No doubt you’ve seen the promotional campaign that’s been all over social media and on TV commercials, going back almost a year now. Sometimes they are still images, sometimes they are short clips featuring a mix of present-day people and folks who look like they belong in the first century. All of them are designed to draw our attention to the Lord by way of a common denominator: Have you ever been criticized for what you say? Jesus has. He gets us (He understands us). Have you ever felt lonely? Jesus has. He gets us. Have you ever enjoyed a day of celebration and fun at a loved one’s wedding reception? Jesus has. He gets us. And so on.
The campaign is harmless. In fact, it’s better than harmless, it’s simply a way to draw attention to the humanity of the God|Man, Jesus Christ. I can’t encourage it enough. For years (decades!), God’s people have been complaining about the moral degradation on display in popular media. Now along comes this campaign, which promotes no particular denominational orthodoxy, but instead cares only about magnifying the Son of God. I can’t fathom anyone who claims to love Jesus opposing it.
And yet…
This past week was the Super Bowl. It was the first one in a long time I didn’t watch, but I’m told one of the commercials that aired (for no small price, as you can imagine) was a “He Gets Us” ad, featuring a slew of still images, depicting what, sadly, looks like snapshots of modern America. You’ll find people of every race and political slant spewing hatred and ugliness toward other people of every race and political slant. At the end, the commercial offers a simple and indisputable truth:
Jesus loves the people we hate.
Here’s the commercial in question…
The commercial was almost immediately condemned by leaders and spokesmen on the left side of the political aisle, arguing that it promotes fascism (somehow). Almost at the exact same time, leaders and spokesmen on the right side of the political aisle also criticized it, arguing that it is promoting so-called woke-ism. I’m not just making that up. Here are the quotes:
“Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign”
(Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat).
and
“Woke tricksters have done one of the worst services to Christianity in the modern era.”
(Charlie Kirk, Republican)
To be clear, there’s more to evangelism than just relaying the humanity of Jesus to people. But, you really can’t talk about Jesus without talking about His humanity, and that’s what these ads do. Are they leaving a ton out? Yes. Is a little better than nothing? YES! I’ll happily pick up the slack. I think we need a lot less cynicism in this world and a lot more “love believes all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). I am saddened to hear people—especially my brethren—jump on the bandwagon to attack these ads, being motivated almost entirely by whatever spokesman on their preferred political side has said on the subject. Stop letting 24/7 News think for you. Stop being cynical. See the good in what these ads offer.
What does it say that this issue—bringing attention to the humanity and the ministry of Jesus—has united both sides of the political leadership in opposition to its furtherance? It says that history has a funny way of repeating itself. Both the Pharisees and Sadducees wanted Him dead and conspired to put Him on the cross because they both perceived Him to be a threat to their stranglehold on the influence of the people. Have you ever had both radical conservatives and radical liberals hate you for preaching a simple message of love? Jesus has.
He gets He gets us.
~Matthew
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This Sunday morning, I’m preaching on Jesus’ famous comment: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” See you then, Lord willing.