He Gets Us

admin
March 5, 2023

If you watched the Super Bowl this year, you may have noticed a series of commercials that were quite surprising. No, I am not talking about Ben Affleck at Dunkin Donuts, nor Workday’s “Quit calling yourself a rock star” ads. I am talking about what so many others were talking about on Monday morning after the game, the “He Gets Us” commercials. These ads were purchased by an organization that is part of a billion dollar, national campaign devoted to redeeming the “brand” of Christianity. In the past year, the HeGetsUs.com campaign has bought ads for billboards, placed videos on YouTube, and purchased advertising time on TV stations across the country, all in an effort to spread a singular message – that Jesus “gets us,” meaning He completely understands the current, human condition.

At first glance, one might might be thrilled to see that Jesus is being promoted on a national level and in places where He might not commonly bementioned. Indeed, we should rejoice that there are God-fearing people out there who are willing to spend that kind of money and effort to turn our nation’s hearts and eyes back to Jesus. Their website even states that they are just trying to “reintroduce people to the Jesus of the Bible,” and that they “believe His words, example, and life have relevance in our lives today and offer hope for a better future.” To that, we could say “Amen!” and to God be the glory … but, that’s as far as it goes when you begin to dig a little deeper into the message they promote.

Now, there is no intent here to be a party-pooper, or be pharisaical about this effort, but just like so many well meaning “Christians,” they often paint outside the lines of reality. More importantly, they go beyond what the Bible actually says and thus, it can cause even more confusion within the religious world. That needs to be addressed.

For example, one of their popular ads presents Jesus as an Activist. The idea is that ‘Jesus was fed up with politics, too.” (see: https://hegetsus.com/en/jesus-was-fed-up-with-politics-too) However, the esus we read about in the Bible does not engage in activism. An “activist” is one who seeks to bring about political and social change. Jesus did not come to bring change to worldly affairs, He came to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). He came to teach us about the Father and to bring His spiritual kingdom (the church) into effect (Matthew 16:18-19). In fact, when the Jews were trying to coerce Him into political matters, he responded, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matt 22:21) So, no, Jesus was definitely not an activist.

Another example is how they present Jesus as a Refugee. Here, the idea is that Jesus can relate to and identify with immigrants and refugees because He Himself was one Yet, once again, this is not what the Bible says. It simply says thatJoseph, “arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night anddeparted for Egypt,” (Matt 2:13-19). The fact is, Egypt was part of the Roman Empire, as were many nations at that time (Acts 2:9-11). Jesus’ going from Israel to Egypt would be no different than you going from Florida to Alabama, or Georgia – they are all part of the same country. So, no, Jesus was not a refugee.

There are several other erroneouss presentations of Jesus that they make on their site, which we could analyze, but Ibelieve the point is now clear. While it is good that this group is attempting to lead people toJesus, it’s sad that they think they have to mold Jesus into something He is not, all to make us feel like “He gets us.” Believe me, the solution isn’t “He gets us,” because after all, “we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb 4:15) The truth is, we must never try to change Jesus to look and be likeus, but instead, we need to change ourselves to look and be like Him.