In studying Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book, “The Cost of Discipleship,” I am struck by his insights on how being a disciple of Christ demands more of every individual than what I have previously considered essential to be a Christian. Faith is only possible when the following two ideas are equally true and good: 1. Only he who believes is obedient, and 2. Only he who is obedient believes. Christ is the only one who can tell us when faith is possible in any situation. We, ourselves, cannot make our own salvation; salvation is only possible by following Christ and by acknowledging that God makes all things possible.
Grace comes to us when we accept that suffering and rejection are both parts of the cross of Christ. Christ’s suffering and rejection are divine necessities; without suffering and rejection, Christ’s cross would be the work of the devil. Christ’s passion strengthens Him to overcome our sins and to forgive us. As Christ bore our burdens, so we are to bear the burdens of others.
By calling us to follow Him, Christ makes us individuals, not we ourselves. He calls us separately, and we must follow Him alone. By accepting Christ’s call, a wall is placed between us and our natural world. This break with the world means that we accept Christ as the Son of God, the Mediator. To break with our modern-day world and all of its worldly goods is most of the problem for many who try to be true Christians.
There is no truth towards Christ without truth towards men. Untruthfulness destroys brotherhood among us and makes our desire to seek the truth impossible. In order for us to live in the truth before God and man, we must follow Christ and live in the passion of the cross. To live in the passion of the cross means that we may shed blood or lose most of what we think constitutes who we are. In accepting the cost of true discipleship, we can be truly set free to be the people God wants us to be.
To build a proper community of believers, to overcome and destroy evil from within the Church, evil must be overcome by the power of the right form of retribution. Evil is overcome by allowing it to run its course. When it cannot find resistance, it dies. When there is no opposition to evil and there are no barriers to its power, its energy lessens, and its power over us diminishes. Only patient endurance can destroy those who seek to diminish true believers in Christ. Christ’s victory over death is the victory of divine love over the power of evil; it is the only reason for Christian obedience. When we become one with Christ’s cross, we are truly a part of those who were blessed in “The Beatitudes.” Standing alone, Christ’s cross proves suffering love seeks out and destroys evil.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer followed Christ’s call to the highest degree of courage and sacrifice when he decided to return to Germany from the United States to fight against the evil of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich during WWII. He took the path of non-resistance, and that path led him to being hung shortly before the end of the war. He bore the burdens of a whole nation and the German Lutheran church and ministered to the welfare of fellow concentration camp inmates as they faced their own cruel deaths. The cost was high for his discipleship, but he accepted his cross and followed Christ with his last breath. When asked by one of his tormentors if hanging was worth his sacrifice, he responded, “This is not the end; this is only the beginning.”
Have I accepted Christ’s call to follow Him? Have you? Am I willing to pay the price? Are you? I will continue to knock at Christ’s door to ask for help and to hear His still, small voice in my heart. “Here I am, Lord. Send me!”
The Cost of Discipleship– Dietrich Bonhoeffer- 1937
Anna Hartt
