'He Gets Us' Super Bowl ad doesn’t get Jesus
The He Gets Us campaign released its latest Super Bowl ads this past weekend. So on social media, I said, “The He Gets Us ads message isn’t that you should worship Jesus. Their message is that Jesus worships you.”
Some people were upset with what I said, including Justin Giboney, the co-founder and president of the AND Campaign. He said:
“No. The message is that Jesus had compassion for people and served them even if He disagreed with them. Comments like these show how far some in the Church are from understanding the humility of Christ. This is a culture war ethic not a Christian ethic.”
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Giboney isn’t just defending the ads, he’s also implying the reason why people like me dislike the ads is because unlike supposedly compassionate people like the AND Campaign and He Gets Us, we’re too prideful to understand the humility of Christ.
To be honest, it’s not surprising that the president of an organization that creates a moral equivalency between the anti-abortion movement and pro-abortion people is defending the He Gets Us ads. There is nothing compassionate or humble about creating a moral equivalency between people who murder babies and people who save them.
Also, the so-called culture war ethic and the Christian ethic are not mutually exclusive. The culture war is a proxy war of the spiritual war. Christian ethics demands opposition to every lofty opinion (in our culture) raised against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5).
The message of the He Gets Us ads is a lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. It’s a campaign using tens of millions of dollars to promote a different Jesus and a different gospel. It’s a clever campaign advertising a progressive gospel, a gospel that makes Jesus not the savior of sinners — but a sponsor of leftist politics.
This is why they exploit Jesus washing his disciples’ feet for their agenda. On their website, the He Gets Us campaign explains their “Foot Washing” ad by saying:
“With an upcoming election year that will be filled with division and derision, we decided to focus on one of the most important directives given by Jesus — Love Your Neighbor … As we explored creative ideas, we recalled the story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet and realized this was the perfect example of how we should treat one another, even those people with whom we don’t see eye to eye.”
They claim they’re encouraging unity, but their ads tell a different story. They’re promoting compromise, not unity. He Gets Us is a cunning campaign that subtly depicts Christian ethics as divisive and hateful. This is why their website says:
“How did the story of Jesus, the world’s greatest love story, get twisted into a tool to judge, harm, and divide? How do we remind people that the story of Jesus belongs to everyone? These questions are the beating heart of He Gets Us.”
One of the images in their “Foot Washing” ad is a woman washing the feet of a (presumably abortion-minded) girl at an abortion center, while the pro-life activists are holding anti-abortion signs. The image portrays a popular pro-abortion (and AND Campaign) narrative that pro-life people care about protecting pre-born babies but ignore the mother.
In other words, unlike conservative Christians or pro-life people, the woman washing the girl’s feet isn’t judgemental, divisive, or hateful—she’s just a compassionate, humble, woman who loves her neighbor.
But Jesus didn’t ignore his disciples’ sins when He washed their feet. That is actually why He washed their feet. He didn’t wash their feet as a symbol of tolerance for sin, He washed their feet to symbolize their spiritual cleansing from sin. This is why He said, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me” (John 13:8).
That doesn’t sound like “unity” at all costs, does it? Remember, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples — His followers. He didn’t wash everyone’s feet. He didn’t wash the feet of the people who were blaspheming God at the temple. Instead, He made a whip of cords, rebuked them, and drove them out (Matthew 21:12-13).
So the Christ-like thing to do at an abortion center isn’t to wash an abortion-minded girl’s feet while ignoring their murderous intentions. The Christ-like thing to do is to call them to repentance. That’s what pro-life Christians do.
The He Gets Us campaign doesn’t get this because they don’t get Jesus. They don’t understand Christians because they don’t understand Christ — because they don’t want to.
Their website says:
“He Gets Us is a diverse group of Jesus followers with a wide variety of faith journeys and lived experiences. Our work represents the input from Christians who believe that Jesus is the son of God as well as many others who, though not Christians, share a deep admiration for the man that Jesus was, and we are deeply inspired and curious to explore his story.”
Their Frequently Asked Questions page reveals their positions on church and LGBT people.
On church, they say: “He Gets Us is not against the church, but we are not a back to church campaign.”
On LGBT people, they say:
“Many of those who represent Jesus have made people in the LGBTQ+ community feel judged and excluded. And others in the Jesus community have simply ignored their stories and lived experiences. So let us be clear in our opinion. Jesus loves gay people and Jesus loves trans people. The LGBTQ+ community, like all people, is invited to explore the story of Jesus and consider his example of unconditional love, grace, and forgiveness of others.”
The He Gets Us ads are a multi-million dollar campaign for progressive “Christianity.” Any professing Christian who defends them is, at best, lacking discernment.
“He Gets Us” doesn’t get Jesus. They don’t understand him. They don’t believe in him. They don’t worship him, so they don’t want you to worship him either.
Originally published at Slow to Write.
Samuel Sey is a Ghanaian-Canadian who lives in Brampton, a city just outside of Toronto. He is committed to addressing racial, cultural, and political issues with biblical theology, and always attempts to be quick to listen and slow to speak.
