There was a very controversial ad during the Superbowl this year called, “He Gets Us.”
I’m sure you’ve probably seen it. It’s a minute-long video of images of various people washing each others’ feet–and they seem opposed to one another. A rebellious son washing his father’s feet; a police officer washing the feet of a black man in a black neighborhood; a woman washing the feet of a young lady in front of an abortion clinic..and the list goes on. At the end of the ad, this pops up. “Jesus Didn’t Teach Hate. He Washed Feet. He gets us. All of us.”
If you were to go on their website and click on the video, a little blurb to the right says, “The night before he died, Jesus washed the feet of his friends and enemies. It was a totally unexpected act of service that symbolized so much more.”
Now, there’s so much that can be said about this video, both good and bad, and if you’ve paid attention to social media this week, it blew up with mostly negative things about this ad. I was surprised, in fact, that the more progressive Christians were upset because this portrayed a more Progressive style of Jesus. But they were upset that they spent millions of dollars on an ad instead of using that money to feed the poor and other good causes.
Those on the Right, such as myself, seemed to say that the ad wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. It encouraged us to love one another, even those whom we may call our enemies–and made some stereotypical assumptions as to who our enemies are–yet in the end it said, “He Gets Us.”
To me, that doesn’t make any sense. To a degree it does, but it kind of makes your head spin because what does serving one another have to do with He getting us? And what does it really mean, “He Gets Us?”
So it spurred me to post a couple of things on social media about that, which basically says, “I get that He gets us, but there’s more to it than that.” And then I posted a set of verses from 2 Corinthians.
And it resulted in another one of those long, back-and-forth threads trying to explain that to someone who isn’t a Christian but still thought the ad was a great reminder of what it means to love one another.
If you have your Bibles, turn with me to that set of verses I mentioned, 2 Corinthians 5. We’ll read verses 15-21, and if you have a bookmark, we’ll go back to Luke 7 and read verses 36-50. From there, we’ll look into why “He Gets Us” isn’t enough, why we can’t just leave it there, and why there is more to it than that.
As you’re turning there, let me read to you a few things. The comedian Lily Tomlin once said, “I’ve always wanted to be somebody, but I see now I should have been more specific.”
This was once said of another comedian, Peter Sellers. In The Mask Behind the Mask, biographer Peter Evans says that actor Peter Sellers played so many roles he sometimes was not sure of his own identity. Approached once by a fan who asked him, “Are you Peter Sellers?” Sellers answered briskly, “Not today,” and walked on.
And one more: The dilemma of an unclear sense of personal identity was illustrated by an incident in the life of the famous German philosopher Schleiermacher, who did much to shape the progress of modern thought. The story is told that one day as an old man he was sitting alone on a bench in a city park. A policeman thinking that he was a vagrant came over and shook him and asked, “Who are you?” Schleiermacher replied sadly, “I wish I knew.”
Do we get “He Gets Us?” In what ways does He Get Us? And furthermore, do we get the ‘He’ in “He Gets Us?” Does “He Gets Us?” get him? Let’s take a look at our first scripture this morning. 2 Corinthians 5:15-21.
Scripture:
15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Before I go to our second scripture verse, let me unpack that a little bit.
In this passage we can look at who we are in Christ, being born again as new creatures, and serving Christ in this capacity. You can see how we are ambassadors of Christ preaching reconciliation. This particular passage talks about mankind’s reconciliation with God, yet the commercial is about man’s reconciliation with each other and then stops there. That’s why so many of us Evangelicals had a problem with this commercial. It wasn’t wrong, yet it wasn’t right, either.
Reconciliation with one another is an important issue. In Matthew 5:23-24, Jesus says to us “if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.” You see how important reconciliation is. Reconcile with one another first, then go to your offering.
Reconciliation is the Greek word katallagē, meaning “an exchange; reconciliation, restoration to favor.” So it goes beyond forgiveness to restoring a broken relationship.
Going back to the illustrations of “Who are we?” Christians, as defined by God, are defined as a new creation, reconciled to God through Christ, and we are called to therefore be ambassadors of God on this earth, preaching the message of reconciliation to others.
