<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-635 size-full" src="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline-1-2.png" alt="How did the story of a man who taught and practiced unconditional love become associated with hatred and oppression for so many people?" width="1800" height="384" srcset="https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline-1-2.png 1800w, https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline-1-2-300x64.png 300w, https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline-1-2-1200x256.png 1200w, https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline-1-2-768x164.png 768w, https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline-1-2-1536x328.png 1536w, https://content.hegetsus.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Headline-1-2-1400x299.png 1400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px" />
How did the story of a man who taught and practiced unconditional love, peace, and kindness; who spent his life defending the poor and the marginalized; a man who even forgave his killers while they executed him unjustly — whose life inspired a radical movement that is still impacting the world thousands of years later — how did this man’s story become associated with hatred and oppression for so many people? And how might we all rediscover the promise of the love his story represents? Those are the questions at the heart of He Gets Us. 
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We’ve done a lot of homework on our culture. We researched how people feel about each other and what they think about Jesus and Christianity. We’ve connected with thousands of people of various faith traditions and those who claim no religion. We spoke to all kinds of people — different backgrounds, religious beliefs, and, yes, political affiliations. And this is what we’ve learned: From politics to sexuality and religion, so many of us feel like our values, beliefs, and identities are under attack by the ideological “others” around us. Many perceive those who differ with them on issues of justice, dignity, and humanity as not just wrong or misguided but also as evil. As enemies. We often see these “others” as close-minded, selfish, hypocritical — and if we’re honest, many of us respond in kind. 
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The more ideologically defensive we become, the more we are willing to sacrifice things like kindness, patience, and the respect and dignity of others for the sake of victory — the righteous ends justifying the dehumanizing means. And it’s tearing us apart. We experience it in politics, in the workplace, in schools, and even in churches. And at the heart of the conflicts is a fundamental disagreement about what it means to be good. 
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Throughout our shared history, Jesus has represented the ultimate good that humankind is capable of aspiring to. And though some no longer believe in God, most are still compelled by the idea of a person capable of unconditional love for others despite their differences. But many of us simply cannot reconcile the idea of that person with the way our culture experiences religion today. Whether it’s hypocrisy and discrimination in the church, or scandals both real and perceived among religious leaders, or the polarization of our politics, many have relegated Jesus from the world’s greatest love story to just another tactic used to intensify our deep cultural divisions. 
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How did we get here? And what might we learn from the example of Jesus to help move beyond the  animosity we feel for one another? How can we rediscover the life and teachings of Jesus, the world’s most radical love activist? That is our agenda at He Gets Us: to move beyond the mess of our current cultural moment to a place where all of us are invited to rediscover the love story of Jesus. Christians, non-Christians, and everybody in between. All of us.
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He Gets Us is a diverse group of Jesus followers with a wide variety of faith journeys and lived experiences. Our work represents the input from Christians who believe that Jesus is the son of God as well as many others who, though not Christians, share a deep admiration for the man that Jesus was, and we are deeply inspired and curious to explore his story. We look at the biography of Jesus through a modern lens to find new relevance in often overlooked moments and themes from his life. If you’d like to join us, you’re invited. Below you’ll find several resources to explore the story of Jesus for yourself.

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Our hope is that you see how Jesus experienced challenges and emotions just like we have. We want to provide a safe place to ask questions, including the tough ones.

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A new way to explore the story of Jesus’ life and teachings.

It seems we live in a time marked by discontent. Each day some basic part of existence becomes more complicated and difficult, something new pops into frame that layers on anxiety, broken relationships tax us, sickness eats at us, politics discourage us, the financial and emotional costs of living weigh us down. Does any of that resonate with you? If it does, that means one of two things. Either this miraculously found the one person that feels this way, or (and we’re betting on this second option) it resonates because many of us share the experience. In a time of polarization and division, common ground is hard to find. What if we can find unity in our shared discontent?

This is not a new thought—we stole this one from Jesus. We noticed that a very strange mix of people would all flock together around him—tax collectors, sex workers, religious elite, fishermen, zealots, rich, poor, sick, healthy—on paper they had no business sitting together or getting along. But they all joined Jesus at the dinner table. Why? Our working theory is that they all shared one thing in common: they desperately wanted something about their lives to change. They were each sick of something.

And Jesus caught a lot of flack for sitting at a table with this mix of people, especially the part of the mix that others wouldn’t sit with. His response was so simple: “It is not the healthy but the sick who need a doctor.” And if you look at his life, Jesus played the role of doctor without hesitation at all times. He was always hanging out with people who felt sick whether it was with physical ailments or more hidden conditions affecting the heart and mind. And that got us thinking: what are we most sick of today, and what can we learn from Jesus that could maybe move us in the right direction?

