What happened?
If you watched the Super Bowl, you likely saw the "He get's us" advertisement. It features 11 pictures that depict images of one person washing the feet of another. Including:
A bleach blonde... son? maybe? washing the feet of an older man in a home out of the 50's
A police officer washing the feet of a black man with dreads in an alley
A blonde teenaged girl washing the feet of another teenaged girl with a red-dyed buzz cut in a high school
An older white man washing the feet of an older Native American man somewhere in the desert
A middle aged white woman washing the feet of a younger white woman in front of a "family planning clinic"
A middle-aged white woman washing the feet of an alcoholic white woman in the alcoholic's kitchen
An older white man washing the feet of an Asian woman in the desert, but this time it's about climate change
A middle-aged white woman washing the feet of a younger Latin woman holding a baby in front of a bus
A middle-aged white woman washing the feet of a younger Muslim woman in a hijab in a backyard while their husbands watch
A young black woman washing the feet of an ethnically ambiguous young woman in the middle of a protest
An old white and black man with their foot in a tub on the front porch of a cabin
An old white man dressed as a priest washing the feet of a flamboyantly dressed young gay man at the beach
At the culmination of the ad the following words blaze across the screen
JESUS DIDN'T TEACH HATE
HE WASHED FEET
He gets us. All of us.
Getting your attention
Let's get the mechanics of advertising out the way before we engage in a more serious analysis. In advertising - attention is everything. There's a reason companies (and apparently "nonprofits") will spend millions of dollars to run their advertisement during the Super Bowl - people are watching. The form of advertising has changed since the height of Madison street a la Mad Men but the basic principles have remained the same. If no one pays attention to your message, you won't sell your product. From a mechanical perspective this advertisement certainly accomplished its mission for "He gets us" as many people have commented positively and negatively about the images and overall message of the video. While the advertisement's method was effective it remains to be seen whether it was right.
They have an agenda
I'm often reminded of a particular scene from "The Book of Eli" starring Denzel Washington. In the scene, the character of Carnegie played by Gary Oldman says the following.
"IT'S NOT A FUCKIN' BOOK! IT'S A WEAPON! A weapon aimed right at the hearts and minds of the weak and the desperate. It will give us control of them. If we want to rule more than one small, fuckin' town, we have to have it. People will come from all over, they'll do exactly what I tell 'em if the words are from the book. It's happened before and it'll happen again. All we need is that book."
The book he's talking about is the Bible. In the portrayed post-apocalyptic world Bibles have been burned before a nuclear catastrophe ruined civilization save one - the Bible carried by the protagonist Eli who is guided by a voice to "go west." Carnegie believed that if he could have this book in his possession he could solidify the strangle-hold he held over the people of his town and continue to conquer.
If you go to hegetsus.com you will find a page entitled "He Gets Us has an agenda” like most of their website they’re trying to pitch you the way one might stand in a Costco selling satellite TV service. The page reads like a sales letter saying
"Our agenda at He Gets Us is to move beyond the mess of our current cultural moment to a place where all of us are invited to rediscover the love story of Jesus – Christians, non-Christians, and everybody in between. All of us."
Anyone who would deny there is power in the words of the Bible is a fool. The question before us isn't whether these words can hold sway over the minds of men, but what those speaking His words intend to do. "He Gets Us" says the following in that regard
"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. We look at the biography of Jesus through a modern lens to find new relevance in often overlooked moments and themes from his life."
In other words, screw tradition we’re only going to use the post-modern progressive lens of the last 50 years to interpret a story that has been told for over 2000. Doesn’t that sound like everything wrong with modern movies and tv?
Who is behind this?
The group now behind "He Gets Us" is called "Come Near" according to their website :
"Come Near is a new nonprofit organization led by a team of experienced marketing, innovation, and nonprofit leaders committed to sharing the life and love of Jesus in thought-provoking new ways. Come Near leads all aspects of the He Gets Us movement in partnership with a dedicated network of collaborators."
Of course, that doesn't really tell us much, it's more sloganeering. However, it's been reported in multiple outlets that the main donors behind these organizations is the family behind Hobby Lobby, the crafts chain led by David Green. Green is an Evangelical Christian, and has used his money to further the message of Jesus as he sees it.
The problem
There's nothing wrong with using one's wealth and business to promote deeply held beliefs, but there are problems with "He Gets Us" and the way they are attempting to redefine the message of Jesus Christ. As we've seen above, the group is not concerned with proving the divinity of Christ to people or even asking people to believe in it. Instead they want to portray the life of Jesus as a timeless love story like Cinderella or Snow White.
It is true that God loves us, all of us. We are his creation and called to worship him. This is the basic belief most faith traditions hold. It is also true that politics corrupts, especially our modern mass democracy in "The West." What separates Christians however, is the belief in the Divinity of Jesus Christ who was truly God and truly man (464) to remove him from this context in any kind of ”evangelizing” effort is incorrect. The reason why Jesus could love so unconditionally and be such an example to his followers across millennia isn't because he was an exceptionally good human, it's because he was Lord. Anyone attempting to bring people "back to Jesus" who admit on their website they aren't primarily concerned with his divinity should be met with a high degree of skepticism. Plenty of religious and non religious people have done historical and biographical work on Jesus without commenting on his Godliness, but “He gets us” wants you to engage with his message and love in some kind of weird new aged spiritual way. Love is a word that has many meanings. In the English speaking world we wrap these up into a four letter word, and when one word has so many definitions it can be twisted.
Taking this, we begin to see that while the sloganeering employed by "He Gets Us" may capture our attention it literally gives us an incorrect image. The washing of the feet found in the Bible happens at the Last Supper where Jesus washes the feet of his Apostles. In traditional Hebrew society, this would have been a task beneath the stature of a great teacher likeJesus, and yet when his apostles confronted him with this he said (John 16:12-17)
“Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.""
Jesus washed the feet of his closest followers, those whom he chose out of countless disciples to spread his Word after his Passion. In the apostolic tradition, this is practiced during Holy Week where a priest will ceremoniously wash the feet of parishioners. Humbling himself the way Jesus did. The ritual is a reminder that we are One in Christ. Christians are called to minister to the poor, sick, and downtrodden - but the specific ritual of washing feet is not a part of this for a very important reason.
A better version
To put it simply Jesus didn't "get us" Jesus saved us. Jesus dined with tax collectors and prostitutes, but he brought them to the Lord. They did not remain what they were, but became who they should be. Without this basic understanding of the passion, death, and resurrection one can hardly call their mission "Christian."
In the wake of this ad's airing, there was a counter-ad if you will that circulated. It offers the openness of Christ's love in a theologically sound way. It's worth watching to see how applying the same principles of advertising can broadcast the same message of love can be portrayed in a way that reflects the message of the Gospels.
Very well said, God’s blessings