The Heresy of HeGetsUS

There is a group called HeGetsUs that ran an ad during the Super Bowl that has many in an uproar. The ad was a series of AI-generated images shown while the song “Never Tear Us Apart” from the band INXS plays. The images are all showing someone washing the feet of another person who is ostensibly their opponent or enemy.

The group HeGetsUS is run and funded by a few very wealthy Protestants including the founder of Hobby Lobby, David Green. They claim to be faithful Christians (aside from the heresies of Protestantism) but this ad is blatantly blasphemous and contemptuous of God and the Christian faith. Rather than promoting actual Christian charity towards our neighbor and towards our enemies, it instead promotes the communist trope of oppressor vs oppressed that dominates the political left. The images are entirely political rather than religious. Let’s examine the images to see just how utterly removed from the Christian faith these truly are.

1. Dinnertime Foot Washing

This image starts off the ad showing a young man washing the feet of an older man. The young man also has his shoes off so it can be presumed the old man will wash his feet as well. This image is intended to not be offensive and ease a person into letting their guard down over the ad.

2. Cop Washing the Feet of a Black Man

This image is of a white or Hispanic cop washing the feet of a black man in a dirty alley. It’s genuinely a weird image unless you understand the background of the United States over the last few years. Unlike the first image, in this image the person is not sitting while being washed but instead standing over the cop while he is washing. It is a position of dominance. There’s no reason shown for why these two are even in such a filthy alley, or why the cop had his lights flashing on his patrol car. The cop also has his shoes off, but that’s weird since his feet will get filthy from the alley which undermines the intent of washing them.

This is where the communist playbook of oppressor vs oppressed narrative begins. In this image and the ones following, it is NEVER the “oppressed” person who is doing the washing but only the “oppressor”. This image in reality is trying to play off the George Floyd race riots of 2020 and are implicitly saying that cops should kneel down before black people because they are “oppressed” by cops. It’s commie nonsense because each person is automatically good or evil based on what group they belong to rather than their actual actions. It’s completely removed from the Christian ethos of charity and people being judged based on their words and deeds.

3. Popular Pretty Girl Washing the Uncool Girl’s Feet

This image shows a high school scene where the preppy pretty girl is washing the feet of the uncool and ugly girl. The ugly girl is a skater who wears ugly boots and even uglier clothes. She’s chopped off her hair and dyed it an ugly shade of red. The pretty girl also has her shoes off, but of course she the “oppressor” is doing the washing rather than the “oppressed” ugly girl.

4. White Man Washing a Native American’s Feet

This image shows two men in front of a campfire. The white man is washing the feet of the native American. It’s weird because his feet are going to get immediately dirty because his boots are several feet behind him and he’s going to have to walk on the dirt to get them. The white man also has his boots off, but of course the image only shows the white man “oppressor” doing the washing rather than the “oppressed” native American.

5. Pro-Life Demonstrator Washing the Feet of Girl Getting Abortion

This image is really where the ad starts laying on the leftism and communism pretty thick. It shows what is presumably a pro-life demonstrator washing the feet of a young girl in front of an abortion mill. There are other pro-life demonstrators in the background who are ignoring the two of them. This image is every leftist talking point boiled into one about abortion. It pretends the pro-life demonstrators are heartless and do not actually care about this young girl. Only this one demonstrator who is washing her feet is caring for her.

The truth is not even close to this. The pro-lifers are the ones who care about this young girl. The image accidently proves one point they didn’t intend. The girl is very young and clearly a minor. It shows that the abortion mill only wants her money to kill her baby and is happy to ruin the lives of minor girls to get that money. Yet again we see the “oppressor” washing the feet of the “oppressed” even though both have their shoes off. You won’t see the “oppressed” washing the feet of the “oppressor”.

6. Young Woman Washing the Feet of Her Mother/Older Friend

This image is another of the non-offensive images to quiet down any objections that might be raised after the pro-abortion image just before it. This image shows a younger woman washing the feet of a disheveled older woman in the kitchen. It could be taken in multiple ways. It could be a daughter washing the feet of her mother who is exhausted from life. More likely the older woman is an alcoholic since there are several liquor bottles shown around the room. Nothing real offensive in this as it is trying to calm down objections to earlier images.

7. Oil Worker Washing the Feet of the Climate Demonstrator

The ad goes right back to the “oppressor” vs “oppressed” typology where an oil worker is washing the feet of a climate demonstrator. Of course it is a white man who is the oil worker and the climate protestor is an Asian woman. Once again he is washing her feet where they are going to get immediately dirty because she will have to stand up to get her shoes. This is the communism of the climate protestors who want to send all civilization back to the Stone Age by destroying the oil industry. But the white man providing oil so our civilization can survive is the bad guy while the green leftist is the good person.

