They look in the mirror of their souls and see Jesus. That’s the best explanation of the “Jesus Gets Us” campaign. This biographical process isn’t a new phenomenon as even a cursory study of “life of Jesus” literature makes clear.
The most famous review of previous “lives of Jesus” was written by the scholarly humanitarian Albert Schweitzer: Von Reimarus zu Wrede: eine Geschichte der Leben-Jesu-Forschung, a title often translated as The Quest of the Historical Jesus. Here’s Schweitzer’s prefatory summary: “Thus each successive epoch of theology found its own thoughts in Jesus” — a rational Messiah, a romantic Jesus, a social gospel reformer, et cetera. Ironically, Schweitzer’s own portrait pointed to an inscrutable but spiritually powerful figure focused on the end of times about whom nothing much could be confidently known.
To be fair, most scholarly portraits resulted from attempts to utilize what was considered reliable biblical evidence. As far as I can tell, the “Jesus Gets Us” folk compose their caricature based on a single act performed by Jesus on his disciples and a 60s Beatles’ song, “All You Need Is Love.” Missing is any serious consideration of the plethora of data points that provide a more realistic portrait of the first-century Jew hailed as “the Christ” (i.e. the Messiah) by his followers. Since “Jesus Gets Us” ads evidence no concern for “historical critical” issues and takes the biblical narrative at face value, I shall do the same and see how that narrative comports with their foot-washing Jesus.
As noted earlier, there is only one gospel account of Jesus washing feet (John 13:1-15), and that was performed on his apostles at the Last Supper. It’s unclear how “Jesus gets us” folk would incorporate the perfumed anointing of Jesus’ own feet by a woman described as “a sinner” (Luke 7:48ff.) into their ads or, more to the point, the judgmental command to “sin no more” given to another woman caught in adultery whose stoning was nixed by Jesus’ suggestion that the first stone be cast by someone without sin (John 8:11).
Furthermore, I can’t imagine the “Jesus Gets Us” Messiah issuing this dictum: “I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (Matthew 6:32). It’s hard to see that same Jesus washing the feet of a woman emerging from an abortion mill like Planned Parenthood. Then there’s the warning to, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves,” an admonition that could arguably be applied to obsessive foot-washers. Indeed, it’s hard to envision those folks taking seriously half or more of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), especially this rather harsh command: “Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6). Finally, the Jesus who overturns the tables of money-changers in the Temple (Mark 11:15-17) is clearly filled with more righteous indignation than the “no questions asked” foot-washer who effectively inverts the biblical Master’s command to “be wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16).
Moral Illiteracy: “Who’s to Say?” is also available on Kindle
Image: Valentin de Boulogne
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