You will mock Christ and be proud, as if you have accomplished some heroic feat.
But what new thing have you done, man? When Christ on the Cross spread His arms to embrace the whole world, including you, the chief priests, along with the scribes and elders, and the Pharisees, mockingly said, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself.” (Matthew 27:41).
And for centuries thereafter, in the arenas, Christians were offered as mockery and entertainment to the lions for food, but they did not repay evil with evil. Not then, not now, nor ever.
Perhaps it is precisely because of this that you dare to take that step, knowing that just before this, when Christ was approached as a robber, He said:
“Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and He will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53), and yet He did not ask for the legions of angels, but instead asked for forgiveness for all of them.
You also know that God has commanded us, His disciples, to turn the other cheek, so you are comfortable in your imprudence when you mock my faith and hurt my religious feelings.
But then, you probably know this as well: “All who take the sword will perish by the sword;” (Matthew 26:52).
But you are not afraid of the sword, but of ending up mocked, despised, and abandoned on the world’s refuse heap in the senselessness of your existence. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Oh man, is it so hard for you not to do to others what you do not want them to do to you? And even worse, what you do, mocking my right to faith, you sell as a promotion and struggle for your own rights?
Or are only your rights left unresolved in this world?
Freedom is not anarchy, and democracy is not the enslavement of the freedom of minority groups, but an attempt to establish mutual respect in society while ensuring that the line between use and abuse of that freedom, given equally to all of us, is not crossed.
And no, I will not share that parodic picture from Paris. Because probably your goal was precisely that, in the condemnation of the deed, to flood the world with that ugly and offensive image.
Cover Photo: Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. STEPHANIE LECOCQ – POOL/GETTY IMAGES