To tackle the first part of the question, we sent out surveys and took a road trip across America and sat down with people to ask this question: what are you sick of? The responses made it clear: we are sick of a lot. You can take a look at the numbers here, but listen to these first hand responses:
I’m tired of being tired, I just want to be as active as I was 10 years ago.
I’m sick of chronic pain.
I’m sick of not being able to get a job that’s paying to train you, but companies don’t want to hire you if you have no experience.
I am sick of groceries being so expensive.
I am sick of divisive politics.
The gun violence around my house. I hear at least two shots everyday.
I am sick of everyone complaining. I just want everyone to be excited about life. Even on the bad days.
I’m sick of myself.
I'm sick of lots of things. Probably too many to list.
These are personal answers, but if you’re anything like us, as you read these, you start to see a bit of your own story in them, a piece of your own sickness, a piece of our collective sickness. And we think it’s fair to say we are sick, not only because we share the sentiment, but because this discontent affects our communities and relationships often as much as it affects us personally. So we might feel sick, but we’re sick together.

Where does that leave us? Well for starters, we’re in good company. If you feel sick, you are not alone, it seems that most of us do. And two, if you feel sick, then you are exactly the type of person Jesus sought out and exactly the kind of person he tailored his message for. How he lived and what he taught functions as a great model for how we can help each other respond to the things that are weighing us down.

We’ll end with this. Jesus knew people felt sick and he offered some help. He outlined a whole framework for a healthy kind of living, a way to fight the different sicknesses, in a speech now known as the Sermon on the Mount. We’ve talked about pieces of the framework before—pieces like “love your neighbor”, “love your enemy”, “do not judge” or “turn the other cheek”. But it’s how he ended the Sermon on the Mount that gives context to what this framework really does for us. He ended with a story about a man who builds a house on the sand and a man who builds a house on the rock. In this story, the rains come and streams rise on both houses, though only the house built on the rock survives the storm. A friend of ours, Ian Simkins, said it well, “Jesus is honest about the human condition. He doesn’t paint a flowery picture, suggesting that following him means life will become a walk in the park. The rain, wind, and floods will come. Hard times will come our way. We will encounter great, unexpected difficulties in our lives. The way of Jesus doesn’t lead you out of hardship, but through it.”

What are you sick of, and how could Jesus’ example help us move forward?

We’re all sick of something.

14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:14-17

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Matthew 7:24-27

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The video “The Struggle” drew me in with its imagery and then presented me with the idea that Jesus struggled financially. And he’s just like us. Huh. It stops even someone like me in my tracks thinking about it. No request for money. No expectation for me to change. No expectation to do anything except consider that Jesus struggled just like me. Just like most of us.

It’s not the typical message, and it is anything but ordinary. The idea that Jesus is just like me, as opposed to the message that I need to change to become more like him, is extraordinary to me. It completely transforms my thought process around Jesus. It allows me to separate the idea of Jesus from the idea of religion. I’m immediately skeptical of any religious message. But this message doesn’t come with a request or any action item.

As someone who instantly becomes defensive and skeptical when religion is introduced into any conversation, I think that the whole notion that Jesus is like me, and therefore meets me where I am — has been where I am — without any expectation of reciprocity (or paying) to meet him, is a completely different message than any other I have heard before. It was the first time that I can recall knowingly receiving a religious message where I did not immediately tune it out.

If there is any hope in our world right now, it is that people will act with compassion, mercy, and love — all attributes that are often associated with Jesus, even by those who may not believe.

Did Jesus really struggle as I do?

20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

Matthew 8:20

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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.

Jesus was a refugee.

The Escape to Egypt 13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Matthew 2:13-15b

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The idea for this video came to us in November 2021, when most of us felt lonelier than ever before. We were living through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, trapped in our homes to keep each other safe. Many of us went months without seeing our closest friends and loved ones, and we weren’t sure when the separation would end.

We wondered if Jesus had ever experienced such loneliness. As a man who traveled the world gathering fame and followers, he knew how it felt to be surrounded by loving company. But like us, he knew how it felt to lose that love without warning.

During his lifetime, Jesus watched thousands of his followers walk away. When he was being prosecuted unjustly, his closest friends abandoned him out of fear. As he awaited execution, he stood alone. And in his darkest moment, as he died on the cross, Jesus felt abandoned.

As we begin to emerge from the pandemic, the impact of isolation lingers. We feel it. We see it in our families, co-workers, and friends. But we’ve found comfort in Jesus’ loneliness. It reminds us that even in isolation, we’re not alone.

Was Jesus ever lonely?

60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” 61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit[a] and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.” 66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. 67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” 70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

John 6:60-71

69 Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. 70 But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. 71 Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.” 72 He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!” 73 After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.” 74 Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. 75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Matthew 26:69-75

Is empathy the answer to moving past our shared discontent?

Disarmed | Part 3: The Paradox of Discontent

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