Baby Shark - One person's harmless ditty is another person's instrument of torture
Baby Shark - doo doo doo doo doo doo - has become the most watched YouTube video with over 7 billion views.
Baby Shark began as a catchy children’s song. But since then, it has become a cultural juggernaut.
It became the Washington Nationals’ unofficial anthem during the 2019 World Series
It’s a live stage show
It’s been translated into 19 languages including Navajo (how do you translate doo doo doo doo doo doo?)
But this song is not without its controversies:
The song reinforces sexist stereotypes
Officials in West Palm Beach, Florida, use it to chase away homeless people
Oklahoma City prison officers use it to inhumanely discipline inmates
One person’s harmless ditty is another person’s instrument of torture!
But maybe the most amazing thing about the song is this: The song is about sharks! In any normal world, a shark is a fearsome creature. Every swimmer, surfer, diver dreads meeting a shark. Shark attacks are rare, but when they happen, they are a terrifying way to die.
But the song turns the deadly shark into a harmless, nonsense children’s song. We laugh and giggle with delight as we sing and do the actions. The song de-fangs sharks—especially with the gummy and toothless grandma/grandpa sharks.
This is similar to what Jesus does in 1 Corinthians 15. But substitute sharks for death itself.
Death is even more terrifying than sharks. While shark attacks are rare, death is a 100% certainty for all of us. We all fear and dread death, yet can do nothing about it.
But Jesus defeats death by his own death and resurrection, which guarantees for those in Christ a new resurrected life beyond the grave.
In doing so, “death has been swallowed up in victory” and is now replaced with a fun, gleeful song:
Where O Death is your victory?
Where O Death is your sting?
Jesus de-fangs death. Its sting is taken away.
And he does it with his victory on the cross. An instrument of torture has turned death into a harmless ditty.
Safe at last. Doo doo doo doo doo doo.
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