes and the severity of those earthquakes and where they were occurring. And what all the data demonstrates right now is that there has been an exponential increase from the time of when that data was gathered and it was measured to now, there's been an exponential increase in the quantity of earthquakes and the severity of earthquakes. That is the creation groaning for the creator. That is prophetic from the Bible. That is prophecy being fulfilled actively. The Lord's return is coming. Now no man knows when the return is coming, but it is most certainly coming, and we are seeing the events that need to take place actually happening right before our eyes.

Speaker 1: 11:41

And so what came to my mind was the parable of the 10 virgins. And so, from Matthew 25, the Bible reads then the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise, for when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, then all became drowsy and slept, but at midnight there was a cry here is the bridegroom, come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps and the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered saying since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourself. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came, also saying Lord, lord, open to us. But he answered Truly I say to you I do not know. You Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. What a powerful parable.

Speaker 1: 13:06

This parable is all about proper preparation prevents poor performance. If you're in the business world, you might have heard that before, but essentially we ought to use the wisdom that God gives us to be prepared now. We can't prepare tomorrow, we can't prepare next week. We must prepare now for the Lord's return, and that preparation requires much work. At first. It starts in our hearts. How open are we to the Lord's will?

Speaker 1: 13:36

You know, there's something about the comfort of Western Christianity that is really disturbing. The health and wealth prosperity gospel has tainted so much of what it means to be a Christian, being a Christian in our current day and age. If you're living it out to its fullest extent and you're willing to share the gospel, to speak up when things are wrong and to be uncomfortable, even when the consequences mean monetarily, you're going to be penalized or potentially, you're going to go to jail or lose your job or some other severe consequence. These are the things that real Christians have to undergo, and I'll just put it out there very briefly.

Speaker 1: 14:15

I have been enduring a very large federal law case against my former employer because they really thought that religious liberties and rights didn't matter, and there was hundreds of Christians that disagreed. And I'll tell you right now the end result of that is I am still going through the process of ensuring that I'm fulfilling what God has called me to do in this lawsuit, which is to make sure that I provide honor and glory to him in all that I do, even if I'm suffering. But I most certainly did lose my job. Now it doesn't matter which way you take it In terms of my job. It's temporary, it's temporal. It was a job that I actually left, but I got pushed out and I knew that my opportunities there were done, but it didn't change the fact that I needed to be prepared, because these are the signs that we're seeing in our day and age Good is bad and bad is good. Evil is bad and evil is good and good is evil. Everything's just so backwards, and so we need to be prepared. Evil, Everything's just so backwards, and so we need to be prepared.

Speaker 1: 15:26

So with this parable of the 10 virgins, we thoroughly see that this prepared mind and prepared heart and physically being prepared are going to be of the utmost importance. So here's the Christian response why can't I be prepared tomorrow? Why do I have to be uncomfortable? Can't I just live in this world and have a little bit of comfortability and not have to contend with every single thing out there? That is a lie. Well, just as the 10 virgins and five of them were foolish, we need to ensure that we operate out of wisdom, that we have a prepared heart, that what we're doing really does demonstrate that we are ready for the second coming of the Lord. So back to this mockery of Christianity and what we see in our culture and in our day and age. I certainly think that this is a mockery of the Last Supper of Christ. Now, the funny part about this, in my opinion, is we are ultimately going to be called back to the marriage feast and so I'm going to ensure that I touch on that.

Speaker 1: 16:34

But I wanted to mention real quick, with these individuals that were represented in the LGBTQ mob, you had a very large, grotesque. I think the individual's name was something butch, and you had this individual in the front and center. So what we're seeing is we're seeing the sins fully on display of humans. So you can see that you have really just some really wild things occurring there. You have drag queens who are dancing around, you have individuals who are dressed up in food, you have folks who are just large and grotesque. When I say these are the sins that are front and center, I mean go back to the Bible and look at the sins that are called out. We know that when it comes to overeating, that's obviously a sin. Go back to the seven deadly sins, and so when it comes to things like overeating obviously a sin. To things like overeating obviously a sin. When it comes to things like changing your sexual nature obviously a sin. But in their morality they twist the things that they're doing. We see a sign of gluttony, we see a sign of lust. These are all just really grotesque things that, as Christians, we should call out.

