The HeGetsUs Controversy—The Jesus we Rarely See
I have now watched several of the 30-second commercials from HeGetsUs. A couple of them made me uncomfortable, but I still saw them as good at reaching out to the lost and hurting. I especially like the one with the children. Jesus allowed the little children to come to him when the disciples tried to stop them. Some friends and ministers I respect have had serious questions about the ads. Some have immediately taken a hostile attitude about the ads, calling them heretical and a different Jesus. Suggesting the commercials deliver a different Jesus is the number one complaint. It is the same Jesus, but a side of Him we rarely see.
I believe the primary reason people object to the ads is that Jesus is too Human. The Scriptures teach us that Jesus came into this world with a human body. Jesus, like all of us, was born of a woman. Of course, He was born of a Virgin and by the seed of the Holy Spirit. The idea of God himself condescending to such a low position is beyond our comprehension. We may have chosen a castle, not a manger. We may have chosen to come full-grown and demanding repentance. We may have come demonstrating our power and our divinity and putting the fear of God into a world in sin. We may have come demanding that humankind bow their knee before us. Why? That is precisely the Jesus we are looking forward to coming—as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, coming as the lion. We get this.
It is Jesus as human, the lamb, the sacrifice, the one who understands ALL our pain, insecurities, sins, blunders, fears, hopes, dreams, evil thoughts, evil actions, and evil intent. Yet, He comprehends and is touched by them without any sin himself. Scripture is clear that Jesus is 100% God and 100%-man God with us, and God as us. Here is where we need to see the humanity of Jesus. Jesus was a man. He tired. He sweats. He became angry. He got hungry and thirsty. He even had to step aside to relieve himself by the bushes of the drink and the food he had digested, just as the disciples did. This is where we get uncomfortable with the humanity of Jesus; our focus is constantly on his God nature.
The HeGetsUs ads have reminded us, perhaps in an uncomfortable way, of the Jesus who came to this world, the Lamb. Jesus came not to condemn but to save. He didn’t stone the woman caught in adultery. He didn’t ask the woman at the well to get married. He didn’t run from the leper. He didn’t kill the Pharisees for their high-handedness and blasphemy. He even received a thief on the cross who did not understand what was happening around him. He opened his heart to the hurting, the confused, the doubting, the poor, the rich, the hopeless, and to all that would receive him or listen to him.
Most churches in America have neglected the humanity of Jesus. In other words, that which God meant as a communication link to us has been mostly ignored. Yes, he is also God. However, he came to earth to present God as a human. He divested himself of the King’s robes to wear humanity’s skin. Why? The prophets were not being heard, so God sent his son as one of us to communicate the Gospel of hope. Jesus came as God with us so that we could see God’s love for us. We have all but forgotten the human nature of Jesus as we are caught up with his deity, yet his humanity brought us to the cross. It was his perfect and sinless humanity that atoned for our sins. I might add that his humanity touched my heart of loneliness as an airman overseas and brought me to his divine nature that saved me.
I am convinced that these ads reveal the Jesus many churches have hidden, the Jesus who loves humankind and came that we might learn
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