We Don’t Get Jesus

Well, I didn’t expect to interrupt the Noah series because of a Superbowl ad, but in a post-covid society, expect the unexpected, I guess.

I get the premise of the ad. I see what they were trying to do, I think. I get the backlash from conservatives and I am sympathetic to the confusion of those who don’t understand what the big deal is. The fallout will likely run the usual course in these situations with both extremes pulling their lines back a few steps farther from the other side.

And this is my problem with controversies like this: each side takes Jesus and stuffs him inside an even smaller box than they already had him in, just so they can highlight the ways they’ve presented Him more correctly. And the fatal flaw in all this is that the central issue here is not whether or not Jesus gets us, it’s whether or not we get Jesus.

Humans have a long history of attempting to put Jesus in a box that suits them.

We’re honestly not far off from the well-known scene in Talladega Nights where everyone goes around describing how they like to picture Jesus. It’s funny and exaggerated, but it’s not far off from reality. We like to picture Jesus in a variety of subjective ways and we create this box that limits him to a certain political party, a certain country, a certain denomination, a certain eschatological view, a certain musical preference, a certain version of the Bible, a certain cultural issue – anything and everything that humans want to give supernatural authority to is fair game to ascribe to Jesus and it proves that after 2,000 years, as a society we’re no closer to getting Jesus than the people who met Him in person in the Roman Empire. For example:

Mary and Joseph didn’t get Jesus – they didn’t understand why a 12-year-old boy needed to be in the Synagogue interacting with religious leaders. (Luke 2:48)

The Devil didn’t get Jesus. I’ve written about this previously, but the whole confrontation in the wilderness is a strategy session for the Devil to figure out just what Jesus is made of and what He’s capable of doing (Matthew 4). If the Devil had gotten Jesus, he wouldn’t have killed Him.

The Pharisees didn’t get Jesus – They were so focused on traditions and sacraments that they totally missed the point of God’s Law, which was to show that it is impossible keep it perfectly. This is why He called them whitewashed tombs in Matthew 23:27

Even Jesus' disciples didn’t get Jesus. How often does the Bible recall their reaction after Jesus has told them something and they respond with sadness (Matthew 26:22), astonishment (Mark 10:32), grumbling (John 6:61), fright (Mark 9:5), grief (Matthew 17:23), and amazement (Mark 10:26)? They walked with Him for 3 years and yet, when He died, they actually thought it was over. They were surprised to see Him alive again!

The woman at the well didn’t understand why Jesus would talk to her, and questioned why He would ask her for a drink. (John 4:9)

Martha was one of Jesus’ best friends and still didn’t get how Jesus could let Lazarus die, or that He had the power to bring him back. (John 11:24)

Judas didn’t get Jesus. Had Judas been paying attention for 3 years, he would have known that there is nothing he could have done that Jesus would not have forgiven. Judas committed suicide because he didn’t understand the grace that covers all our sins – even the very worst ones. (Matthew 27:5)

Jesus is the agent of creation in the very beginning of the universe, He’s the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, He’s the face in the burning bush, He’s the Angel of Death in Egypt, He’s the voice of wisdom in Proverbs, He’s the 4th man in the fire, He’s the Passover lamb in the stable, He is the divine being who permanently put on the flesh and bones of humanity, willingly endured every hardship that our rebellion unleashed on this earth, defeated the supernatural forces of evil and sits on the highest throne with the highest name and the ultimate power. He is unrivaled, unequaled, unchallenged, unshaken by the current state of affairs of this world and still bears the scars of the beating and torture He received at the hands of men He made 2,000 years ago. You cannot put Him in a box, you cannot find the end of what there is to know about Him, you cannot pretend to understand His ways. The very moment we, the created ones, believe we have Him – the Creator – figured out is the moment we prove just how small we really are.

Forget whether or not Jesus gets us and how people want to spin that for profit. We. Do. Not. Get. Jesus.

If ever there was someone who could have focused on Jesus getting them, it was the man hanging beside Him on the next cross over. He had 30 seconds to speak to the God that came down and instead of discussing their shared circumstances, spoke 8 words that showed how clearly he got Jesus – “Remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” If you don’t believe Jesus will honor a deathbed confession, you don’t get Jesus.

Jesus both radically raised the bar on just how much God expects from humanity (Matthew 5:22) and radically forgave some of the worst people. You cannot put Him in a box.

So, this Superbowl ad controversy will inevitably produce strong responses from both sides with people declaring that Jesus would do this or wouldn’t do that. But Jesus isn’t in the front row at Lynyrd Skynyrd and He doesn’t wear a tuxedo tee shirt. He’s so far beyond the labels we throw onto Him. He’s the God who stood up from the highest throne and stepped down onto our deteriorating planet, putting on skin, knowing pain, clearing temples, evicting demons, calming storms, healing sickness, sweating blood, and yes, even washing feet. And in the midst of all that, carried out a rescue mission that even the Devil didn't see coming.

Bottom line: the complexity of who Jesus is can’t be condensed down to a 30 second ad. And if you think it’s that simple, then you don’t get Jesus.