It has taken me a while to reply to the criticism of the "He Gets Us" commercial from the latest Super Bowl. In the video, it shows people washing the feet of individuals from different lifestyles. Some of the individuals were homeless or down and out, but others were involved in alternative lifestyles. The commerial ended that Jesus taught His disciples to wash feet, He didn't teach hate.
Several individuals have reacted strongly to the commercial, saying that Jesus does not condone sin. I want to unpack what I think this commerical is about, and then how we have missed the bus bigtime.
First, what is washing feet? Jesus washed the feet as a act of service. Washing feet is serving people. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, but those men all blew it that night. They betrayed, they abandoned, they denied. Jesus served humanity ultimately when He died on the cross. He died for us while we were still sinners.
Here is the bigger issue and where I think we missed it. People who are not Christians are spiritually dead. They cannot follow Jesus, they cannot act right, they cannot please God. They are dead. The only hope they have is to be born again. They don't do this by self effort, by living right, but not being part of an alternative lifestyle. They do this because Jesus loves them, died for them and rose again. They are saved when the power of the Holy Spirit convicts them of sin. They turn to Christ in faith and trust Christ. They cannot do this on their own, only through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes we expect people to "deserve" to be served by Christ. We want Jesus to only serve us, and not serve other sinners. Let's be clear, they are sinners, they are breaking God's laws, they are spiritually dead. We can't expect them to act like they are alive, we can't expect them to clean themselves us. They are dead. The Apostles were spiritually dead when He washed their feet. Jesus had not yet died on the cross, the disciples were not filled with the Spirit. They didn't change until after they day of Pentacost.
Jesus serves sinners. Jesus said you in your sin. In fact, every person who got saved was alienated from God by sin. They are in need of redeption and regeneration. Every single one. To say that Jesus didn't serve someone because of their particular type of sin is a little arrogant.
