“He gets us!” The arresting words and images of the well-known commercials got me to thinking. What does that even mean? This is my take.
He gets our triumphs and our tragedies. He gets our workaholism and our need for down time. He gets the pressures of our daily lives, our anger, our fears. Our hopes and dreams. Our despair. Our joys.
He gets how different we are, how much alike. The myriad personalities, the differing opinions, the racing thoughts, the empty minds. The fitness enthusiasts and the couch potatoes. The mountain climbers, skiers, sky divers, and those who stay home by the fire.
He gets our goodness and our callous indifference, our generosity, and our selfishness. He gets the conservatives and the liberals. The hate groups and the helping groups. The activist and the conformist. The soldier and the pacifist.
Jesus gets our little planet, teeming with life. Not to mention the awe-inspiring, breathtaking, indescribable universe. It was all in his mind from the creation of our world, whether through seven days of miracles or eons of time.
He gets our love of rivers and oceans, mountain vistas, and open prairies. Blue skies, sunshine, billowing clouds. The jungles, the wildflowers, the manicured gardens, forests, savannahs. The birds, the insects, all creatures great and small.
He gets our bodies, our complex brains, our idiosyncrasies. Our spirits that seek for something beyond ourselves. Yes, he gets us. He knows us. All peoples. All cultures. From the beginning until the end of time.
Jesus gets those who rejected and crucified him and those who worship him.
He gets all the forms his church has taken over the centuries. From the original apostles proclaiming the Good News throughout the Roman Empire, to the all-encompassing Catholic Church of the Middle Ages, to the Reformation and the tens of thousands of Protestant denominations today.
He gets the nones, the agnostics, and the atheists. The worshipers of literal idols, and those who worship fame, money, and power. He gets the Muslims, the Buddhists, the pagans.
Is this world—are we—all that Jesus desires? I think not.
But he does understand us, all of us. He weeps for and with us, woos us, embraces us, loves us. Jesus gets us!
Do we get him?