So we are to preach being reconciled to God, but we also need to be reconciled to each other, which is also an important issue. Washing each others’ feet, metaphorically, is a form of reconciliation. It is a form of forgiveness, humble commitment, and servitude.
In the gospel of John, after Jesus washed his disciple’s feet, he said, “14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
Peter gave these instructions “To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.”
5 In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
So the ad campaign isn’t necessarily wrong about washing each others’ feet, but what about us washing Jesus’ feet (metaphorically speaking)? That is, to me, the greater and more important point that they left out entirely. If you have your bookmarks in place, turn with me to Luke 7, and we’ll start with verse 36.
I think you’ll probably guess what this is about.
Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman
36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
So do you see how “He Gets Us” misses the mark? I’m not talking about just an ad campaign, I’m talking about a whole thought process–a theology that misses the point. Does God understand us? Yes, as sinners in need of salvation. If we accept that love, then we should reciprocate that love in a personal, worshipful way towards Him and then towards each other.
Going back to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 16 says, “16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.”
You see how Simon the Pharisee looked at this woman from a worldly point of view, but Jesus saw something different?
Paul is saying here, that we should look at each other as spiritual beings with an eternal purpose, made in the image of God, and loved by God. We should look at people with God’s heart and look at the example of Jesus’ actions toward others–such as the woman in Luke’s gospel, not the heart of a natural man towards others, as Simon the Pharisee did.
Paul continues that thought in his next sentence, verse 17, with the word, ‘therefore.’
“17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
That woman washed Jesus’ feet because she became a new creation. It was what she could do to worship Him, not the other way around. Jesus didn’t wash her feet. Jesus may have washed his disciples’ feet–even Judas. But he isn’t going to wash everyone’s feet. We have to come to Him in order for Him to wash our feet.
It’s like the shoeshine boy. You’ve got to come to the shoeshine boy and sit in the chair in order for him to shine your shoes. He’s not going to chase you down.
So, Jesus’ act of washing the disciples’ feet illustrated his love and servitude towards them, even Judas, whom Jesus knew would betray him.
In the same way, Christ died for everyone, even those whom he knew would betray him, mock him, and never turn towards him. Perhaps that’s a better understanding of “He Gets Us.” He gets us, yet he still died for every one of us.
Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
He does love us in spite of who we are and what we’ve done. But what the ad campaign gets wrong is the invitation for us to sit at His feet. To not just wash each others’ feet, but to have our feet washed by Him.
Because Christ died for everyone––regardless of your current condition, your current faith, your past, your family, your social status, or your wealth, everyone has the opportunity to come to Christ and become a new creation. In Christianity, people are defined by the person God sees––the potential of being the new creation that Christ died to redeem. The “He Gets Us” campaign doesn’t involve that part of it. It implies, “He Gets Us,” therefore, there is no need to change. You’re fine just the way you are. It’s what I call the Oprah Winfrey gospel.
Our purpose is not just to wash each others’ feet, but to encourage others to come to Christ and to become that new creation.
John Wesley said, “Only the power that makes a world can make a Christian.”
He also said that a person in Christ, “has new life, new senses, new faculties, new affections, new appetites, new ideas and conceptions. His whole tenor of action and conversation is new, and he lives, as it were, in a new world. God, men, the whole creation, heaven, earth, and all therein, appear in a new light, and stand related to him in a new manner, since he was created anew in Christ Jesus.”
Phil Newton said, “God not only originates the work but bears the full load of it by meeting the righteous demands of His justice through His Son.”
I just kind of sat back and soaked that in when I read it. God met his own demands of salvation, and it is God’s work of sanctification. Neither of which are we able to do on our own. We are helpless. It is our will to allow God to do this work within us, and we should partner with God in whatever ways we need––through prayer and Bible study and seeking and obeying God’s will, but to be holy and righteous on our own only leads to failure, legalism, hypocrisy and by the way “He Gets Us” ends its ads–who cares about righteousness and holiness anyway, so don’t bother. Because it will only lead to failure, legalism, and hypocrisy–and we know those things are bad, and so never mind because He Gets Us just the way we are. No big deal. No need to change. He gets us.
