There were a variety of ads that ran during the Super Bowl on Sunday. We reported on the one that featured Greg Gutfeld, advertising his Fox show.

But there was something else being advertised during the game: ads pitching Jesus from the Christian campaign, “He Gets Us.” The campaign is funded in part by Hobby Lobby and other Christian groups and donors. The effort is meant to try to pitch Jesus more to folks who might feel distanced from Christianity. They reportedly spent $20 million on two ads that ran during the game. The ads direct viewers to a website that links them to Bible readings, how to chat with real people about religion, and information about Jesus.

Now to me, the commercials seemed to try hard to pitch to the left. But there was this one saying “be childlike” that I rather liked.

But the ads didn’t seem to make anyone on the left happy, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). She was mad at Elon Musk for sitting with Rupert Murdoch, but these ads made her flip out.

Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 13, 2023

“Something tells me Jesus would *not* spend millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads to make fascism look benign,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. Telling people to love one another is now “fascism” to the left.

Others on the left took the same tack, excoriating the campaign for spending money and all claiming it was connected to “hate” because of some of the donors behind the campaign.

With the money the “He Gets Us” people spent on their right-wing Jesus ads, they could permanently house 1,563 people experiencing homelessness.

— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) February 13, 2023

Now, let’s start with how would two ads talking about Jesus equate to fascism. That’s more than a little crazy. But some on the left like to hate anything Christian. Indeed, some of the folks on the left who responded so virulently to the ads wanted to get the Super Bowl to not run such ads again. That kind of thing is a lot closer to fascism than two ads. But AOC’s comments are rarely based in reality.

The bottom line is the He Gets Us group can spend its money as they see fit, just like any other organization pitching things at the Super Bowl. The left doesn’t get to determine that.

But it’s an argument we see often from folks on the left, which seems more about shutting down opinions they don’t like. Notice they’re not yelling about the other companies that pitched things, only talking about Jesus.

Unlike AOC, I don’t pretend to speak for Jesus. But I would think this passage from Matthew 26:6–13 might apply.

While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you… but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”