What Is Greatness?

I didn't watch the Super Bowl. Let me start by saying that. But apparently some interesting things happened!

Taylor Swift got booed, while Trump got a hero's cheer.

Kendrick Lamar performed and took some direct shots at Drake. If that's not enough, one of the 400 performers unfurled a Palestinian-Sudan flag and got banned from NFL games for life.

Jon Batiste gave a soulful, New Orleans-style rendition of the National Anthem, and the camera panned to show American servicemembers and President Trump.

And the Eagles blew out the Chiefs.

It feels like our nation had a colosseum moment. Ironically, in Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. A city that faced a tragic massacre earlier in January.

The Super Bowl displayed a snapshot of America for her people and the world. Culture, media, sports, faith, economy, politics, military, and entertainment all in a few hours.

Greatness. The greatness of America.

Akin to the colosseum and the games, the greatness of ancient Rome.

And then....there was the multi-million dollar He Gets Us ad. Which asked the question: What Is Greatness?

It showed a montage of heart-warming images of people helping people. It implied that, ultimately, servanthood was the path to becoming truly great, and that's what Jesus was about.

I would say yes, but it misses the mark.

Jesus did call His disciples to serve and love one another. But more than that, He called them to repent of their sins and be reconciled to God through Him. That is the gospel message, and that is what was missing.

Even non-Christians noticed that.

If loving and serving others was the only path to greatness, then anyone of virtually any faith or religion could do that. That's just being a good and moral person.

Here's my take: Instead of thinking about where God gets us, maybe we should be more concerned about where we get Him.

I wrote an article about that here.

The Super Bowl shows where America stands mainstream on all the abovementioned matters, even if not explicitly stated. And many of those are good things as far as a nation is concerned.

Greatness in a nation should come about through military strength, economic strength, morality, cultural excellence, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and scientific achievements. I could go on and on. America isn't the only nation with this, but we spearheaded many of these values.

These are some of the things that make America great. And these are things that everyone, regardless of where you are politically, should want. It's the key to thriving in a society.

I perused through the He Gets Us website and was happy to see that they included links to the Bible Project videos that explain the bible better than they seemed to care to.

But if they really want to reach out to people with the gospel and show Jesus's greatness, why couldn't they be bolder?

Most companies put their biggest budgets for higher-than-usual quality commercials for the Superbowl. They know this is their moment. Millions of potential customers are watching.

Do you see where I'm going here?

The Super Bowl and the ads that run during it remind us where America stands on culture, faith, and power. In the middle of it, this ad asked: What is greatness?

It was a good question, but did it truly stand out? Or was it just another feel-good message that any charity could have aired?

If He Gets Us wanted to showcase Jesus’s greatness, they should have gone beyond vague moralism and proclaimed the whole truth—that greatness isn’t just about serving others but about being reconciled to the One who is truly great.

What did you think about the He Gets Us ad? And what did you take away from the Super Bowl?

Feel free to reply to this email or let me know in the comments!

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