He Gets Us, Do you get Him?
With a roar that shook all Narnia from the western lamp-post to the shores of the eastern sea [Aslan] flung himself upon the White Witch. Lucy saw her face lifted toward him for one second with an expression of terror and amazement. Then Lion and Witch had rolled over together but with the Witch underneath… Most of the enemy had been killed in the first charge of Aslan and his companions; and when those who were still living saw that the Witch was dead they either gave themselves up or took to flight.C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe pp. 177-178
The writers of the He Gets Us campaign succeeded in setting the internet ablaze with their recent Super Bowl advertisement. Much of the conservative evangelical world has been quite critical of the advertisement for a variety of reasons, most of which boil down to the notion that the advertisement is saying a lot in what it’s not saying- namely that Christians are a judgmental lot, and that Jesus endorses your sin. Others have made these points well enough. Today, I am here to ask, “Are we asking the right questions? Are we offering the right answers? Should we be declaring that “He gets us” or asking, “Do we get Him?””
If you are the least bit familiar with the Bible, it should go without saying that “He gets us”. After all, He created us as a species (Gen. 1:26-27), He forms our inward parts (Psalm 139:13) and knows our frames (Psalm 103:14). What’s more, we worship the God who took on flesh and can sympathize with our weakness (Heb. 4:15). He gets us.
But what about the us in this scenario? Do we get Him? Do we understand that the one washing the disciple’s feet in John 13 is the thrice holy God (Rev. 4:8)? Do we understand that we are by nature enemies of God, children of wrath by nature (Eph. 2:3)? I hope we do.
The truth that doesn’t play well in a super bowl advertisement is that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9), but without understanding that this is where we all start, then the good news that Christ washes, sanctifies and justifies us (1 Cor. 6:11) loses most of its meaning.
I think I understand the heart behind the campaign, they want people to know that Christ is mighty to save, regardless of one’s circumstance. True enough, but what if you reject that salvation? Then you may find that the Lamb slain is also the conquering Lion. In Narnia, the Christ-type Aslan is the ever-present comforter and protector to those that love him, but as the excerpt we started with shows, those who set themselves against him are brought down in his righteous anger. The truth not communicated in the advertisement is that so long as you array yourself against Christ, you heap condemnation and wrath upon yourself.
The problem we have goes beyond mere dirty feet or social barriers. The problem is that we, by virtue of our actions, are worthy of the wrath of God. We can expect the same outcome in our story as the witch had in hers. The good news is that there is a way out:
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Romans 5:8-11