Olympics - Opening Ceremonies Revisited

I wasn’t planning on doing a mini-series on “what points us to the Cross” but it has sort of worked out that way. Last week I wrote about the stark contrast between light and darkness that I felt on Friday of the Opening Ceremonies. There has been a lot written and discussed since then on the implied mockery of The Last Supper. Will sent me a response from a Baptist pastor that is a really good perspective and helped shape how I feel about the matter. Here is what the pastor said:

“I am a pastor and have something to say. Christians that get online and spew hate towards nonbelievers anger me much more that nonbelievers spewing hate toward my religion. I have no idea what the table at the Olympics was supposed to represent, as the official statement contradicts the larger opinion. But what I can say is that every single person at that table would have been invited to Jesus’ table. Jesus not only spent His time on earth with sinners, He invited them to the very table everyone assumes the Olympic table represents.

Matthew was a tax collector. Peter was about to doubt His resurrection. Judas was about to betray Him. Jesus ate with them anyway. Jesus was with the ‘sinners’ all of the time. In fact, it’s one of the reasons the church people hated Him and wanted Him killed.

Please allow this to serve as a reminder that people who are not Christians are not our responsibility to regulate. Jesus gave us an example to follow of welcoming everyone and pointing them toward the love of Jesus. Remember that God’s kindness is meant to lead us to repentance, not the shouting of His angry followers.

This doesn’t mean that I condone any religion being mocked - especially my own. In fact, it is wrong. But my heart doesn’t hurt for what they are doing to Jesus. My heart hurts for people that are likely not in a loving relationship with their Creator. Jesus doesn’t need me to shout about sinners sinning. He wants me to shout about the hope and the love they are missing out on.

Before you share an angry post, or shout at people that Jesus died for, think for awhile, and ask yourself if He would do the same. You already know the answer, He wouldn’t. He didn’t. He died for them just as much as He died for you. Angrily shouting at people that don’t know Jesus is a direct contradiction to the example He gave us on the Cross. Jesus flipped tables on people in the temple, not people outside of it. Remember that.

This is an excellent perspective. In the prior two blogs, we referenced many things that pointed us back to the Cross. This brings up a new one - the sins of others. It’s easy to condemn others for public sins while failing to acknowledge our own private sins like pride and envy. All sins separate us from God and only the Cross can bridge the gap. Seeing the sins of the lost should produce in us both sadness for them but also gratitude that we have a saving faith and deliverance for our own sins.

It’s natural that we would be offended by the pagan display in the Opening Ceremonies. I don’t think that this pastor is suggesting otherwise. However, we must also remember that Jesus wasn’t harsh with the lost. His critique was directed toward the self-righteous and those that paraded around under the guise of religion for their own personal gain.

Thank you Will for sharing this and thanks to the pastor for his words of wisdom and truth.

Stay hungry,

Big E

Matt. 5:6