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Roughly two weeks ago multitudes of people watched the Kansas City Chiefs win their second Super Bowl in two years (third since 2020 and fourth in their franchise history) in a close game against the San Francisco 49ers. As most people know, one feature of the Super Bowl broadcast is the new lineup of ads. Some ads are thought provoking, some are downright hilarious and some are just "meh." One ad, presented by a group which has been running ads across a variety of spectrums since 2022, has generated no small amount of conversation on social media. I speak of the "He Gets Us" ad. My purpose here is not to defend or criticize the ad, but to explore the significance of the fact that he (Jesus) "gets us" and point out that he also changes us.
Jesus is identified in the New Testament as a sympathetic representative for those who embrace him with faith. To use the language of the ad campaign, "He gets us." The author of the letter to the Hebrews explained it this way:
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery... Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:14-15 and 17-18)
And again he urged us in this way:
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:14-15)
So clearly, Jesus does "get us." He understands the struggles we face because he faced them himself, yet without sin. That is part of what makes him so perfectly fit to represent us before God, and therefore worthy of your wholehearted trust and confidence.
But Jesus didn't come only to empathize with us. He himself said that he came to save us. When explaining the change that had occurred in the heart and life of a man who was a chief tax collector (a traitor to Rome in the eyes of the Jews in Jesus' day) Jesus said:
"Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." (Luke 19:9-10)
To "save the lost" was Jesus' purpose in coming into this world, and when he saves one who was lost he changes them. When Zacchaeus was "saved" by Jesus his heart was changed, demonstrated by his sudden generosity and his eagerness to make things right with everyone he had defrauded. Jesus and the apostles explained that change always follows true salvation. Paul explained it this way:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Writing elsewhere to these same people who had been "saved" by Jesus, and thus had become "new creations," Paul reminded them that they were no longer known by their former lifestyles but as the new that had come to pass.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Such "were" some of you, Paul declared. That's what was true in the past, but they had been cleansed and made holy by the Spirit of God, through faith in Jesus, having been justified (forgiven and made right with God) by his sacrifice. Therefore they were now new people, made righteous by Christ.
So Jesus not only "gets us," he also saves us and changes us so that we become his new people.
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Finding Faith is written by area pastors. This week's column comes from Pastor Doug Packard of First Baptist Church, Lock Haven.