AboutUs

Activist

HardToSay

Hope

Inclusive

Judgment

Justice

Love

Outrage

Reaction

RealLife

Refugee

Relationships

SearchKey

Struggle

TestTag

Women

Jesus was wrongly judged

T-Shirt

Jesús era un inmigrante

Jesus was a refugee

Sticker

He Gets Us

Water Bottle

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-652 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline-1-3.png" alt="" width="1800" height="150" />
The commercial you just saw describes a theme we noticed in Jesus’ teachings. Jesus didn’t want us to act like adults. It’s a simple line that is loaded with misdirection — just like Jesus’ teachings often were. On multiple occasions, Jesus used the term “childlike” to refer to a humble and trusting attitude. In one instance, he told a group of followers, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” — the Christian notion of ultimate eternal life and fulfillment. This was a very countercultural message that challenged the values of those who heard him. In his culture, children were not regarded the same way they are today. They were loved by their family, to be certain, but according to many scholars, about a third of children didn’t survive to age 14. Consequently, society treated children more like property than people. So what did he mean? 
Christians often refer to their faith as childlike, being humble enough to place one’s trust in a power greater than self. And Jesus’ example of humility and trust taught us something about relationships — something we believe has the power to change our culture. 
Jesus always loved and forgave like a child.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-653 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline-2-4.png" alt="" width="1800" height="150" />
Jesus loved people fully and wanted them to accept his love void of the cynicism that creeps into just about every human relationship over time. And in turn, he was never cynical about people. He always loved, always forgave, and, like a child who’d never experienced the disappointments, betrayals, and selfish ambitions present in just about every human relationship, he always believed that other people would be capable of loving each other the same way. He even forgave the people who killed him as they were in the process of killing him. 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-655 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Image-1.png" alt="" width="1800" height="1374" />
That idea got us thinking about the difference between childishness and being childlike. In other parts of Scripture, the Bible seems to call into contrast these two notions — being childlike is good, but being childish is not. In a culture that values children highly, we often think of acting childishly as being thoughtless or even selfish. On the other hand, children’s innocence makes them capable of demonstrating the kind of compassion, love, and forgiveness that many of us cannot experience ourselves anymore. And when you look at the current climate of our cultural conflict through that lens, we see an unflattering observation. 
When it comes to conflict, there are two directions most of us choose from. Some of us just try to avoid conflict at all costs. We keep our opinions to ourselves, and we stay silent when it comes to our convictions. No politics. No religion. Let’s not talk about anything controversial. That’s often considered to be very adult. And some of us act childishly. From angry or snarky social media posts to political differences causing family estrangement to treating those who disagree with us with loud public contempt — participating in cultural conflict has a tendency to bring out the worst in many of us. But if we’re honest, most of us do both of these things in different moments. 
[scroll-animation]
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-657 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Quote-1-5.png" alt="" width="1800" height="1200" />
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-654 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline-3.png" alt="" width="1800" height="150" />
Jesus didn’t choose either of these paths. Jesus chose a third way. He was very vocal about what he believed. He spoke truth to power, defended the poor and the marginalized, and represented his identity to others consistently. But he also did something confounding. He approached everyone with unending grace, unconditional love, and that seemingly irrational capacity for compassion, generosity, and forgiveness.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-694" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Image-2-2.png" alt="" width="1800" height="953" />
His story demonstrates that we are capable of rediscovering that childlike way — to embrace the qualities of innocence, openness, and trust and to let go of our egos and pride. Jesus taught that fulfillment belongs to people who can trust God with childlike faith and also represent their convictions and beliefs without ever losing their confounding love and respect for another person’s dignity. And we are fascinated by this third way. If you’d like to learn more about what Jesus taught, explore the links below to find a few places to start.

Jesus didn’t want us to act like adults.