Wink, wink.
God is the one who reconciles us to himself. Our ministry is to not become like the Pharisee that Simon was in the passage from Luke, and sit back with arms folded and say, “Look at them. They’re a wretched, hopeless sinner! They’re too far gone. They’re disgusting!”
How many times have you heard someone say things like that–or maybe even thought that yourself? And then you found out they are open to the gospel? In fact, they might have been active in a church and left because of having been judged by hypocritical legalism.
Sometimes it’s the people you least expect. Maybe they’re already saved but they’ve stumbled and fallen and need a hand to lift them back up.
Our job is to extend that hand and with compassion and understanding, offer that same reconciliation that we obtained and were so powerless to obtain on our own. Our job is to walk through this journey together. Some are further up the road than others, some are further behind than others. But our job is to walk this same path together and help those who are more prone to stumbling and falling. Just like we have been helped when we’ve stumbled and fallen.
So you see how the campaign is right, but not? It doesn’t end with washing each others’ feet, it goes beyond that.
Yes, the message of God’s reconciliation means that God, in verse 19, has not counted people’s sins against them, and likewise we are to do the same. But they have to be reconciled first. That’s what the campaign and its form of Christianity misses.
Who better to preach the message of reconciliation than those who have been reconciled? Who have stumbled themselves, and have had someone close by to help pick them back up again? Your story and your testimony are powerful. It’s encouraging and brings people hope who are on the brink of hopelessness. And that’s what church is designed for. Bringing the good news of the Gospel not just inside these walls, but out to the world in a way that is relatable and compassionate; in a way that is kind and gentle. In a way that demonstrates the 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love.
Washing each others’ feet? Yes, but first after having come to him to have our feet washed–or our sins washed–and then to worship him by washing His feet as the sinful woman did–the act of a humble servant knowing that she’s not worthy even of that lowly act. Then we can wash each others’ feet–the symbols of humbly serving each other.
Do you get it?
That leads us to the last two verses in 2 Corinthians: verses 20 and 21 which says, “20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Ray Stedman asks…
Why do we send ambassadors? Well, because countries do not always relate to each other very well. Things need to be explained, need to be approached with diplomacy and caution and carefulness. That is what an ambassador is to do. He is to be a representative of a government, handling himself with such care and confidence that the message that his government seeks to convey is given in the most painless and least offensive way possible. Now that is dangerous. You can get yourself killed or taken captive as an ambassador in this world today.
The “He Gets Us” campaign isn’t taking that risk. They truly are taking the most painless and least offensive way possible by skipping the whole part about sin and repentance. And we may offend some people. I would urge you not to do so intentionally. I would urge you to speak the truth in love, as was my sermon topic a few weeks ago.
This, I suppose, is an extension of that.
Our job is to speak the truth in love by making the appeal for anyone and everyone to join us. Again, our testimony is a great example. We have been reconciled to God, and God changed my life. He can do the same for you, no matter what. No matter who you are or what you have done. Your identity is in Christ, He will make you a new creation.
Who better to make that appeal than sinners saved by grace?
That’s a better “He Gets Us,” isn’t it? He Gets Us, therefore we are saved by grace, not by The Law. If we were saved by The Law, then God wouldn’t get us.
God could have found other ways to have himself represented on this earth. He could have made himself known as He did in the Old Testament; He could have spent the past 2,000 years walking among us rather than having ascended to Heaven (they probably would have crucified him again, ten times over by now); He could send his angels down here every day in ways that everyone can watch and see like superheroes. What a crazy, different world that would be.
But he chose human beings who have been reconciled unto God to accomplish the ministry of reconciliation to fellow human beings. And for 2,000 years, it’s worked.
How is God calling you and this church to be His ambassadors? One way is that “we get each other” and go from there.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on First Baptist Church of Watkins Glen
Featured Image by Heather Morse on Unsplash
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