8. Suburban Mom Washes the Feet of an Illegal Immigrant

This image is prescient because of the completely open border with Mexico that is allowing an invasion into our country. The clean suburban white mom (oppressor) is washing the feet of the dirty and disheveled illegal immigrant (oppressed) who has just arrived into her neighborhood from a bus. The illegal immigrant is holding her young baby and the image accidently admits that the open border plan from the communists is to flood our country with illegals to radically change our civilization. Also note that the illegal immigrant is standing in dominance over the white woman. She can’t even be bothered to look at the suburban mom who is washing her feet.

9. White Woman Washing the Feet of a Muslim Woman

This suburban setting shows a white woman (oppressor) washing the feet of a Muslim woman (oppressed) while their husbands look on. There’s no reason indicated for why this Muslim woman needs her feet washed. Presumably she lives in the neighborhood and can wash her own feet. The message from this image is that white Westerners should accept unfettered immigration of Muslims into their countries and be happy about it. They should absolutely NOT speak up with concerns about how their religion is not compatible with our civilization, culture and religion.

10. Free Speech Protestor Washes the Feet of Pro-Censorship Protestor

This image is comically silly for so many reasons. The first thing that we see is that this does not have the typical oppressor/oppressed narrative upon first glance. This shows a black woman who supports free speech washing the feet of another minority woman who is pro-censorship (pro-fascism). It shows the free speech side yelling at the pro-fascism side who is yelling back. It hysterically shows one of the free speech protestors is wearing a mask, when the biggest proponents of masking were the pro-fascism side. While at first this doesn’t look like a traditional oppressor/oppressed narrative, once you realize the pro-fascism side is the leftist side, you realize that the free speech protestor is the oppressor and the pro-censorship protestor is the oppressed in the view of leftists.

11. Two Old Men With Their Feet in a Tub

This image is just weird. It shows two old men, one white and one black. They are sitting on the porch with their feet in a tub of water together. It’s just weird.

12. Priest Washing the Feet of an LMNOP Man

To drive the final nail in the coffin of this oppressor/oppressed communism, the final image shows a priest washing the feet of an LMNOP roller skater. It intends to show the priest kneeling before the lavender mafia and admitting that the moral laws of God were wrong. It intends to dismantle the entire moral framework of Christianity because the “oppressor” is always wrong.

SO WHAT WAS THE FOOT WASHING?

To understand this teaching better, let’s go directly to the source. This detail about the foot washing is only recorded in the Gospel of John.

John 13:1 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray Him. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from the table, took off His outer robe, and tied a towel around Himself.

5 Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around Him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 Peter said to Him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” 11 For He knew who was to betray Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”

12 After He had washed their feet, had put on His robe, and had returned to the table, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But it is to fulfill the Scripture, ‘The one who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ 19 I tell you this now, before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. 20 Very truly, I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

This event happened one time. Jesus did not wash the feet of people multiple times like the ad tries to claim. He only washed the feet of His Apostles at the Last Supper. He didn’t wash the feet of those who opposed Him or even all of His disciples. It was a select event.

Our Lord in this event is showing humility as the expected standard for those who will be the bishops and leaders in His Church. He didn’t give this command to all His disciples. It also has a theological component to it as well. The Apostles had already been baptized (John 4:1-2) and so they had received the sacrament and were cleansed of their sins. This is why Jesus says they have already bathed and are clean. They need to clean just their feet. At this point in the Last Supper, they have celebrated most of the Passover, but Jesus has not instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist and the New Covenant. This is why He washes their feet because they are about to receive the Eucharist and need to be cleaned thoroughly. This foot washing is the cleansing of any venial sins since their baptisms.

This cleansing of venial sins is performed in the Mass during the Penitential Act at the beginning of Mass. It is also performed just before the Consecration when the priest washes his hands and asks God’s forgiveness just before he consecrates the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of God.

Something to note in this passage is that Judas Iscariot has mortal sin on his soul and is unrepentant. He could ask forgiveness of Our Lord right then and there and could repent of his evil plans. Yet he doesn’t. He accepts the washing of his feet, yet is does not cleanse him of his sins because he is unrepentant. This is also why Satan enters into Judas when he receives the Eucharist. As St. Paul warns in 1 Cor 11, those who partake of the Eucharist while not in a state of grace eat damnation onto themselves. This is just what Judas Iscariot did.

This is also what the people at HeGetsUs have done. They have brought damnation on themselves for this blasphemous ad and need to repent. They desperately need to come to the Catholic Church and turn away from their evils and blasphemies. Do not be deceived by the demonic and communist ads this group makes.