Thoughts on the “He Gets Us” ads:
By now most of you are aware of the controversy that has arisen over some ads played during the US Superbowl on Sunday. They were part of the campaign, “He Gets Us”. They were meant to get people interested in and talking about Jesus. Similar ads were first shown a year ago. Their website provides more of their rationale and reasoning for the ads: https://hegetsus.com/en
But critics from various persuasions hit out at the ads for different reasons. Leftists did not like it because they say conservative backers of the ads make them unacceptable. But it is conservative Christian criticisms here that I will focus on.
And the most obvious issue is this: If you are going to spend $100 million on ads for a highly watched television event, you would think that getting the core message of Jesus out there would be paramount. And the core message of Jesus? How about something like: “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’” (Matt. 4:17)?
Of course Jesus “gets us”. He knows all about us. He created us. But the issue is this: it is exactly because he knows us so well – as lost, selfish sinners heading to a lost eternity – that he came and died a cruel death on a cross so that we might be transformed and saved.
The whole point of the gospel message is that Jesus came to set us free from sin and self, and to radically transform us. If I had just 30 or 60 seconds to tell the lost about Jesus, that is what I would be emphasising. And the Bible itself tells us exactly why Jesus came to planet earth – and often in short and sweet summary statements. Here are just some of them:
Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Luke 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.
Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
John 9:39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”
1 Timothy 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
1 John 3:5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.
Hmm, if you are gonna spend mega-bucks trying to reach the lost, why not feature the actual words of Jesus, instead of some feel-good mumbo-jumbo that is not even biblical? Why push what looks like a progressive Christian agenda, making Jesus out to be someone happy to chum around with various sinners – but never with a view to actually changing them?
And what about that feet-washing stuff? Something I wrote some years back also applies here: “We do know that many cultural practices from back then are no longer relevant or fully applicable today. For example, washing the feet of others when folks walked on dusty roads in sandals made perfect sense back then, but not now. Today we might wash someone’s car or find some other contemporary cultural equivalency.” https://billmuehlenberg.com/2017/04/29/difficult-bible-passages-1-corinthians-112-16/
As mentioned, many Christians have expressed their concerns about the ads. Let me feature just two of them. Allie Beth Stuckey tweeted this:
Last year I got lambasted by some for criticizing He Gets Us, but my concerns stand. “Shouldn’t we just be happy Jesus’s name is getting to millions of people?” If it’s not the Biblical Jesus, then no. If you’ve got the money and opportunity to buy a Super Bowl ad slot, share the gospel. Don’t waste it on some ambiguous mumbo jumbo that makes Jesus into our image rather than depicting Him as the King and Savior He is.
And Robert Gagnon posted this on the social media:
Regarding the “He Gets Us” Superbowl ad: I thought that it was not Jesus who washed the sinful woman’s feet, but the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped his feet with her hair, out of gratitude for Jesus forgiving her sin-debt as an outcome of her repentance and embrace of the gospel (Luke 7:36-50).
Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, not the feet of those who did not follow him, as a sign both of his washing away their sins by his atoning death and of their need to serve one another (John 13:1-17). Yes, Jesus washed even Judas’ feet, but even he had committed to follow Jesus, though obviously now fallen.
We have no evidence that Jesus went around washing the feet of non-followers. He went around proclaiming, “The opportune time has been fulfilled and the Kingdom of God has come near: Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). His ultimate act of service was going to the cross to make amends for the sin of the world, so that those who repented of their sins and came to believe in him might have life. Jesus did not get crucified for washing feet.
Preaching repentance of sins and faith in the gospel for the forgiveness of sins, a staple of the ministry of John the Baptizer, Jesus of Nazareth, Peter, Paul, John, and the rest of the early church, is not a message of “hate,” but rather a message of love and service.
“Progressive Christianity” sometimes gets this when it comes to so-called “right-wing” sins (e.g., racism, economic exploitation, xenophobia), but not so much when it comes to “left-wing” sins (abortion, “LGBTQ” immorality, violent protest).
Quite so. Instead of the vague and quite biblically-anaemic messages found on these ads, why not feature something that is real and powerful: the fact that Jesus DOES save people; that he DOES transform lives; that he DOES set the captives free? That is what the world desperately needs to hear.
With that in mind, an alternative 60-second video was just released. It tells of drug addicts, witches, abortionists, New Agers, porn stars, atheists, crims, lesbians, and jihadists who are now all sold-out disciples of Jesus Christ. Entitled “He Saves Us,” you can see this brilliant video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV3AnTUPiDY
Now THAT is what the gospel is all about. That is the truth of Jesus that we desperately need to hear. If some folks start thinking and talking about Jesus because of the Super Bowl ads, that CAN be a good thing. But the real question is this: Will the sort of Jesus portrayed in these ads actually do more harm than good to the cause of Christ and the Kingdom?
[1112 words]