Super Bowl LVIII was played last Sunday, and a great deal is being said on the interwebs about one of the advertisements by a group called He Gets Us. It shows a series of people washing the feet of others and ends with the message, “Jesus didn’t teach hate. He washed feet.” Then it says, “He gets us. All of us.”
One preacher I know asked on his Facebook page for people’s initial takes on the commercial, and the large majority were positive, saying things like, “Anything that exposes people to Jesus is a good thing,” and “Yes, Jesus loves everybody.”
We live in a progressive culture. Progressivism says we evolve forward, we progress in our thinking and understanding, we grow wiser as a people. Under progressivism, truth evolves. What was true during the time of Jesus, for example, is not necessarily true for us today, they say. We now understand love and grace are much more inclusive than the first century Christians even thought. Jesus may have taught that adulterous woman to go her way and sin no more, but now we understand that God accepts all manner of sexual stances.
Because of the saturation of progressivism, this Super Bowl commercial contains a modern message that would have previous generations would not have understood. Some of the people having their feet washed in this video are obviously homosexual. One scene depicts a woman washing the feet of a young lady outside an abortion clinic while pro-life protestors stand around in the background, and if the lesson is “Jesus didn’t teach hate,” the implication is that the woman washing the feet is showing love while those protesting in the background are demonstrating hate.
Words matter. Images matter. Culture matters.
Because words matter, I have some questions about their message: “Jesus didn’t teach hate. He washed feet. He gets us. All of us.”
First question: Who is the “us”?
Jesus is the Son of God who took on flesh and dwelt among men. He did this for several reasons. God sent Him to taste death for everyone, to die so we might live (Heb. 2.9). He made Jesus perfect through suffering in order to bring many sons to glory (Heb. 2.10). Jesus became our perfect High Priest to minister on our behalf because He was tempted in every way like we are, yet without sin, and we can draw near to God’s throne with confidence now because Jesus ministers for us (Heb. 4.14–16). As He walked in the flesh, He left an example for us to follow, specifically teaching us how to endure suffering (1 Peter 2.20–21).
But the blessings and promises in Christ are only for believers:
“…you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”
1 Peter 1.18–21
1 Peter 2.4–8 makes a clear distinction between believers and non-believers:
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”8 and
“A stone of stumbling,
1 Peter 2.4–8
and a rock of offense.”
When the commercial says, “He gets…All of us,” they don’t clarify who the “us” is. They leave it intentionally open-ended to include everyone we saw in the pictures.
Second question: What does it mean for Jesus to “get us”?
They mean Jesus identifies with us. This is true, as we have already seen He was tempted in all ways we are (yet without sin). So He became our perfect High Priest, able to go before the Father as one who has walked in our shoes. Because He never sinned, this obviously does not mean He knows how it feels to commit adultery, lie, steal, or break His Father’s heart through breaking God’s law. But He understands humanity in a personal way because He became one of His own creation!
Further, they mean Jesus accepts us. We have already said the “us” is everyone. This is a version of universalism—they claim God loves indiscriminately and unconditionally. While Jesus certainly loved sinners (none of us falls outside that category) and He ate with what society considered the worst of the worst—tax collectors and harlots—He did not accept people in their sins. He said, “If anyone comes after Me, he must take up his cross and follow Me” (Luke 9.23). He said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9.62). He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3.3). He said, “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3.18). Jesus did not accept people “as they were,” as so many progressive churches today like to say.
Jesus “gets us,” as in He understands why we are rebellious sinners, but He does not “get us,” as in accepting us in that sin. He calls us to repent!
Third question: If Jesus didn’t teach hate, what did He teach?
Their message—Jesus doesn’t hate—is obviously true. The lessons our culture desperately needs to learn is how Jesus loves and that He is Lord and King right now. He’s on the throne, and He will judge sexual perverts (fornicators of any kind), liars, thieves, murderers, disrespectful of parents, covetous, etc. And His judgment is not outside His love. It is within the love of God for us to abhor sin and avoid people who love sin (2 Timothy 3.1-5).
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of their eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.”
1 John 2.15-16
Jesus taught us to love our enemies, but He also told us to preach the gospel of the kingdom: “Repent and believe in Jesus as the Son of God!” To repent is to kill the old man of sin, to leave behind corrupt and destructive habits, to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus. We demonstrate love for sinners when we share the gospel of grace with them. If they believe we speak hate when we warn them of God’s certain judgment, that is because of their twisted understanding of love and hate. We cannot allow the culture to define hate and love for us—God has already shown you, O man, what is good.
This commercial is ultimately not helpful. It says, “Don’t hate,” but this progressive culture has no concept of how God defines hate. They see a Christian speaking against sin, and they call it hate. They see two men sleeping together, and they call it love. They hear about hell and say, “I don’t believe God would hate like that.” This commercial, at best, is empty and impotent, as it leaves viewers with a warped perspective of the heart and teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ.