He gets us... but do we get Him?
The polarizing Superbowl commercial that shows how divided the Christian community truly is.
Over 110 million people watched the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Fransisco 49er’s in this year’s Superbowl. Even non-football fans tuned in, some to see Usher perform the halftime show, some to see Taylor Swift support her boyfriend, and others because of those legendary commercials.
Some of the favorite commercials this year included the return of Bradley Cooper and his Mom for T-mobile, Arnold Schwarzenegger having trouble delivering State Farm’s “Like a Good Neighbor” tagline in his thick Austrian accent, and Tina Fey’s turn for Booking.com, in which the “Saturday Night Live” alum hires “body doubles” to imagine different versions of herself on vacation.
However, the commercial that is being talked about the most on my social media feeds today is by far the “Jesus commercial”. Sponsored by www.hegetsus.com
I’ll admit, I had mixed feelings about it. But it is pretty clear some people do NOT have mixed feelings, but feel very strongly that it was either a good thing or a bad thing. Many conservatives, including commentator Charlie Kirk criticized the campaign for promoting liberal and left-wing ideology, referring to its backers as "woke tricksters". Progressives don’t like the amount of money being used for marketing, and question the motives of a group tied to anti-LGBTQ and anti-women agendas. It seems they are getting ire from both sides this time… left and right, progressive and conservative, Christian and non-Christian.
First off, we have the negative opinions about it:
Several have pointed out that the amount of money the “He gets us” people spent on the ad campaigns could have been used to help others in much more tangible ways. How many people could have been fed, housed, medical bills wiped etc… with the millions spent on those commercials?
And does Jesus really need a marketing campaign? Seems like Jesus is pandering to the culture a bit, doesn’t it?
Then we have the positive takes:
The people who seem to like the ad are mainly defending the message, which I agree is a good one. The washing of the feet shows a service oriented heart behind it — and doing it to those who are different from us shows an inclusiveness that, in my opinion, is needed in the church these days. Some of the defenders also defend the money being used in this way saying it is well-spent if it brings people to know the gospel. In their opinion, becoming a follower of Jesus is the main goal of evangelizing, not necessarily feeding them with food or housing their bodies.
Everyone is talking about it today, but it turns out, this campaign isn’t really new. “It was first launched in 2022, and the campaign's stated goal is to "reintroduce people to the Jesus of the Bible". Its campaigns are designed to cater to younger demographics and religious skeptics via allusions to present-day social movements, with an emphasis on values such as inclusion, compassion, and ‘radical forgiveness’.” 1
If you are one of those offended by the $14 million spent on the Superbowl ads, then your head is going to explode at this next sentence. At least $100 million was initially spent on the campaign, which has included billboards, sponsor placements, and television commercials, and their spokesman says they plan on spending a BILLION dollars in the next three years on this campaign. (*no data on how many souls have been “saved” so far from this investment.)
Another problem many people have with the ads is that the initial financial backers of the movement come from groups who are associated with anti-LGBTQ and anti-women’s rights, which seems to have opposing views of what they are “selling”. It appears that the initial group who funded this, called The Servant Foundation, is no longer associated with the movement. Wikipedia states: “As of early 2024, the campaign was under new leadership and no longer affiliated with the Servant Foundation.” - but the donors now seem to be anonymous so no one truly knows who is behind it all.
How do I see it? Well, although I don’t disagree with what the ad portrays, and Pastor David Cassidy is right in his assessment about being a “conversation starter”, I tend to agree more with what one of my favorite pastors/writers, Pastor Benjamin Cremer had to say on his socials yesterday and I’ll just quote him here:
“It’s passive, drive-by evangelism. It feels deeply insincere and lazy, especially to the people it is being directed towards.
Secondly, this also plays into how we’ve reduced the gospel of Jesus to what people believe in their heads. I will often hear “if just one person had a change of mind because of that tract or commercial, it was worth it!” Why? Because we’ve made our religion all about getting to heaven and getting to heaven is simply about believing the right things, rather than imitating Jesus with our lives and working to embody God's will "on earth as it is in heaven." Again, this can easily lead to really callous situations where we don’t even care if our waitstaff has bills to pay or a family to care for. If stiffing them causes them to read about Jesus, even for just a moment, “it will be worth it.”
This kind of evangelism just seems so deeply out of touch with the actual world we live in.
When I think of all this, I hear James, the brother of Jesus, screaming in my ears:
“If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:16-17
Our world is crying out for faith in action, not faith advertised.”2
What do you think? Do you think this campaign is a good way to spend a billion dollars? Please leave your thoughts in the comments. All opinions stated with love are welcome, truly!
From the “He Gets Us” wikipedia page
From Pastor Benjamin Cremer’s writings on Facebook