Hundreds of millions of people across America and the world saw Jesus’ name on their screens yesterday. You probably know what I’m referring to: the Super Bowl ads from He Gets Us, a nonprofit that, in its own words, wants to “reintroduce people to the Jesus of the Bible and his confounding love and forgiveness.”
I could talk about the content of the ads and whether they portray Jesus accurately, but I won’t (except to say we shouldn’t expect a sufficient portrayal of him in any 30-60 second ad, no matter how orthodox). I’m more interested by the reactions of those upset seemingly by his mere presence on the broadcast:
What’s weird about all of these takes is an underlying assumption that good ends must compete with one another.
It would absolutely be a great good if 1,563 homeless were permanently housed with that ad money. This is true without qualification. It is NOT true that, in choosing to use that money for a different good thing—bringing the name of Jesus to millions—the “He Gets Us” campaign did something wrong. It is not wrong to do one good thing at the expense of another.
But perhaps another assumption is at play here: that evangelism is actually a bad thing. That’s the vibe I get from the bizarre imputations of “right-wing” and “fascism” to this message. Whatever AOC and Hackett saw in these ads (and the definitions du jour of right-wing and fascism) that set off alarm bells, they seem disturbed by the very act of broadcasting Jesus’ name to millions. “It’s good when you Christians want to take care of the poor, but don’t you dare start talking about that Jesus stuff.”
Well, sorry, but I’m interested in obeying everything that Jesus commanded. That includes feeding the poor, clothing the naked, tending to the sick, and the rest of the corporal works of mercy. But it also includes sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with our neighbor for the sake of his eternal salvation (Mt. 28:19-20).
And the interesting thing about sharing Jesus with the world is that it also multiplies the very goods that our tweeters here want to see. From the millions spent on a few ads, many viewers will learn about Jesus and his commands to aid the poor and suffering. Some of them may be rich and will decide to lavish their resources on those poor. If we want people to obey Jesus’ commands, first they need to…know Jesus.