Reflecting back on the conversations regarding the “He Gets Us” ad. I have seen some valid concerns about it, some valid praise for it, and some not so valid concerns and praise lol
The slogan said, “Jesus didn’t teach hate, He washed feet.”
There’s a lot of Christians who were offended by this, mostly because it seemed to frame the conversation around the idea that if you speak out against certain things it is considered hateful. I’ll be honest, I don’t know how much of that is true or simply a defense mechanism from Christians who feel attacked by our culture.
The pushback about Jesus washing feet is more interesting to me. I didn’t have an issue with that myself, but a lot of people seemed to suggest that Jesus only washed the Disciples feet. While that is technically true, Judas would betray him, and Jesus knew that already, and Peter denied him after this.
But more importantly, what did Jesus say after he washed their feet?
John 13:12-17 ”When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.“
You can make the argument that Jesus saying, “wash one another’s feet” that he was specifically referring to Christians washing each others feet, but what does it mean to wash feet?
To wash someone’s feet, you have to humble yourself and do something that is belittling to you and serving to others. Is this something that we should do only to other Christians? Or is this something that we should be doing to everyone around us?
Matthew 5:14 ”You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.“
If we are the light of the world, just like Israel was a light to the nations, then we are commanded to let that light shine to everyone. Look at verses 15 and 16,
Matthew 5:15-16 ”Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.“
In the same chapter, Jesus says this about loving our neighbors.
Matthew 5:43-48 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.“
Notice, even God sends rain to the righteous and the unrighteous, and the sunlight to rise on both the evil and the good. “And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?”
What witness do we have if we just do what everyone else does? How does only serving and ministering to other Christians shine light on the gospel? It doesn’t.
We are not called to only show kindness and love to those who think just like us, it’s hard to love people you do not understand or relate to, but we are called to do just that.
The ad does a great job of showing the power of love, how do I know? The amount of people who recoiled at the imagery proves how powerful love is.
Now, before I get misunderstood, I think it’s important to define what love is, and more importantly, what it is not. In our society today, love and empathy are currency. This is why we have virtue signaling (the act of expressing a viewpoint, often in a pretentious manner, with the intent of displaying morality and communicating good character), and it’s why we cannot just disagree with someone. Instead, anyone who doesn’t see things the way I see them is seen as immoral or evil.
Love is god in our culture, love is supreme. This sounds amazing until you realize what the consequences of that mindset is.
If God is love then God becomes the standard that love conforms to. In other words the more I learn and connect to God the more that impacts how I love. This is a good thing because God is just, holy, perfect, and the literal embodiment of love. I am not.
If love is god, then love (or our concept of it) becomes the standard that God has to conform to. This means that we re-interpret who God is through our understanding of love and essentially create a god in our own image. That’s idolatry.
When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:37 he replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
What does this look like? It means I love everyone, but I cannot affirm every lifestyle or choice someone makes. I love you, but I love God more. God is the standard, not love. I agree wholeheartedly that we should walk in love, but sometimes to walk in love means to stand for truth, not my truth or your truth, but His truth.
1st John 4:7-8 ”Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.“
The person who is unable to love those who are traditionally rejected by the church do not know God as well as they think they do. Love is the greatest evidence of the Spirit moving in a person’s life. But love is not dictated by culture, it’s dictated by God.
Now look at the next chapter as John continues his thought,
1 John 5:1-5 ”Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.“
This ties into what Jesus said in Matthew 22 about loving our neighbor. This means that the only way you can truly love your neighbor the way they need is to first love God with everything you have. When you get these backwards is when you emphasize love over truth.
Love and affirmation are not always synonymous. Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is tell someone the truth. Why? Because the truth can either point them to Christ, or keep them out of trouble.
If I love my son, and he wants drop out of school and become a YouTuber at 13, the most loving thing I can do as a father is not to affirm his desires, it’s to tell him truth.
He might be mad at me temporarily, but eventually he will realize that I loved him and had his best interests in mind.
Similarly, when we affirm people to do and live any way they want regardless of how detrimental it is to their relationship with Christ or to their own well being, it’s not more loving to affirm that. It’s more loving to speak the truth in love.
Ephesians 4:15 “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”
Finally, all of this discussion could be done away with if we as Christians learned to balance love and discipleship. By stooping down, by humbling ourselves to serve the least of us in our society, we open doors to share the gospel. There’s a way for Christians to love ALL people while holding to Biblical teachings. These things are not mutually exclusive!
There’s tension here of course! It’s easier to pick one side or the other and sadly that’s what most people do. But rest in the tension. It’s the theme of Scripture.
The gospel itself has tension, a free gift that I can never earn in salvation, but Jesus calls me to to live holy. It’s not contradictory, but there is tension there. People emphasize grace over doctrine, some emphasize doctrine over grace. The truth is in the tension.
Same for love. As Christians we have an opportunity to display the love of Christ that was evident on the cross, when he washed his disciples feet he cleaned them with the cloth that was around his waist. This signified the act that he was about to perform on the cross, washing us clean from sin by his own body being broken.
When we humble ourselves and seek to serve our neighbors in a way that uplifts, and yet still honors Christ and his Word, we are proclaiming the gospel in a way that invites people in, not by affirming them where they are, but by pointing them to a love that so greatly exceeds the love that any person could ever hope to possess. Then, and only then, we will get to the point where lives can be transformed by the power of the gospel.