Bonhoeffer: Single-Minded Obedience (Ch. 3)

What if Jesus came to you and said, "Leave everything you have and follow me"--including home, family, job, all of it?  Would we?  Could we?

When I was 12 God called me to leave behind dreams and potential in order to serve him.  So, I did not pursue a music career, or an engineering degree, or attempt to play sports in college (not that it would have made any difference).  In some ways, it was easier to give up those potentialities than to think of giving up current realities.  And now, I am faced daily with this thought: Did Christ call me then to live how I am now?  Or are there still things in life that require a daily response of "Here I am.  Send me."

Bonhoeffer has encouraged me to again think on these things with his continued dialog on obedience.  In CH. 3 he hits particularly hard on the excuses that we use to avoid true discipleship and obedience.  His launching point is the sorrow of the Rich Young Ruler in Matthew 19 who could not obediently respond to God's call, and thus lost an opportunity of discipleship.    In his discussion he further explains the relationship of faith and obedience.  "The actual call of Jesus and the response of single-minded obedience have an irrevocable significance.  By means of them Jesus calls people into an actual situation where faith is possible.  For that reason his call is an actual call and he wishes it so to be understood, because he knows that it is only thorugh actual obedience that a man can become liberated to believe."

Thus, the call itself empowers both inward belief and outward actions of faith.  This reasoning leads to a firm conclusion:  We cannot believe without God himself acting on us and in us.

And what is Christ's calling?  FOLLOW ME!  This is the mantra of the disciple.  Follow Jesus.  Wherever he leads.  Whatever he says.  Whenever he speaks.  Obey.

So, how are you doing today in your single-minded obedience, which is faith in action?

James 1

  ⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ⁶But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

As a side note, I find myself connecting the book of James to the thoughts of Bonhoeffer.  I wonder what Luther himself would say to Bonhoeffer's Lutheranism, knowing how much Luther liked the book of James.

Bonhoeffer and Jeremiah 45

Jeremiah 45 says this:

1 This is what Jeremiah the prophet told Baruch son of Neriah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, after Baruch had written on a scroll the words Jeremiah was then dictating:² "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: ³ You said, 'Woe to me! The LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.' "

⁴ The LORD said, "Say this to him: 'This is what the LORD says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the land. ⁵ Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the LORD, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.' " (NIV)

Interestingly, Bonhoeffer read the last line as "I will bring evil upon all flesh; but your life will I give unto you for a prey (Beute in Luther's translation, thus NASB's "booty") in all places wherever you go." Bonhoeffer wrote from prison that he could not get away from this chapter. Bonhoeffer felt he was oppressed by Nazi Fascism and the idolatry of the Fuhrer. Yet, as a Christian, he felt that his lot was still with his people. Why? Bonhoeffer writes, "I shall have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people." (R. Neibuhr, Death of a Martyr, 1945).

Fact: Bonhoeffer died in prison before the end of the war, hung without a trial for his faith and resistance to the Nazis. He did not personally participate in the rebuilding of German Christianity.

However, he did have a role in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany because of his on-going testimony, martyrdom story, and teaching influence within the prison walls itself.

He knew his life was forfeit if he stayed in Germany. He knew that God wanted him to stay. "Christians in Germany will face the terrible alternative of either willing defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilization may survive, or willing the victory of their nation and thereby destroying our civilization. I know which of these alternatives I must choose; but I cannot make the choice in security."

Indeed. I cannot make the choice in security. Seems like I make every choice as a matter of security. Am I really willing to live in a way that considers my life as "stolen goods" and only mine because it was spared? Actually, that is what Christ has done for me, right? My life was forfeit until Christ bought it. It is my life only because the one who ransomed it offers it--and that offer requires me to recognize who owns my heart, does it not? Those who are enslaved live for the master, without thought of security. Am I capable of this kind of abandonment? Can I leave security behind?

Bonhoeffer was capable of such thoughts and actions because of his God and his faith. "I am sure of God's hand and guidance. You must never doubt that I am thankful and glad to go the way which I am being led. My past life is abundantly full of God's mercy, and , above all sin, stands the forgiving love of the Crucified."

Ah. To be satisfied with God's love and calling. I am not capable of anything apart from Christ. If he is enough, then I will fulfill my service within his grace, under the shadow of the forgiving love of the Crucified.

NOTE: These quotes and ideas were derived from the reading G. Leibholz's "Memoir" in The Cost of Discipleship by D. Bonhoeffer.