&nbsp;



<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-672" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline1-1.png" alt="" width="1800" height="225" />
Remember when we were kids and a fight would break out at school?
&nbsp;
Everybody would come running and form a circle of excited spectators. We didn’t care about the cause of the conflict or worry about the people involved. We just wanted to see the drama unfold. And it was almost like drawing the crowd made the escalation of the conflict even more inevitable. It occurred to us that our current climate of cultural conflict can make it feel like we’re all back in grade school again, watching the fight.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-696" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Image1-1-1.png" alt="" width="1800" height="975" /></figure>



Don’t get us wrong. Conflict can be healthy. Expressing outrage at injustices, being a voice for the voiceless, and boldly representing your values and identity are important parts of the human experience. Jesus did all these things. But how often do our conflicts devolve from a dignified defense to a dehumanizing hate for others? And how often do we just consume conflict that really has nothing to do with values and everything to do with our guilty pleasure of hateful content, just like a grade school fight? 





<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-676 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Image2.png" alt="" width="1800" height="1425" /> We stop our scroll to watch a video of people screaming at or getting physical with a customer service agent or a fast-food worker. We tune in to watch two political pundits tear each other apart on cable news. We like and share insulting jokes on social media made at the expense of those who think differently than us. We turn an unfortunate incident in a person&#8217;s life into a meme for people to mock them.  <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-673 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline2-1.png" alt="" width="1800" height="225" />





And we love to pick a side. We identify with the reasonable neighbor dealing with the nosey troublemaker next door. We doomscroll opposing takes on trending topics that we know will only serve to make us angry. It’s like many of us are addicted to the fight. And it seems that the evolution of technology and media has created an arena that fuels the addiction — like those hateful images, videos, and stories — and ideas are louder than anything else we consume. But why?  <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-677" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Quote-1-7.png" alt="" width="1800" height="1200" />



Most media have a simple goal: Create content that will build an audience and sell that audience to advertisers. Newspaper publishers used to say, “If it bleeds, it leads,” because stories about violent crimes and conflicts often found their way to the front page, stoking the reader’s emotions and selling more papers. Now social media makes all of us partners in that emotional manipulation. The loudest and most charged content tends to get the most comments, likes, and shares. And as giant publicly traded media and tech companies feel the pressure to provide more shareholder value, they find ways to keep us consuming. And nothing keeps an audience engaged like turning up the volume on conflict. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-678 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Quote-2-5.png" alt="" width="1800" height="800" /></figure>
Pitting us in ideological battles, amplifying hateful moments and stories in all of humanity all of the time — it is a great way to build an audience and sell ads. It’s also an effective way to make people feel angry, isolated, anxious, and distrustful of others. And, just like a slot machine, our social apps reward the pleasure centers in our brains with likes, shares, and comments when we participate — commenting on that divisive video or sharing that snarky meme. It’s systemic. It’s diabolical. And it works.  <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-679 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Quote-3-5.png" alt="" width="1800" height="1200" /> So what could possibly be louder and more powerful than hate? Love can. But not just any love. Confounding love. Unconditional love. Sacrificial love. The love we see in Jesus. This shocking and even revolutionary figure — who challenged the status quo of his time, who spoke out against the religious and political leaders of his day, who advocated for the marginalized and oppressed, but who always, always, always loved others despite their identity, beliefs, or values. Jesus showed us the path to human flourishing and fulfillment was to love others as oneself, even if it costs you your life. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-674 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline3.png" alt="" width="1800" height="110" /> How would it change the tenor of our conflicts and our conversations? What would the world look like if we all resisted the temptation to defend our self-interest at all costs and loudly proclaimed together that the love for others, the compassion for another’s lived experience, the empathy for their position, and the respect for their dignity were the most important values we all could hold? That’s a hard ask, seemingly impossible. But He Gets Us invites people to explore the story, teachings, and mission of one who lived that way. No matter what you believe about God or Christianity, consider this: What might we learn today from a person like that?

Jesus loved the people we hate.

We were playing around with an artificial intelligence image generator called Midjourney, where you supply the AI with a text prompt, and it generates an image to reflect that prompt. Really quickly, we noticed something interesting: Any prompt involving the word “love” would return a fluffy, pastel, heart-shaped scene. We couldn’t help but notice it felt a little fake. That caused a bit of concern when we looked into how AI image generators work. They’re trained on millions of real images found online, which means if the AI’s depiction of love feels fake, it’s because fake love is what we’ve shown it.



