Discipleship (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works)

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

It overcame all their previous divisions and founded a new, strong community in Jesus. The fact that even Judas went out to do the work of Christ remains for us an inscrutable dilemma and a terrible warning.

Christ does not want me to preach the gospel here or there, then I should let everything go and obey Christ’s will and word.

In this way the limitation of the commission, which the disciples surely could not understand, became an instrument of grace for the Gentiles, who received the good news of the crucified and risen one.

for laborers deserve their food”

But what is work, if not this struggle with the powers of Satan, this struggle for the hearts

They may receive their daily wages without shame, and without shame they should remain poor for the sake of their ministry.

If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town”

they get down to business.

Time is valuable and short. Many are still waiting for the good news. Even the first word of greeting they speak, as their Lord does, “Peace be with this house!”

But for those who do not want to hear, the grace period is over.

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts!”

Nothing is more unmerciful than pretending to the people that they still have ...

Woe to the city and the house which does not receive the messenger of Jesus!

Vices and sins can be forgiven by the word of Jesus, but those who reject the word of salvation itself cannot be saved. There is no worse sin than unbelief toward the gospel. Then there is nothing left for the messengers to do but leave that place.

so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

It is not their own way or their own enterprise; they are sent. In this the Lord promises that he will remain with his messengers when they will be like sheep among the wolves, defenseless, powerless, fearful, and in great danger. Nothing will happen to them that Jesus does not know.

Who can always distinguish between spiritual wisdom and worldly cleverness?

Because no human heart can fully know itself, and because Jesus never called his disciples to uncertainty, but always to greatest certainty, this warning by Jesus can only call the disciples back to the word. Wherever the word is, that is where the disciples are to be. That is their true wisdom and their true innocence.

approved by the word of Jesus. They should never justify with “spiritual wisdom” a way which does not correspond to the word of Jesus. Only the truth of the word will teach them to recognize what is wise. But it can never be “wise” to break off the smallest piece of the truth, for the sake of some human prospect or hope.

Criminals suffer their punishment in hiddenness. But the disciples’ path of suffering will lead them before princes and kings, “for my sake, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles.” The good news will be propagated by suffering.

sought martyrdom would not have this promise. But the promise is absolutely certain for those who suffer with the word.

Hate toward the word of Jesus’ messengers will remain until the end of time.

Then the temptation to fall away will be very near to the disciples. But the end is also near.

then and only then should the disciples flee from one city to another, in order to

proclaim the word where it will still be heard. Even in this flight, they are not separated from the word, but stand fast with it.

Whatever happens to the master will happen to the disciple; whatever happens to the lord will also happen to the servant. If Jesus is called a devil, then that will happen even more to the servants of his house. So Jesus will be with them and they will be like Christ in everything.

housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it”

“be not afraid!”

it is meant to be preached in public. Today it may still have to live off in a corner here and there. But in the last days this preaching will fill the whole globe

Their power stops with the disciples’ physical death. The disciples are to overcome fear of death with fear of God. Disciples are in danger, not from human

Those who have held on to Jesus in this life will find that Jesus will hold on to them in eternity.

But those who are ashamed of this Lord and his name, those who deny him, will find that Jesus is ashamed of them in eternity and will deny them.

that is the work of Christ on earth! No wonder the world accuses him, who brought the love of God to the people, of hatred toward human beings!

resurrection. “Anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.”

none of these will lose their reward”

gift. It is a law in the realm of God that everyone comes to participate in the gift, when they willingly receive it as a gift from God. Those who take the

prophets in, knowing what they are doing, shall come to participate in their cause, their gift, and their reward.

least, the poorest, who bear no honorable name, to one of these messengers of Jesus Christ; they have served Jesus Christ himself and the reward of Jesus Christ shall be given them.

not to their own way or their own suffering or their own reward, but to the purpose of their work: the salvation of the faith-community.

But this Jesus died and is risen.

Did Jesus not say quite different things to others on other occasions? What about the paralytic to whom he extended forgiveness and healing? And what about Lazarus whom he raised from the dead? Did he love them any less than his disciples? And yet he did not call them to leave their profession and follow him, but left them at home with their families and their jobs. Who am I to recommend myself to do something unusual and extraordinary? Who is to judge whether I or others are not simply acting out of our own authority and religious Enthusiasm? But that would definitely mean something other than discipleship!

Jesus Christ is not dead but alive

If we want to hear his call to discipleship, we need to hear it where Christ himself is present.

Faith to not see and still believe (John 20:29)

one needs no personal revelation. Listen to the preaching and receive the sacrament!

this were true, then we would indeed be in a hopeless situation. But it is far from true. Christ speaks to us exactly as he spoke to them. For the first disciples of Jesus it was also not as if they first recognized him as the Christ, and then received his command. Rather, it was only through his word and his command that they recognized him. They trusted in his word and his command, and thereby recognized him as the Christ. There was no other way for the disciples to know Christ than through his clear word. Conversely, therefore, to recognize Jesus truly as the Christ necessarily included a recognition of his will. To recognize the person of Jesus Christ did not undermine the disciples’ certainty about what to do, but on the contrary created that certainty.

faith from an undivided heart, and love of God and neighbor with all our heart and soul.

by our knowledge of his transfiguration, and by the Holy Spirit that has been sent.

it is the gracious call to enter his kingdom and to submit to his rule. The question whether I ought to compare myself with the disciple or with the paralytic poses a dangerous and false alternative. I need not compare myself with either of them. Instead, all I have to do is to listen and do Christ’s word and will as I receive them in both of these biblical accounts.