Speaker 1: 18:08

But I wanted to say what we see with the LGBTQ agenda is we see a group of people who search and are searching for community. They will bring anybody into their fold that agrees with their agenda and their version of morality, and you know what they're really searching for. They're searching for what the church already has. The church has true community, and I heard it said this way the other day and I thought what a beautiful way to phrase it. You can gather around love, and that is binding. You can also gather around hate hate, and that is not binding. When these folks are searching for community, they gather around the things that they hate more than the things that they love.

Speaker 1: 18:56

And one of the things that spurred in my mind was this concept by a German sociologist His name is Fernand Tonies and he did a great work called Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, and the concept there was is Gemeinschaft is really that communal idea of community. We get together as a community. We're face-to-face, where we we have these inner relations and we understand. You know our neighbors and we love them and we love our families and we do things deep within the community and it's really a homogenous community. And that idea of Gemeinschaft is that true community that the world is seeking but they can never find.

Speaker 1: 19:44

And then we go on to Gesellschaft. In contrast, gesellschaft is much different than Gemeinschaft. Gemeinschaft is more about the natural will of a person. Gesellschaft is more about the rational will of the person and we can see that what happens in Gesellschaft is that community is more a good word would be superficial. It's more about rational intellect and it's more about industrialization and cosmopolitan activities and it's more about the self-interest of the individual rather than that kinship and family and close bonds and communal aspect.

Speaker 1: 20:26

And you know what the world is really desiring. They're really looking for true community. They're really trying to figure out how do you get a diverse group of individuals together collectively and help develop a strong community that can be sustainable, a strong community that can be sustainable. And whenever you gather around divisive things or you start to divide into subcategories, what you do is you create the opposite of community, you create gesellschaft. And so what we're seeing is when you gather around sexuality and you gather around identity politics and you gather around things like whether or not you're for abortion, these are actually divisive-based topics. They will never. The world will never achieve true community. Now contrast that with the Church of Christ, the Bride of Christ. This is a group of dissimilar individuals who are brought together and they're bound by the love that they have for Jesus Christ. You're not going to see this kind of dedication from the communities that are birthed in the world.

Speaker 1: 21:38

In Galatians 3.28, the Bible states there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. In this verse what we see is Christians are called a community, and they're called to a community of one people. There's an old saying that at the foot of the cross, everything is equal. It doesn't matter if you're a highfalutin politician, if you're a mechanic, if you're a plumber, if you're an MD, a doctor. At the foot of the cross, everything is equal. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. This is what the world desires. They want a oneness, they want a mind shaft that they cannot achieve. And so what do they do? They put their sin on full display in hopes that others will join them.

Speaker 1: 22:49

Folks, we need to be bold in our day and age with the truth that we have in our hearts and in our hands, directly out of the Bible, and we need to share what community looks like. We rally around Christ because we know that we, as believers, have our hope and faith in something more, and that something more is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the Holy One. This is what the world desires, but they will never find it. Another really beautiful verse comes directly from 1 Corinthians, and I'm going to be in chapter 12, verse 13. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. The Christian body is symbolized as having various parts, and each part has a very specific task, and that's God's great design. Some of us are the hands and some of us are the feet, and some of us are the mouthpiece and some of us are the nose. We can sniff out all the things that don't make a lot of sense, but we are all baptized into one body. We are all baptized into one body. It's an amazing thought, whether or not this Olympic performance was designed to punch at God. It's an amazing thought to think that when these type of events occur, they think that they're attacking a very small body of believers or individualized believers. Really, you're attacking a group of people who have the utmost confidence and love and faith in something that will never unbind us Once born into the family of God, always in the family of God.

Speaker 1: 24:44

Another verse that I wanted to share and my thought regarding this, because obviously the topic of conversation is whether or not this was an attack on the Last Supper, the Lord's Last Supper, and so perhaps, as visualized by Leonardo da Vinci and, by the way, it looks pretty much like it was a direct mockery of the Lord's Supper. But if we go to the Bible and we read about it and we take a deeper dive in 1 Corinthians 11, we see that in verses, in verse 23, starting in verse 23, the Bible says For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he, starting in verse 23, the Bible says the cup after supping, saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me, for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. The Lord's Supper is one of the most sacred and precious covenants that we have, and the fact that Jesus, fully God and fully man, came down so he could understand and empathize and communicate to his creatures that he loved them and he was for them and he was going to create a way for them to God, the Father, and that in order for that to happen, he was going to have to die a horrendous death. But he would willingly do it. And the fact that he came down here and lived a perfect and sinless life, crawled up onto an old, rugged cross and laid his life down openly for you and I, which is symbolized by this covenant, is such a beautiful act. And after he died on that cross, he went into an old grave and three days later he raised himself right out of that grave. God, the Father, looked upon that and that is the testament that Jesus owns this world and he is the great judge and ruler of all things.

