{"id":4407,"date":"2025-02-12T08:43:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T13:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4407"},"modified":"2025-02-12T08:43:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T13:43:01","slug":"true-greatness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/12\/true-greatness\/","title":{"rendered":"True Greatness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

Greatness was on display at last Sunday\u2019s Super Bowl.

The greatest number of viewers ever to watch a TV show on a single network tuned in hoping to see great football, great commercials, and a great halftime show.

The Super Bowl, which is fixated like no other cultural event on the perception of greatness, delivered a great victory for the Philadelphia Eagles (powered by their great defense) to over 120 million viewers, a number of whom no doubt contributed to the $1.39 billion total that was legally wagered on the game, the greatest sum ever.

As usual, it was a great big, over-the-top, self-congratulatory mash-up of money, fame, spectacle, and corporate branding. No wonder it\u2019s called Super.

Then, right in the middle of the first half, every TV screen went black. A question appeared: What is Greatness?<\/em>

What followed was a 60-second montage of still photos. People comforting other people. Courageous first responders bringing help. Blacks, Whites, Latinos, Asians, rich and poor sharing embraces and simple acts of kindness. People rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep. Through it all, Johnny Cash croons Depeche Mode\u2019s hit, \u201cPersonal Jesus.\u201d

The screen once again turned black, then offered up these words: \u201cJesus shows us what greatness really is. Jesus Gets Us. All of Us.\u201d

In case you missed it, here\u2019s the ad: What is Greatness?<\/a>

Sunday marked the third consecutive year that the \u201cHe Gets Us\u201d campaign purchased prime advertising real estate during the world\u2019s most-watched TV program. It wasn\u2019t cheap. The privilege of airing that 60-second ad reportedly cost around $15 million.

So, who are the people behind these ads?

The creative team operates under the umbrella of a non-profit organization called Come Near. According to its website, the \u201cHe Gets Us\u201d campaign is non-denominational \u2013 that is, not affiliated with any particular church or creed. \u201cOur point is that the story of Jesus doesn\u2019t belong to anyone,\u201d the site declares.

So, who writes the checks?

David Green, the founder of the retail giant Hobby Lobby, has identified himself as one of the original investors. He acknowledges his eagerness to help reshape public perception of Jesus and his followers.

\u201cWhat we\u2019re known as, as Christians, we\u2019re known as haters,\u201d he\u00a0said in an interview last year. \u201cWe\u2019re beginning to be known as haters \u2014 we hate this group, we hate that group. But we\u2019re not. We are people that have the very, very best love story ever written, and we need to tell that love story. So, our idea is, let\u2019s tell the story. As a Christian, you should love everybody. Jesus loved everybody.\u201d

Green is not wrong to suggest that Christians are currently associated, in the minds of a number of observers, more with what they oppose than what they support.

Church attenders are widely excoriated as anti-gay. And anti-science. And anti-reason. And anti-joy. And anti-non-Christians. And anti-freedom to think and feel and decide whatever people might choose to think and feel and decide is the meaning of life.

\u201cHe Gets Us\u201d is an effort to confront those perceptions. Over the past two years, the ads have generated nearly 11 billion video views and drawn 49 million visitors to its website \u2013 numbers that the Draw Near team believes have been well worth the annual Super Bowl investment.

In the end, however, the ads have primarily attempted to do just one thing \u2013 to direct viewers\u2019 attention away from the all-too-real foolishness and faithlessness of Jesus\u2019 followers to Jesus himself.

Which brings us back to the question that was posed last Sunday: What is greatness?<\/em>

Jesus\u2019 answer is transparently clear. It\u2019s servanthood. He says concerning himself, \u201cFor even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many\u201d (Mark 10:45).

Leonard Bernstein, famed conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, was once asked what he thought was the most difficult instrument to play. He replied without hesitation, “The second fiddle.\u00a0I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm \u2013 that’s a problem.”

Bernstein added, “And if we have no second fiddle, we have no harmony.”

Our culture exalts the spotlight.\u00a0Greatness comes down to great performance, great press clippings, great reputation. But a great deal of what is accomplished in boardrooms and family rooms happens only because of those who are willing to humbly serve in the shadows.\u00a0

What is the pathway to true greatness?

Be kind. Choose to be gracious to everyone who crosses your path. Do the jobs that no one else wants to do, without complaining or hey-look-at-me.\u00a0

Make the needs of others a lifelong priority \u2013 for the simple reason that that\u2019s what Jesus did.

Can such a thing ever happen?

It can if we are willing to abandon ourselves to the Servant-Savior who is One of Us and truly Gets Us.

All of Us.<\/em>
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here Greatness was on display at last Sunday\u2019s Super Bowl. The greatest number of viewers ever to watch a TV show on a single network tuned in hoping to see great football, great commercials, and a great halftime show. The Super Bowl, which is fixated like no other cultural event on the… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4408,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[865,350],"class_list":["post-4407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-greatness","tag-servanthood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4407"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4409,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4407\/revisions\/4409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}