In response to this, we came up with a plan to get the AI to help us define real love — the kind of love that is difficult, vulnerable, honest, selfless, and sometimes sad. And what better way than to use Jesus’ own words in describing what it means to love? So that’s what we did. We used Jesus’ words as the text prompts and waited to see what images would result from them. We were blown away.



Scripture References for image prompts: John 21:15-17; Matthew 25:34-40; Mark 2:13-17; Luke 10:25-37; John 15:13

How does artificial intelligence imagine Jesus’ love?

As we were looking at ways to talk about Jesus’ unexplainable forgiveness, we kept coming back to one moment — when Jesus forgave the people who put him on the cross. It’s a moment that almost becomes more difficult to comprehend the more you think about it. He said, “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” How could he, an innocent man, possibly forgive the people responsible for his death as it was happening? How could he forgive the people who jeered and showed no remorse? It feels impossible, but it’s what he did.
As he hung on the cross, he didn’t lash out — he asked a friend to take care of his mother, he comforted the man being crucified alongside him, and he prayed to God to forgive the people who put him on the cross. He came to preach forgiveness, to give forgiveness, and, in that moment on the cross, to model it.
His earlier teachings — in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere — point us toward forgiving one another, and there’s a reason why. Jesus knew that seeking revenge or getting even doesn’t fulfill, and holding on to hatred and resentment only breeds more of the same. Forgiveness is a two-way street. It is a powerful display of love for the one being forgiven, but that’s not all. It is also a release of resentment for the one doing the forgiving. The choice to forgive — though incredibly difficult at times — is a choice that stops the cycle of hurt and pain, turns the page, and brings with it real peace. It is a choice that is good for us.
Even when rejecting hatred and resentment was hard, Jesus chose forgiveness. He offered that forgiveness freely, and his call is for us to do the same.
Scripture references: Luke 23:34, Luke 23:40-43, John 19:26-27, Matthew 5:38-42

Jesus chose forgiveness.

Most everyone knows the Christmas story. The star. The shepherds. The manger. The wise men. But one chapter in the story of Jesus’ birth is often neglected. Quite possibly because of its horrific nature. After the Magi from the East visited Mary and Joseph, King Herod requested they disclose where young Jesus resided. But being warned in a dream, the wise men departed a different way without telling the king of Jesus’ whereabouts. Enraged and threatened by a new potential ruler, Herod ordered all males 2 years old or younger to be killed.
With Herod’s henchmen bearing down on Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary fled with their young child to Egypt. Imagine the circumstances. Two young parents grab their toddler and whatever they can carry on their backs and flee the country. There was no safety for them in their homeland, so the only option was to seek foreign soil.
We don’t know much about their time in Egypt, but one can only imagine that they probably ran from their home and tried to stay hidden as long as possible. Being young, poor, and Jewish, it’s unlikely Mary or Joseph spoke Egyptian. It’s possible the young family sought shelter and help from other Jewish communities scattered throughout Egypt. They might have even found and stayed in one of the synagogues that we know were in Egypt at the time.
After King Herod’s death, Joseph and Mary returned to Israel. But the impact of being displaced always stuck with Jesus. We can see it in his compassion toward others who were labeled outsiders — the Samaritans, the lepers, the tax collectors, and the sinners.
Scripture Reference: Matthew 2:13-15b

Jesus was a refugee.

After King Herod decreed that all children ages 2 and under be killed, Mary and Joseph fled with baby Jesus to Egypt to escape his persecution. This is the biblical story that inspired our “<a href="https://hegetsus.com/en/jesus-was-a-refugee">Refugee</a>” spot.
Our creative team captured firsthand accounts of refugees seeking a better future for their families. These behind-the-scenes interviews provide valuable insight into their experience and the harsh realities that refugees face every day. The uncertainty. The fear. The will to endure for an opportunity at a better life. The same nearly insurmountable odds that Jesus and his parents faced 2,000 years ago as they were seeking refuge in Egypt, outside of their homeland.

The making of “Refugee.”

He Gets Us is a 
movement to free 
the story of Jesus 
from hypocrites and 
extremists.

Featured Articles

Give Love. Get Gear

Topics