Welcome to the table of the Lord!
DISCLAIMER: It was pointed out to me that Thomas Jolly specifically indicated that the scene was meant to represent a pagan celebration featuring Dionysus. I think it would only be fair to give the artist the benefit of the doubt in this regard, and it would imply that the Christian outrage at the scene is mostly misguided. Having said that, I leave this post here as-is, since I still believe that we, as Christians, can and should do better in how we engage with controversial contemporary topics.
See: Did Paris mock Last Supper at Olympics? Why some Christians are angry (usatoday.com)
Opening ceremony choreographer denies ‘Last Supper’ parody at launch of Paris Games (france24.com)
Wow, the French surely know how to create controversy! During the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic games, the camera cuts to the french “love activist” and DJ, Barbara Butch. She is seated at a long table, wearing a blue dress with silver headdress, and as the camera pans out, the scene unfolds to show the rest of the motley crew of drag queens and blue people.
Of course, the theme of inclusivity was to be expected, but what shocked the world was not those present, but how they were arranged along the long table. This was interpreted as an artistic commentary on the painting called “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci.
As expected, this scene was met with great outrage by many Christian politicians, churches and laypeople from all over the world. “Satanic!” “Outrageous!” “Disgusting!” and on and on it went. And yet, maybe we were missing the whole point as Christians, because we keep on underestimating God’s absolute brilliance and sense of humor, along with His love for people, and the lengths to which God will go to save us from ourselves. Allow me the opportunity to offer an alternative exposition of the art, created by the Artist Himself.
But is it art?
Firstly, we should understand that art is always meant to have a deeper message, and this artistic expression by the ceremony’s art director, Thomas Jolly, is certainly no exception. Our job, as the beholder of the piece of art, is to discern the meaning behind the art.
In this case, I think it is clear that the intention was to create a scene that clearly contrasts the Biblical comments on moral purity, as personified by Jesus, to that of the modern LGBTQ+ movement that sees itself as a liberation movement, throwing off the chains of oppression brought by the narrow moral prescriptions of the Bible. It says that now, in 2024, it is no longer Jesus sitting at the center of this important table, having been replaced by the enlightenment brought by moral relativism.
And if this was the end of the artistic story, then of course we as Christians should be upset and offended, but it is not, because the artist of this scene overlooked a very important point, that being the underlying meaning of the original art upon which this latest artistic expression is based on. Welcome, my friends, to the Table of the Lord!
The Table of the Lord
The painting by Leonardo da Vinci, which served as inspiration for this scene at the opening ceremony, is in turn Da Vinci’s imagination of the Lord’s Supper. The Last Supper refers to the very last time when Jesus ate with His disciples, but it was no ordinary meal. This meal would have been the highlight of the Feast of Passover, an intensely symbolic event with various traditions with rich meaning dating all the way back to the Exodus from Egypt. The primary purpose of the event was to remind the Israelites of the fact that they were slaves in Egypt, and how God freed them from this slavery by a mighty hand! Central to the message of the Passover meal, was the remembrance of the lamb that was slaughtered, and the blood that was smeared on the doorposts as a sign that the life first-born from that house has been redeemed by the blood of the lamb which was killed in the stead of the first-born.
At this last supper event, Jesus and His disciples are observing this feast, and when Jesus comes to the part where the third piece of the afikomen (a specific piece of bread in the ceremony) is broken and shared with all around the table, He makes this statement : “Take this and eat it. This is my body”. He then continues, taking the cup of wine after the meal, which is called Cup of Redemption, and He says : “Take this and drink it. This is my blood, and with it God makes his agreement with you. It will be poured out, so that many people will have their sins forgiven.”
In many ways, these events here at the Last Supper are the culmination of the story that starts all the way back in Genesis, and reaches its highlight in Jesus’ death on the cross the very next day. Here, at this very table of the Last Supper, God extends His offer of salvation and redemption to those sitting around the table, offering to be the Lamb of God that will take the punishment of death for the sins of those around the table, mostly unaware of the significance of what was happening right there on that evening.
For you see, this we tend to forget, that apart from Jesus, every single person around that table on that fateful evening, were sinners, and under the judgment of the law, deserving death. And herein we find the art created by the greatest Artist of them all, those sitting at the table were no more deserving of God’s forgiveness than those sitting around the very same table at the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony. James, John, Peter, DJ Barbara Butch and the naked Smurfie man, none of us can sit at that Last Supper table and claim that we can achieve God’s righteousness by being “good enough” (Isaiah 64:6).
In a very real sense, the Last Supper table is an invitation for people exactly like those whom art director Thomas Jolly has positioned around that table. The true irony of the scene we saw at the opening ceremony is therein, that this very table is the place where sinners are welcomed, because at this very table the King explains His perfect love to those around the table by taking the judgment that each of us deserve in our stead.
A word to Christians
To conclude this essay, I would like to extend this reminder to Christians. Let us never forget that we, too, were once far removed from Christ, and were once upon a time invited to this table as sinners. Let’s remember how God extended His grace to us when we deserved God’s judgment. Think of the time when you were sitting at this table, and you were first offered salvation instead of death, when Jesus extended the Cup of Redemption also to you.
If we are to be Jesus’ representatives here on earth, maybe we should show the same grace and love to those who are still lost, because here at the table of the Lord, they can be introduced to Jesus. Let’s leave the judgment to God, and let’s simply point them to Jesus who is the hope of salvation to every sinner. Let’s pray that each person at that table has the opportunity to meet with Jesus, and that He would convict them of their sin and call them to repentance, because that He has promised to do and we just need to go find the lost in the streets and dark alleys, and bring them here to the table of the Lord.
And finally, to DJ Barbara Butch and every other sinner here at the table, welcome to the Table of the Lord, let me tell you about my Jesus…
