By Albert Thyrniang
July 26 marked the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Paris, France. Olympics opening ceremonies are always grand spectacles of vibrant cultures of the host countries and the sporting prowess of the participating nations. People still reminisce the Beijing Olympics, China (2008), London, England (2012), Rio, Brazil (2016) and the COVID dogged Tokyo, Japan (2021) Olympics – all unique in their own ways. The stand-out performance of the Paris Olympics this year, however is the mocking the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples as portrayed by Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian High Renaissance painter and sculptor. It was unthinkable that the biggest sporting extravaganza was used to ridicule the most popular personality of all eras. Instead of Jesus, sat an oversized woman in the middle of the long table. Instead of his apostles were trans-women who exaggeratedly dressed as females, called drag queens. A blue naked man clad only with a garland of rose from his shoulder to the hip came to the party. The quadruple display was a weird sight to those ignorant of the Last Super. But to the millions of Christians world-wide, it was a shock. They barely could believe what they saw on the biggest global stage. Post the inauguration was a massive outpour of outrage across all media. The parody, a deliberate exaggerated imitation was termed a blasphemy and a sacrilege. Bishops, preachers, priests, television hosts, social media creators, hosts of different shows lambasted the show.
The insult runs deep. It is particularly against the Catholics and the orthodox groups who uncompromisingly consider the Last Supper as the institution of the Eucharist. Eucharist is one of the central beliefs and is celebrated by male bishops and priests (ministers) alone. Catholics and orthodox churches still do not have female ministers because the twelve apostles (closest followers) were all males. Jesus did not choose any female apostle. Even now the churches’ ministers are an exclusive club. So, the creators of the Olympic ceremony decided to ridicule this practice designated as the ‘original teaching’ of Jesus. The best way to do so is, therefore, to turn Jesus’ act upside down. Jesus himself becomes a woman and his male companions are LGBTQ+ activists. It now becomes an ‘inclusive’ community. The designers of the Olympic piece thought they would preach to the church instead of being preached. They fancied teaching the church a lesson. They pictured that it was a mighty occasion to lecture the church on including women and the LGBT+ community as ministers of religious practices. The mimicry was against the church for denying other sexes their ‘rights’ to be priests. The scorn was done in the form of near obscenity and sexually provocative gestures.
The unexpected reactions, including millions of boycotts forced the organisers to shift the narrative. They claimed the tableaux depicts the ancient Bacchanalia, the Roman festivals of Bacchus, the Greco-Roman god of wine, freedom, intoxication and ecstasy. Part of Greek mythology, the Bacchanalia were public and private rites performed by acolytes and priests (ministers) of the deity. Apologising for the offense, the planners clarified that the event was not intended to “be subversive, or shock people, or mock people” but to remind the world of the ‘grand pagan festival connected to the gods of Olympus.’ The creative team informed that the real inspiration came from the painting of the Dutch Golden Age painter, Jan Harmensz van Bijlert’s “Festivity” or The Feast of the Gods of the 17th century.
The explanation found few takers for the simple reason that the similarities of the performance were much closer to Leonardo’s ‘Last Supper’ than to Bijlert’s “Festivity”. The resemblances with the former are vivid but the semblances with the latter are obscure. The performers knew exactly they were up to. Even if the intention was to celebrate Bijlert’s work, viewers have the right to interpret it as a derision of Christ’s Last Supper at the Upper Room. Viewers, listeners and readers reserve the right to interpret an art in a way they deem fit. They need not and should not go back to the creator to ask for an explanation. That’s how art works. That’s the beauty of art.
The haters of the religion know exactly whom to attack. They know where to scourge. Some years ago, when satanic worship was a menace in Shillong, a person was paid Rs. 50,000 to get a consecrated host from a Catholic church at communion. The host is priceless but Satanists put a price tag to ‘Christ’s body’. The sacred species was desecrated in indescribable terms. Did not the creators of the Olympic number have the same unholy intention?
The Last Supper could be mimicked for sure. Religion can be mocked no doubt. If it happens at a LGBTQ+ parade no one would have raised an eyebrow for everyone sees their anti-church and anti-religion stand. But the Olympics is not the platform to hurt religious sentiments. The grandest sporting event has nothing to do with religion. Then why make fun of it? As hinted above, the message the Paris Olympics wants to proclaim is inclusiveness. With this philosophy it embraced two ‘male’ boxers and permitted them to compete in the women’s catagory. Algerian Imane Khelif and Taiwanese Lin Yu-ting. Both allegedly have XY chromosomes and men’s level testosterone. Both athletes were ineligible to compete with women under the International Boxing Association (IBA) but on the pretext of inclusiveness and equality the Olympics have equated ‘men’ with women. Both the boxers have destroyed all women opponents on their Gold medal march.
Inclusiveness is a catchy term and has its limits. Today gender is no longer a binary. They say it is merely a mental construct. No one knows how many sexes there are. So we have LGBTQ++! In a weird TV interview a seemingly trans-woman stated that even if Lionel Messi, Usain Bolt and Floyd Mayweather underwent sex change they would be eligible to play with women, professionally. in their respective sports. We are living in a confused world. More confusion is sure to come as far as sexual identity is concerned. Certainly inclusiveness can’t be stretched too far in sports and in life. In religion and spirituality too unlimited liberalism is unrealistic. The Paris lampoon is this level of expectation.
It is within our rights to be offended by the Olympic shocker. But are we concerned about other insults too? In Kerala, in a diocese an ugly spat has been playing out in public between two warring groups consisting of priests and the faithful. A section wants the priests to face the public and the other section insists the celebrants should turn to the tabernacle. The two factions have reached an unforgiving enmity? Is this not an insult to Jesus? In the same state priests are suspected to be murdered in church premises by opposing parties. The mocking at the Olympics is better than these abominations.
In our state, in our region, in the country and in the whole world the Eucharist is insulted differently from the presentation by the drag queens and kings. The liturgical act is celebrated as a mere ritual devoid of any reverence and devotion. Priests deliver poor sermons. The pulpit is often used to vent one’s anger at the faithful. Preaching is often a platform to exhort for generous donations and contributions. Many priests have two collections in a single service (Mass). These all give a sour taste instead of the compassionate voice of Jesus.
One of the quickest to condemn the sarcasm at the Olympics was Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma. However, the NPP national president was pleased to see the gross mockery of the well-known song, “I have decided to follow Jesus,” by the East Garo Hills NPP leaders last year prior to the Assembly elections. They proudly sang, “I have decided to follow NPP, No turning back, no turning back,” on social media. Why was the Chief Minister not upset with his party workers? Why the double standards? Why condemn the Olympics only to impress Meghalaya voters? We too are awakened by the disrespect in the French capital but are indifferent to the same in our backyards. That’s how hypocritical we have become!