What does it mean to be great?
That’s the question behind the latest Super Bowl commercial from “He Gets Us,” an organization focused on sparking conversations about Jesus Christ.
The 60-second ad will air during the first half of Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, and it will push viewers toward online resources about greatness and faith.
Super Bowl ad about Jesus
The newest “He Gets Us” commercial has much in common with the ones from the past two years.
It’s comprised of a series of images of people serving their neighbors, and it ends with white and yellow words printed on a plain black background.
The 2025 Super Bowl commercial celebrates firefighters, organ donors, police officers and athletes, as well as ordinary people, who give up part of their day to help people in need.
Images of their acts of service flash on the screen as the song “Personal Jesus” from Johnny Cash plays.
Then the images are replaced with the phrase, “Jesus showed us what greatness really is.”
A press release from “He Gets Us” explains that one of the goals of the commercial is to push viewers to think about how their own ideas about greatness compare to Jesus' teachings about greatness.
“In a society struggling with division, loneliness, and a crisis of meaning, Jesus’ life and teachings offer a countercultural path toward healing,” said Ken Calwell, CEO at Come Near, the startup that acquired the “He Gets Us” organization about a year ago.
He continued, “We’ve been challenged and inspired by how Jesus said greatness is defined not by our achievements, wealth, or power, but by how we love and serve others.”
The press release noted that the team behind the new Super Bowl commercial drew inspiration from Matthew 23:11 and Luke 22:27.
- Matthew 23:11 reads, “But he that is the greatest among you shall be your servant.”
- Luke 22:27 reads, “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.”
What is ‘He Gets Us’?
The “What is Greatness?” commercial is the fifth Super Bowl ad in three years from “He Gets Us.”
The organization funded two Super Bowl commercials in 2023 — one on loving your enemies and one on being childlike — and two in 2024 about what it looks like to love your neighbor.
Although all four commercials highlighted well-known religious values, they faced pushback, in part because of how expensive they were to produce and air.
“Super Bowl ads cost $6-7 million for 30 second spots. The ‘he gets us’ (initiative) had TWO spots. Imagine what $14 million dollars could have done to feed people or provide medical care, instead of spending it on a fleeting 60 seconds,” wrote one X user after last year’s Super Bowl, as the Deseret News previously reported.
The minds behind “He Gets Us” have repeatedly defended their ad strategy, arguing that the Bible makes it clear that Christians are meant to use multiple avenues to connect people to Jesus.
‘He Gets Us’ at the Super Bowl
In addition to airing a Super Bowl commercial, “He Gets Us” hosted a Super Bowl-adjacent event in New Orleans.
The organization partnered with singer Jon Batiste, who is singing the National Anthem on Sunday, to host a community event in New Orleans on Saturday that was focused on music.