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Jesus was wrongly judged

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Jesús era un inmigrante

Jesus was a refugee

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In Jesus’ time, communities were deeply divided by bitter differences in religious beliefs, political positions, income inequality, legal status, and ethnic differences. Sound familiar?
Jesus lived in the middle of a culture war, too. And though the political systems were different (not exactly a representative democracy), the greed, hypocrisy, and oppression different groups used to get their way were very similar.
Let’s set the scene.
Jesus was born at the height of the Roman Empire’s power. They’d conquered most of the known world, and Israel was no exception. Unlike previous empires that would try to destroy cultures by displacing conquered peoples’ leaders, the Romans didn’t force people to change their religion or customs as long as they kept their obligations to the empire. Rome would install a client king (a puppet government) and exact tribute (cash) in lots of different ways. Families were charged taxes per person—farmers on crops, fishermen on catches, and travelers were charged fees to use the roads. This was in addition to local business and religious taxes charged by priests.
In Israel, political and religious factions were one and the same. Back then, it was Pharisees and Sadducees. Today, we have conservatives and liberals.
The Pharisees were the most religiously conservative leaders. They had the most influence among the common working poor, who were the majority. They believed that a king would come one day to conquer Rome with violence and free their nation. Some preyed upon a mostly illiterate population by adding extra rules and requirements that were designed to force the working poor into a posture of subjugation.
The Sadducees were wealthy aristocrats who had a vested financial interest in Roman rule. They were in charge of the temple, and they didn’t believe any savior king was coming. They made themselves wealthy by exacting unfair taxes and fees from the labor of their own people and by contriving money-making schemes that forced the poor to pay exorbitant prices to participate in temple sacrifice—a critical part of their religion.
There were Zealot groups who hid in the hills and violently resisted Roman occupation, and then there were the Samaritans, often oppressed and marginalized because of their racial and ethnic identities.
And so, the common farmer, fisherman, or craftsman’s family lived through a highly volatile political period. Overbearing religious leaders who despised and oppressed them, wealthy elites who ripped them off, racial and ethnic tension with neighbors, and sporadic violent outbreaks between an oppressive occupying army.
So where was Jesus in all of this? Did he align with the religious elites? With the wealthy and powerful? Or did he start an uprising to overthrow them?
None of the above.
He went from town to town, offering hope, new life, and modeling a different way to live and to change the world. Instead of pursuing power, money, or religious authority, he shared a loving and sacrificially generous way of living. He chose not to go along with the schemes others used to impact the world. Instead, he championed a better way.
And so, each of these political groups saw him as a threat. The Pharisees recognized his movement as an affront to their authority—exposing the hypocrisy of their practices. The Sadducees saw Jesus as a threat to their power and wealth because he exposed their money-making schemes. The Zealots violently rejected one of the essential themes of Jesus’ movement: love your enemy.
In the end, it took all three of these groups to have him killed. A Zealot (Judas) betrayed his location to those seeking to arrest him, the Sadducees brought him before the Romans to be executed, and when the Romans couldn’t find a crime committed, the Pharisees rallied the people to force Rome’s hand.
Isn’t it funny how political foes can come together to destroy a common enemy that threatens their designs? But in spite of their best efforts, his execution was only the beginning of a movement that continues to impact the world thousands of years later. Jesus’ movement was so impactful because he actively resisted and rejected participating in culture-war politics.
<h2>Scripture Reference: Matthew 9:35-38; Luke 19:10</h2>

Jesus was fed up with politics, too.

There’s this scripture that kind of trips us up. Whether you’re a Bible reader or not, you’re probably familiar with it. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” Matthew 7:1. Jesus says this toward the end of one of his most famous sermons. He was calling out the hypocrisy of pointing out the faults in others when we have our own faults we should be working on.
But is it realistic to never judge anyone? Truthfully, we must make judgments about people almost every day. When applying for a job, do I want to work for this person? When meeting someone I’m attracted to, should I ask them out on a date? When I need to confide in someone, who do I trust as a friend? Just spend a couple of minutes online, and we realize our entire world is now based on reviews. From doctors to hotels, restaurants to dog walkers, many businesses live or die by the number of stars by their name.
Honest evaluation, however, is different from the judgment Jesus was speaking of. Honest evaluation of others is necessary for a safe and functioning society. The judging Jesus refers to comes from a different place. It comes from our ego. We’re often seeking to elevate ourselves by belittling someone else. Or we try to justify our own bad behavior by labeling somebody else’s behavior as worse. Sometimes, biases and grudges affect how we view and treat others.
With that in mind, Jesus asked us to stop pinpointing the shortcomings of others and to look inwardly and deeply examine our own hearts and motives. It’s not comfortable. But here’s why it’s so important. Jesus knew that if we focused on our own faults and weaknesses, we could become more empathetic toward others. We’d recognize that, like us, every person has challenges and struggles that we can relate to. And that’s how Jesus’ radical love is demonstrated today. By recognizing our own flaws, we can all become a little more merciful, a little more patient, and a little more loving toward one another.
Scripture Reference: Matthew 7:1; Luke 6:37; John 7:24

Can I judge without being judgmental?

