This year’s Super Bowl ads were a spectacle of celebrity cameos and big names, and perhaps there is no bigger name than that of Jesus Christ himself.

Between ads about beer, Netflix and chocolate, spectators were shocked to see Jesus’ name in lights at State Farm Stadium. 

He Gets Us, an initiative of the non-profit organisation Servant Foundation, ran one 60-second and one 30-second spot as part of its mission to “reintroduce” the masses to “the Jesus of the Bible”. 

The first ad featured a slideshow of children embracing and supporting each other in black and white. By the end of the clip, the ad’s confusing message was clarified across the screen: “Jesus didn’t want us to act like adults. He gets us. All of us.”

The second ad, called  ‘Love Your Enemies’, similarly featured a black and white montage of people in conflict with one another. The message this time was that “Jesus loved the people we hate”.

Twitter reacts

The explicitly religious ads have had mixed reception online. Some users left comments of support under a post from He Gets Us. Others derided the Servant Foundation’s links to anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ hate groups.

US Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also weighed in on Twitter. She took aim at the hefty price tag on the ads, which reportedly cost Super Bowl advertisers between USD$ 6 million to USD$ 7 million for 30 seconds.