Shock & Awe

The term “Shock & Awe” was popularized during the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. Shock & Awe is a military doctrine that was first written in 1996 and became a product of the National Defense University of the United States.

In brief, Shock & Awe is designed to bring devastating and overwhelming military force upon an enemy, creating devastating effects and thus paralyzing the enemy’s perception of the battlefield and will to fight (Wikipedia). In a word, Shock & Awe was designed to create utter surprise in the hearts of the enemy!

In this article I would like to use the term “Shock & Awe” with its surprise effect as a metaphor for a brand of Christianity that just might save an otherwise sinking ship. My goal is to create that same element of surprise similar to what those first Jews experienced when confronted with Jesus’s death and resurrection.

Much of the New Testament, especially the Gospel of Matthew, unapologetically accepts Jesus as the promised Messiah. The term “Christ” is the Greek version of the Hebrew word that is translated as “Messiah” or “anointed one.”

But what is important to remember is that Jesus was not the Messiah everyone expected. The Messiah was not supposed to be killed let alone executed by an occupational Roman government. Secondly and most importantly, the crucified Messiah was not supposed to have been raised from the dead. In other words, the death and resurrection of Jesus surprised everyone who was looking for the Messiah to come. He simply did not fulfill their expectations of what a Messiah was supposed to be and do.

Everything about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was totally unexpected. This Messiah simply did not play by the rules. Says Biblical scholar Peter Enns concerning the Messiah: “No one saw it coming!”

Yet ironically his resurrection created such Shock & Awe among those who witnessed it that the surprise effect energized a movement that spread like wildfire. The Book of Acts records the spread of this new Jewish movement that later came to be identified as Christianity which later came to be known as “Christendom” under the Roman Emperor Constantine.  That’s a story for another time.

Now here’s my premise: Nothing much about American Christianity surprises anyone these days. Christianity, as many of us experience it, is no more compelling or dangerous or risky than it is to attend a weekly Kiwanis or Rotary Club meeting. Much of American Christianity today is so immersed in nationalism and joined so closely to the hip of patriotism (Jingoism) that it has lost its dangerously subversive identity as a countercultural movement bound to a crucified and risen Jewish Messiah.

Even its oldest baptismal confession, “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:10) no longer carries the politically subversive clout it once did. For the most part many Christians today would be surprised to learn that this confession often led to the deaths of those who publically confessed it at their baptism, which is a far cry from the sanitized versions of baptism practiced in our church sanctuaries today.

Much of American Christianity today is so preoccupied with a future afterlife that it fails to see that this crucified and resurrected Rabbi has already ushered in a new reality that exists in real time, right here, right now. Jesus referred to this new reality as the “Kingdom of heaven.” The Bible also refers to this new reality as the “Age to come!”

It would surprise many American Christians today to realize that to be a Christian is to offer full allegiance to the risen Messiah. Jesus the Christ is the ground of our Christian identity. He is the only One to whom we offer our pledge of allegiance. Our baptism is a confessional expression of the Lordship of the risen Messiah over every aspect of our lives.

Folks today should be surprised by this Shock & Awe version of Christianity. Such a version implies a radical repentance towards: love of enemies, seeking reconciliation, turning the other cheek, caring for the widows and orphans, looking after the least of these, becoming peacemakers, seeking justice for the marginalized, responding to violence with love, working for equality, and the list goes on.

This Shock & Awe version of Christianity is a far cry from the comfortable, consumerist, and risk free version of an institutional Churchanity that surprises no one. In fact this version of Churchanity avoids dangerous risks for the sake of placating a comfortable, complacent, and consumer-driven membership.

Shock & Awe Christianity just might be the injection of spiritual energy needed to wake up a Christianity that is struggling to keep its head above water. Shock & Awe Christianity is minimally the radical response to the example and teachings of this Jewish Messiah who asks for nothing less than all we can give.

Does this surprise you?