The 2024 Olympics opened amid controversy. There was a scene in the opening ceremony which looked a great deal like Da Vinci’ painting of the Last Supper. But, in this depiction, the table featured drag queens, a large woman and a little girl. This ignited the Christian community like gas on a flame.
I’m not going to rail against immorality in this post. If you’re looking for that, you’ll need to look elsewhere. Instead, I’m going to be examining the bacchanalia and the Last Supper.
How could we see these two things as looking similar? What similarities and dissimilarities do these events have?
The Bacchanalia
First off, which came first, the bacchanalia, or the Last Supper?
The bacchanalia. It goes back to the time of the Greeks and Romans and predates the Last Supper by hundreds of years.
The basic idea in a bacchanalia is that you are partying. You are worshipping the god that made the harvest come in. Excess is the plan. Drink yourself into a stupor. Lay aside all of your inhibitions and enjoy yourself. Think frat party x10000000.
I found this quote to be very interesting:
…one aspect of the Bacchanalia was an added animal sacrifice and consumption of the raw meat of the animal. This, the people believed, was akin to taking the god into their bodies and being closer to him.
It’s the Olympics! So, it’s a good time and place to celebrate with a drunken orgy. That would be the general idea.
The Last Supper
The Last Supper is detailed in the Bible in the following references:
Matthew 26
Mark 14
Luke 22
John 13
Jesus is literally having his last meal with his followers. He’s about to die on a Roman cross. What a leader says and does before their death is significant. This time and event is sacred to Christians. So, what did Jesus say and do during the Last Supper?
Jesus said that one of his followers was going to betray him. When he said this, they all freaked out! They wanted to know who it was. This statement was emotionally devastating to his disciples. They weren’t having a good time, for sure.
Jesus gave them bread and wine to eat and drink. He broke the bread and distributed it to them. Everyone ate, but no one was drunk. No one was overindulging.
Jesus washed their feet. This was crazy! Feet are nasty and dirty when you’re walking in sandals all day. Jesus told his disciples that they needed to take this as an example. Serve each other!
Communion
The central moment of the last supper came when Jesus broke bread.
27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Matthew 26: 27-29
This act is reproduced in the Christian community through the act of “communion”. We want to commune with Christ. Communion is done in various ways but is basically a re-enactment of what Christ did with his followers. We break bread and we drink wine or grape juice.
Look at the similarities. You are eating and drinking the flesh and blood of your god. Looks a lot like the bacchanalia! The apostle Paul gives us clarity.
Paul and the last supper
The apostle Paul wrote about the last supper in 1 Corinthians 11. Look at what he says and you might immediately see that many early Christians were treating communion a bit like a bacchanalia.
20 When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. 21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not.
23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:20-26
Communion is a ceremony for Christians to remember what their Savior did for them. It looks back to what he did but also looks forward to his return. It’s not an opportunity to get crazy drunk or binge on your favorite food.
Paul goes on to say that you should examine yourself before you take part in communion.
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— 34 if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.
1 Corinthians 11:27-34
It’s not a party! You’re not trying to let go of your inhibitions. You are trying to commune with the God who gave His son in order to give you life!
So…?
There is a similarity between these two events. I can see why someone would show a bacchanalia event and misread it as the last supper.
They’re both a group meal together and both involve eating and drinking to commune with their god. What you want to do is look at where these events lead their participants.
A bacchanalia leads to overindulgence. You are losing your inhibitions and letting your desires go. No one is going to tell you that you’re overdoing it. Gorge yourself on food and alcohol and sex!
Communion begins with self reflection. “Have I been serving others?” “Who have I been living for?” Communion then takes us to a God who suffered and died for us. And, it gives us hope.
The final book of the Bible tells us that Jesus will return and we’ll celebrate with Him. This will be a wedding celebration, filled with joy!
“Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
Revelation 19:6 – 9
I’m looking forward to this celebration. Not because it is going to be a drunken orgy, but because I will finally be free to be in God’s presence forever.
