When my husband proposed to me over 32 years ago, he took me down to the beach (we lived in California back then), and offered to wash my feet to show how he wanted to treat me in our marriage. It was beautifully symbolic, and of course I said “yes!”
When Jesus offered to wash the feet of His disciples, He wanted to show His disciples how to serve one another in love by doing something that, at that time, was perceived as doing the work of the lowest of servants. The disciples didn’t get it.
Washing Feet is Symbolic of Our Role in the Body of Christ
Likewise, many Christians did not get the recent Super Bowl commercial where it showed people doing the same thing. Because the people featured in the ad were washing the feet of unlikely pairs, (i.e. a priest washing the feet of a gay man), the backlash was fierce.
Christians were the ones complaining the most. Their biggest concern was that the ad did not show people being transformed by believing in Jesus. They argued saving faith changes people. Yes, I get that. That totally happened to me! I found Jesus when I was 25 years old, coming out of a humanist worldview with nihilistic tendencies. What helped me consider Christ was that someone told me that “no one would ever love you like your Heavenly Father loves you.” It was the love of God that drew me to Christ, not the judgement.
“I don’t get all the criticism from Christians — it just makes us look bad!”
— a friend (who wishes to remain anonymous)
The whole point of this ad was to show how we are to treat each other, loving your neighbor despite our differences. He Gets Us is an ad campaign paid for by a nonprofit organization, Come Near. This is a group of Christians from a variety of backgrounds and denominations. What I love about that is this organization is seeing beyond division and attempting to promote unity in the Body of Christ, which, as Paul says, is made up of many parts (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). Jesus said that we are to love one another and this will help everyone know that we are His disciples (John 13:35).
We cannot forget this important reminder: “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? (1 Corinthians 5:12) I always tell people that when you go “fishing,” you catch the fish first before you clean them. (Matthew 4:9 is where Jesus used the analogy of fishing for people.)
“I believe the He Gets Us movement stops short of saying “but he still wants us to transform instead of conform,” but first there must be love. I, so far, believe the message from them is showing love. And “if we have not love we are nothing but a clanging cymbal.” (1 Corinthians 13:1) Love must be shown first. As the old saying goes, people don’t care what we know until they know that we care. Some may use this as an excuse, but I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Also, when the disciples told Jesus that a man was preaching and doing work like Jesus but not being one of them, Jesus told them to leave him alone, because “if he was not against us he was for us.” (whoever gives you a cup of water in my name… Mark 9:38-41). Next, Jesus dined with sinners while they were still sinners. He had to do it for the chance to give them salvation. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Mark 2:17). Yes, we need to go on to say “Jesus Gets Us, but doesn’t want us to stay that way…” but first comes the love.” – anonymous friend
The best part of this whole campaign is that it got people talking about Jesus! In my opinion, that’s the biggest win of this year’s Super Bowl.
I see both sides, but most people won’t get the transformational aspect. Thanks for shining a new light in this debate.
To every story, there are always two sides. If we are to err on one side of that story, I say to err on the love side is by far the better choice. Thanks, Nancy, for your comments.
Thanks so much for showing this side of the story! The love must come first.
Thanks for your comment! Yes, the “love side” of the story is by far the best choice.
Just one more thought before I completely move on from this issue… I received a rather harsh criticism from a person I called a “friend.” For some reason, this person read my blog post as “condemning” Christians. They go on to say they’re confused on how I write that this commercial opens up conversation on who the ‘real Jesus’ is, and yet does not see how I allow that to happen. Here is the response: “…Imagine the Mormon church put out an ad in which God lovingly gives every man their own planet and elevates them them to god status in an affirming way that makes them attracted to that version of God. And then Christians utilized the opportunity to point out that Mormons do not know or teach the one, true God. Would you write an article condemning Christians for responding with the truth about Mormonism?…”
Here is the definition of condemn: (according to Merriam-Webster dictionary): to declare to be reprehensible, wrong, or evil usually after weighing evidence and without reservation. a policy widely condemned as racist. 2. a. : to pronounce guilty : convict.
I did NOT “condemn” anyone in this article. Yet that is how some have perceived it.
To the Mormonism issue, from the little I know of it, I think most Mormons do not fully understand what that church teaches. I know many of them have put their faith in Jesus Christ, as their Savior and believe He is the Son of God. So, I usually err on the side of grace, giving people the benefit of the doubt. I may gently correct someone when I see of errors in theology. But I also recognize that I don’t have it all figured out, either, which is why I simply try to “love my neighbor” and pray God uses these simple acts of love to His glory.
We need to be better to each other. We should not have knee jerk reactions to things we read online, especially if we know someone personally. I would go to them directly to work out differences, not argue about it publicly online. In my opinion, that is a poor witness on how we are to love one another. (I did privately reach out to this person and saw that the message was read, but I got silence as a response.)
This blog post made me realize how “over it” I am with online arguing. My experience has shown it produces little fruit. Personal connection is best.
We need to forgive one another, and sometimes just move on and let it go. I have done so and am at peace.
God wants us to love one another. Amen. How sad to know that some people only love those that they feel are worthy. May we all know His love and share His love with others.
Thank you, Melissa.
I agree with you Lisa, I really liked the analogy of catching fish before you clean them, I think you’ve really got the right idea there. 🙂
Thanks for your comment! I appreciate your insight and loyalty to reading my blog. Bless you!
I have seen criticism from both sides. Those who want to see the transformation, presumably from conservatives(?). Also from known liberals criticizing the expense. “If the creators truly ‘got’ Jesus, they wouldn’t have wasted the money on a SB ad but would have spent it on the poor.” Funny thing is that I have seen and heard many criticisms of the former but none of the latter.
I guess it’s a reminder that no matter what you do, someone will complain.
Such is our culture these days – lots of critics out there! Thanks for your comment.
Well said, LIsa! Thank you.
Thanks, Robin!
I don’t know how I ended up on your mailing list, and I am not subscribed to you. Please stop sending me spam.
He doesn’t “get us.”
We are called to worship HIM. We are called to repent of sin. Nothing about this commercial gave any indication who Jesus is. It created a false idea of Jesus that accepted all of these sins; with such a message as this, why even seek Jesus? There is nothing about this commercial that makes a sinner believe they need a savior. This “social Justice” Jesus just reminds me again of what was written:
2 Timothy 4:3-4
[3] For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, [4] and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
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Again, please remove me from any email list.
That’s fine, you are perfectly welcome to have your opinion about this. I am not trying to spam anybody. I just checked my subscribers list – you are not on there, so how you got this blog post sent to you is unknown. God bless.