No.
He Gets Us simply invites all to consider the story of a man who created a radical love movement that continues to impact the world thousands of years later. There are many churches and Christian groups that can help people who are spiritually open to understand more about who Jesus was and why his words and life are relevant today.
Whether you consider yourself a Christian, a believer in another faith, a spiritual explorer, or not religious or spiritual in any way, we invite you to hear about Jesus and be inspired by his example.
For some people, that inspiration might evoke curiosity about what Jesus taught. Some might even want to <a href="https://hegetsus.com/en/connect">have a conversation</a> with someone about spirituality or<a href="https://hegetsus.com/en/connect"> join a local class</a> about the Christian faith at a local church. And so, we offer those options, but that’s not our mission.
Some people will want to <a href="https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/28926-jesus-he-gets-us?_branch_match_id=1073350575304477221&amp;utm_campaign=JesusHeGetsUs1&amp;utm_medium=HeGetsUs&amp;_branch_referrer=H4sIAAAAAAAAA8soKSkottLXTywo0EvKTMpJ1UvOz9X3SHVPLSkOLTYEAOXfpTYfAAAA">read accounts of Jesus’s life from the Bible</a> at their own pace and on their own terms. We have reading plans that make that possible too. But there are never any strings attached.
We hope to be the voice of a movement — of people who have considered his story and found it deeply and personally transformational. For some, it has been a religious experience, and for others, it’s simply a call to strive to love others better.
No matter what your response is to his story, we encourage you to explore it from a new perspective.

Is this a campaign to get me to go to church?

We were looking at the life of Jesus to see who he really was, and we noticed something peculiar: he spent a lot of time around the dinner table. Many of his most frequently quoted messages and standout stories happened while sharing a meal with others. As we looked closer, we noticed that his company around the table was a remarkably diverse cast. He shared meals with outcasts. He spent time with the self-righteous religious elite. He cared for people who had broken every rule and were seen as unclean. He dined at the tables of the wealthy men whose riches were won with lies and corruption. Some of those men gave up comfortable lifestyles to follow him. He crossed racial boundaries to the shock of many around him. He invited everyone to the table. When asked why he did so, he replied, “… I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.&#8221;
It was radical at the time. No one was that inclusive. The religious do-gooders began to whisper behind his back. They called him a friend of sinners. It was supposed to be an insult, but Jesus wore it proudly. He was a friend to everyone. And what do friends do? They eat dinner together and share in each other’s lives.
Strangers eating together and becoming friends. What a simple concept, and yet, we’re pretty sure it would turn our own modern world upside down the same way Jesus turned his around 2,000 years ago. That’s really why we made this video in the first place. We see division and broken relationships everywhere. We see judgment and hypocrisy on the rise. We see people who claim to be followers of Jesus taking his open invite and turning it into an exclusive club.
The name of Jesus has been used to harm and divide, but if you look at how he lived, you see how backward that really is. Jesus was not exclusive. He was radically inclusive. What would our world look like if that were the norm? If strangers became friends over the dinner table as they did around Jesus?
<h2>Scripture References: Mark 2:13-17, Luke 19:1-10, Matthew 9:36-38, Luke 5:31-32 
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Jesus invited everyone to sit at his table

We live in an era of social trends and influencers who mold the culture around us. Considerations about the impact of influencer voices greased the cogs in our minds and shifted our attention to one of the most famous influencers to ever live.
Jesus had a following, to say the least. People came to him from every quarter to hear about his extreme views on love. This is no different from the thousands of subscribers or followers that influencers boast on today’s social platforms, and just like those influencers, his message was not without its detractors. They wanted him canceled.
Studies indicate that 64% of respondents believe that cancel culture is a direct threat to their freedom. For Jesus, cancel culture did not put his freedom at risk. It put his life at risk. However, such threats did not deter him from delivering his radical truth. This willingness to take a stand is a conviction that we wanted to permeate into the visuals for this topic. We selected imagery that reflected the strain of standing up for your beliefs even when the masses aim to vanquish your voice. A feeling that Jesus knew all too well.
<h2>Scripture References: Matthew 23:1-34, Luke 11:37-52</h2>

Did Jesus face criticism? 

We were musing about how Jesus and his disciples were viewed in his day. If the authorities or religious leaders saw them walking down the street or hanging out on the corner, what would they have thought of them? It suddenly hit us. They would’ve been seen as troublemakers. And Jesus was their ringleader. Matthew, one of his followers, was a Jew who formerly collected taxes for the Romans. In essence, he was seen as a lowlife traitor. Some disciples violently opposed Herod, the King. Others were seen as uneducated dropouts. They were labeled and called many harsh things. But more importantly, they were seen as a threat to the establishment, which meant the people in power and the upper classes didn’t want them in their neighborhoods or synagogues.
It’s no different today. If we see youths of a different race or culture dressed a certain way or wearing their hair differently, we often make immediate judgments about them. Usually negative ones. It might make us uncomfortable or even unfriendly toward them. It’s an unconscious bias we all have towards people who are different from us. We don’t know the individual, yet we’ve already labeled them.
Jesus didn’t judge others by their looks. He looked at their hearts. That meant reaching out to people who were outside his circle or society’s mainstream to get to know them individually. He was criticized, even mocked, for doing so, but he didn’t care because he loved all, even if it meant he would be wrongly judged for the friends he made and the company he kept.
One of the interesting things that happened while we were producing this was the casting. We wanted to use people that we thought would immediately elicit judgment from others. You’ll see that nobody is doing anything wrong or illegal. Maybe they’re running down an alley, skateboarding, hanging out on a corner, or hopping a fence, but viewers have been conditioned by society to make assumptions that they’re up to no good. Probably doing something illegal or criminal.
It was very intentional to point out the unconscious bias we all have and that we need to overcome if we’re going to build trust, love, and peace with each other.
<h2>Scripture References: Matthew 11:19, Luke 5:29-32, Luke 6:6-11</h2>

How would Jesus be judged today?

Jesus gets our lives, because he was human too.