September 19, 2024
I have always been a fan of the Olympic games - until this year.
In fact, I was privileged to attend some of the competitions in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada, and the 2012 Summer Games in London, England.
My wife and I even hosted the mother of Yoko Zetterlund who was on the U. S. National volleyball team at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Yoko won the bronze medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. I have her Olympic jersey framed and hung on the wall in our home.
In 1996, I had a book published by Broadman and Holman Publishers entitled Olympic Heroes: World Class Athletes Winning at Life. The book featured stories on some of the best-known athletes in Olympic history including Mary Lou Retten, Eric Liddell, Paul Anderson and Derek Redmond.
In the book, I extolled the Olympic spirit of bringing nations together for friendly competition and for the purpose of mutual understanding and respect. I highlighted the Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius – faster, higher, stronger.
I explained, “It is only right that the Olympics inspire and demand excellence. In a similar fashion, God deserves our best, but so often we give Him the odd moments of our time, the ragged edge of our talents, and a trifling trickle of our treasure.”
Unfortunately, Thomas Jolly, the opening ceremony artistic director of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris diminished the grandeur, solemnity and distinctiveness of the Olympic Games by his blasphemous depiction of the Lord’s Supper.
He denied that it was a scene inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of Jesus Christ and His apostles, and both Jolly and the Paris Olympic officials have apologized for the opening ceremony’s mockery of “which some (including me) believed to be ‘The Last Supper.’”
Jolly spoke at a press conference on July 27th and said that he did not mean “to be subversive or to mock or shock anyone.”
He continued, “We wanted to include everyone, as simple as that. In France, we have freedom of creation, artistic freedom. In France we are a republic, we have the right to love whom we want, we have right not to be worshippers, we have a lot of ‘rights’ in France, and this is what I wanted to convey.”
Unfortunately, if ‘rights’ are not used responsibly they can become weapons to diminish and destroy.
USA Today reported, “Actor Candace Cameron Bure, whose husband is a two-time Olympic medalist, called the performance ‘disgusting.’”
She added, “Trust me. It makes me mad. But I’m more sad, because I’m sad for souls.”
I agree with Mrs. Bure. It was Jolly’s folly, and he will have to live with his betrayal of Christ and his sacrilege.
First, the Olympic Games were diminished by Jolly’s folly. The honored games that were originally started in 776 B.C. at Olympia in southern Greece and the modern Olympic Games that were started in 1876 in Athens, Greece were cheapened and disgraced by the Opening Ceremony in Paris this summer.
Secondly, France was diminished by Jolly’s folly. I have been to France. It is a beautiful country rich in history and an inviting place for tourists from all over the world. Now, France has the stigma of being labeled as a place of irreverence where Christ has now been and can be publicly desecrated.
Thirdly, the city of Paris was diminished by Jolly’s folly. The Eiffel Tower, Musee du Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Avenue des Champs-Elysees, the Seine River, Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris and Musee d’Orsay were all diminished by the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Olympics because they are all scarred by an image that will not quickly go away.
However, Jesus Christ, our Lord was not diminished. He is immutable. In other words, it is impossible for His character or being to undergo any change. His power cannot be augmented or diminished. Throughout history, men have tried to forget Him, abuse Him, ignore Him, malign Him, denigrate Him, resist Him and deny Him. However, He remains as King of kings and Lord of lords and will one day stand as the judge of those who tried to diminish Him.
What happened in Paris in that opening ceremony is evidence that our work is not yet done. We have a divine mandate to win this world to Christ. We have missionaries in Georgia, America and all over the world. The International Mission Board says, “The greatest problem in the world is lostness. The only solution to this problem is the Gospel.”
Today, more than ever, we are compelled by God’s love to demonstrate and declare that “Jesus saves.”
___
J. Gerald Harris is a retired pastor and journalist who served as editor of The Christian Index for nearly two decades. You can reach him at gharris@loveliftedmehigher.org.