Speaker 1: 27:17

And if the world wants to mock the Lord's Supper, I pity it, because this is something that all folks, all walks of life, are called to. We are all called to the master's table and let me tell you, it's very untraditional for dogs to eat at the master's table, and we are all dogs. But the Lord broke his body, he shed his blood and if the world wants to mock that, they need to understand that there's consequences for that. I for one will bow my knee on this side of heaven because my God is good, my Jesus is sufficient, and the Lord's supper is a demonstration of what is to come. Mock it as much as you want, but I'll tell you right now what is to come. Mock it as much as you want, but I'll tell you right now there's much sadness that comes from not participating in it. It's a very sad thing, but most certainly there is going to be some people who will miss out in the end.

Speaker 1: 28:17

In Matthew 26, we see another side of the Lord's Supper and in verse number 29, we see Christ and he states I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. What a beautiful promise that we're given by our King and Savior Jesus. He promised that he would wait for us and that there will be another feast. We will be with him and we will see him, and he won't be afar. We won't have to try to understand. Who is that on the other side of the table? Can I have a ticket so that I have a front row seat? Will Jesus call upon me? I'm down here, hey. No, we will all, as believers, feast with the Lord, and he is so good that for two millennia he has postponed that cup and he's willing to drink of it again, but not now. He's waiting for his people, he's waiting for his gmineshaft to return, his true community of believers who really love him and really desire him. And the world tries to imitate that community and they'll never get it, because the great deceiver, satan, is really just trying to mirror all good things and he can never create an exact replica or copy. And so if Christ is waiting for us in this marriage feast, that is going to be something that we all should be looking forward to. Earlier I mentioned. If you're weary and leery of the things that are occurring in this world, keep your eyes on heaven, fixate on Jesus, because this is all temporary, but Jesus is eternal and that marriage feast that he promises is going to be so sweet and so beautiful.

Speaker 1: 30:21

In Revelation 19, verse six, the Bible says then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters. In Revelation 19, verse 6, the Bible says him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me write this blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me these are the true words of God. You heard it there directly from the word of God.

Speaker 1: 31:15

Jesus, our King and our Savior, is preparing his people and we don't need to be caught off guard. We need to be 100% prepared. Remember, proper preparation prevents poor performance. How are we doing to prepare our hearts? Are we sharing the good news of Jesus? Are we calling out wicked deeds of the world and willing to take the consequences that come with such bold action? I hope so, because ultimately, one day, day they mock Christ now, they mock you and I now, they punish us now, but one day we will sup with the king and that will be the greatest meal ever partaken by any human and we will be able to say that we are those who are blessed, those who are invited to the master's tables, those who are dogs that don't have to fend for scraps. The master openly invites us to his table and these are all based on the truths of God. You know there's something about the world and its dissatisfaction, and that's the result of sin. You know the world has to hate God because of its sin.

Speaker 1: 32:31

Jesus was so otherly that to be in his presence made people feel uncomfortable. And if we represent as many image bearers, christ, we make people feel uncomfortable. Many image bearers, christ, we make people feel uncomfortable. From Psalm 2, the Bible says why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying. Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. God's not taken back by those who mock him, by those who rail against him, by those who think that when they jab they actually strike him. He laughs.

Speaker 1: 33:35

Brothers and sisters, it is my great hope that, as we serve the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We do it oh so boldly, with that sweet promise that one day we will commune with Christ Jesus and it will be worth it. It'll be so worth it. Let the world try to strike him now, but continue to share the goodness of God, the goodness of Christ. He is so good and so many people need him desperately. We just live in a day and age where all the wicked things that are happening right now are just a greater sign that Christ is ready to return. We need to be excited about that. We need to be on fire and energized by the things that are happening in our world, even though they all seem so negative, because they all point to the promise of that great last supper.

Speaker 1: 34:44

Thanks for hanging out with me today. I aim to help others live a dedicated, devoted life. If you want to come alongside me in partnership, please check out dedicateddevotedcom and make sure to subscribe. Join us next time for another episode of Dedicated Devoted. I post an episode every week and I hope you join me. God bless.