Thomas Griffin 7/29/24
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Christians are disliked because they believe that truth does not change and they proclaim that love is built on sacrifice, even when it costs you.
Those who have paid close attention to the movements in the culture and the implementation of illogical laws across the globe have known this for a while. The deterioration of the family, the championing of gender ideology and abortion rights along with the dismantling of the importance of religious faith laid the foundation for what we watched at the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Paris on Friday evening.
On the world stage, there was a decision to sexualize the entire performance (even with young children on stage), mock the truth that sex is rooted in biology, and degrade Christianity. Ultimately, this last mockery is the root of our entire problem. Faith of any kind is built on the belief that the individual is not the center of the universe. There is truth, which means we can be wrong about decisions we make and there is a God which means that we are ultimately dependent on Someone outside of ourselves for our existence.
Furthermore, love is about sacrifice and being rooted in the truth which means that one’s “feelings” are not the barometer of love. Love must always be rooted in truth or it becomes about the individual’s every whim and desire rather than about giving oneself away in sacrifice (even if that means I don’t get what I want).
Thomas Jolly, the artistic director for the opening ceremony of the Olympics, said “When we want to include everyone and not exclude anyone, questions are raised,” in reference to the backlash that the production has received. On Saturday, the day following the ceremony, Jolly appeared baffled for why anyone would have a problem with the performance.
“I didn’t have any specific messages that I wanted to deliver. In France,” Jolly noted, “we are a republic, we have the right to love whom we want, we have the right not to be worshipers, we have a lot of rights in France, and this is what I wanted to convey.”
His remarks summarize the issue perfectly. Jolly and our culture worship inclusion. This is why our culture is not religious and this is why so many people reject truth. If someone can’t change their sex, even if they have feelings of doing so, that is excluding someone and that is unacceptable. If a religion claims that marriage is between one man and one woman for life that is excluding people and is offensive. Feeling included is more important than any other reality, even if that means science, truth and faith are degraded in the process.
Even more applicable to the opening ceremony is the religious belief that there are some things that are sacred and holy. The degrading depiction of the Last Supper shows this and it portrays the fact that our culture hates Christianity. Those who are trying to be true disciples of Jesus Christ stand for unchanging truth, even if that means that you must sacrifice your wants and be disliked by the masses in the process. Christians desire to live this way because life is not about the self but about God.
More than ever before, Christians ought to acknowledge that their faith is hated and be emboldened to live the truth of their faith with sacrificial fervor anyway.
This means that we decry what happened on Friday night as deplorable. Not because we hate people who think differently from us. But simply because we love God and we are called to live in the truth and defend the nature of love. Also because a culture that denies objective reality and rejects God will be one that is unfulfilled at best and profoundly wounded at worst. A quick view at the rising rates of anxiety, depression and suicide shows us that we are, unfortunately, headed more towards the deeply wounded direction.
Our response must be to speak up.
On the night before Jesus died, he ate his final meal with his closest friends and followers. At that meal, he told them that he would die for them. It was more than just a meal. He was willing to go to the cross and experience humiliation and agonizing pain because he yearned to set people free from their sinful ways. So, before he died he instituted the Last Supper. This sacred meal allows his followers access to his heart and presence, even today. Remaining with his followers was his dying wish.
Jesus said, “this is my body…this is my blood…which will be given up for you.” These are not symbolic but literal words that continue at each Mass in every Catholic Church across the world. There is nothing more holy than the Eucharist for a Catholic because we believe that it is actually Jesus Christ. Every Sunday Catholics go to worship that truth and encounter that loving sacrifice so that we can live more in truth and more in love.
That is why Christians and Catholics are so offended by what happened at the Olympics. We have a right to be upset because when you love something, or Someone, so much you are hurt when others attack Him. So if you are hurt – speak up – even if others say you are excluding them in the process. Because when truth and love are misunderstood a society cannot stand, even when it is pretending to be flourishing.
And, because that is what true sacrificial love does. That reckless and uncalculated love is what the Last Supper proclaims is the only reality that will heal our broken world.
Thomas Griffin is the chairperson of the religion department at a Catholic high school on Long Island where he lives with his wife and two sons. He has a masters degree in theology and is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Empty Tomb Project: The Magazine. He is the author of Let Us Begin: Saint Francis’s Way of Becoming Like Christ and Renewing the World.
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