GOOD SHEPHERD LUTHERAN Gaithersburg, Maryland

The Life and Witness of – A 20th century Martyr 4 February, 1906 – 9 April, 1945

Dietrich Bonhoeffer - “The Cost of Discipleship” The Fourth of Seven Sessions The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost -- August 9, 2020 (Series A)

I. Nachfolge – “The Act of Following” Bonhoeffer’s first title for the still modern Christian classic, published in 1937, in the time of the swing of Germany to a Nazi dictatorship, was a single German word: Nachfolge.1 The word, in English, means “Following,” or perhaps the “Act of Following.” It was timely and appropriate for pre-World War II Germany. It is equally appropriate in our time. Dr. William Lazarus, the late Bishop of the New York/New England Synod of the former Lutheran Church in America, was known for his turn of phrases, some with sarcastic humor. A favorite was, “Show me your checkbook and I’ll show you your God.” That is to say, “Whom or what are you following? He said this in gatherings of “faithful Christians!”2 For many decades - maybe many centuries now - not a few parents within the traditional liturgical Churches, have been faithful in bringing their children to the waterd of . This is true in the United States and yet so in Europe as well. But here in the United States, as a Pastor, I have said that far too many parents look upon Baptism as “Single pay fire Insurance.” Neither they nor their children even darken a church door again! If you don’t believe me, Dietrich Bonhoeffer read the Baptism Register of any of our congregations. See how 2/4/06 – 04/09/45 many of those there are for whom we have no current contact or address! Followers? Disciples? Not likely! Yet, if anyone remembers, they will be quick to say, “But I am baptized!”

1. Nachfolge – This German can be translated in a single English word: “Following.” It can also be considered “the act of following.” The book later, during Bonhoeffer’s time and perhaps by his hand has become “ The Cost of Discipleship.” Bonhoeffer’s life and ultimate martyrdom makes the title all the more graphic, on the face of it, but perhaps less precise for understanding his concern for the Church. Obedience to the cal of Christ is a major early theme in the book.

2. Fuhrer – The German word is translated as “leader.” It ran squarely into the Church, for which Christ is the leader, and to the Christian life and the question of “Who is your God?”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer:- “The Cost of Discipleship” Rev.4 Pdf Page 1 Dietrich Bonhoeffer was writing to the same problem and attitude in post-World War I and pre-World War II Germany. The Church was Baptized, but not into discipleship. The Fuhrer became their . They followed Adolph Hitler overwhelmingly. They even voted to purge former Jews, now confessing Christians, from church leadership, and they very nearly voted to remove the Old Testament from the Bible! Many pastors, fearing capital reprisals, went along! Thus, in 1937, while teaching in the , culled from the German Church, Bonhoeffer’s book was published. It is still read widely in our country and around the world. The latest English edition was published in 2018, 81 years after it was first published in Germany.

II. The Call Chapter 2 of “The Call to Discipleship” begins with this quote from Saint Mark 2:14: And as he passed by he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the place of the toll, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he arose and followed him. Bonhoeffer continues: “The CALL goes forth and is at once followed by the response of obedience. The response of a is an act of obedience, not a confession of faith in Jesus. How could the call immediately evoke obedience? The story is a stumbling block for the natural reason, and it is no wonder that frantic attempts have been made to separate the two events. By hook or by crook a bridge must be found between them. Something must have happened in between them, some psychological or “Follow Me” historical event. Thus we get the stupid question: ‘Surely the publican must have known Jesus before, and that previous acquaintance explains his readiness to hear the Master’s call.’ Unfortunately, our text is ruthlessly silent on this point, and in fact it regards the immediate sequence of call and response a matter of crucial importance. It displays not the slightest interest in the psychological reasons for a man’s religious decisions. And why? For the simple reason that the cause behind the immediate following of call by response is Jesus Christ himself. It is Jesus who calls, and because it is Jesus, Levi follows at once. This encounter is a testimony to the absolute, direct, and unaccountable authority of Jesus. . . . . According to our text, there is no other road to faith or discipleship, no other road, — only obedience to the call of Jesus.”3 These words are quoted from the beginning of Chapter 2. They are just the beginning of this chapter. It runs for 20 additional pages. This chapter is titled “The Call to Discipleship.” The following chapter is “Single Minded Obedience.” These two chapters “Set us up” for Jesus’ teaching in the “.”

III. Cheap Grace Dietrich Bonhoeffer is so widely read today, and his writings so closely tied to the struggle of Christian leaders and others within Germany during the rise of the Third Reich during the 1930's that the concept of “Cheap Grace” may be attributed to Dietrich BOnhoeffer. Others suggest the

3. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, Touchstone:New York, 2018. Chapter 2, pp. 57-58,

Dietrich Bonhoeffer:- “The Cost of Discipleship” Rev.4 Pdf Page 2 phrase may well have been first used by The Rev. Dr. Adam Clayton Powell, the senior pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. While attending Union Theological Seminary, Bonhoeffer also attended the Abyssinian Baptist Church every Sunday4 and even taught Sunday School there. The protest culture of the congregation was of great benefit to Bonhoeffer upon his return to Germany. In the Underground Seminary of the Confessing Church in Germany, they sang many of the hymns learned at Abyssinian Baptist Church, especially the spirituals. Bonhoeffer was also moved by that congregation’s outspoken efforts for social justice. Bonhoeffer understood “Cheap Grace” to be “The deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace.”5 “Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks’ Dr. Adam Clayton wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sins, and the consolations of Powell Sr. religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits, Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap? Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian “conception” of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins. The Church which holds the correct doctrine of grace has, it is supposed, ipso facto a part in that grace. In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, and in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God. Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. ‘All for sin could not atone.. . . !’ Let him be comforted and rest assured in his possession of this grace – for grace alone does everything. Instead of following Christ, let the Christian enjoy the consolation of his grace! That is what we mean by cheap grace, the grace which amounts to the justification of sin without the justification of the repentent sinner who departs from sin and from whom sin departs. Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace is the grace we bestow upon ourselves.

4. Bonhoeffer attended every Sunday, something that he did not bring form his German tradition, and was deeply moved by the singing, the Sprituals, and the out-spoken support for racial and social justice of the congregation. He made and maintained many friendships there and carried back to Germany much of their style and witness.

5. Bonhoeffer, op. Cit.. pp. 43-44. Remember, by the publication of this work, Bonhoeffer and Germany are in the struggle of the total Nazification of Germany.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer:- “The Cost of Discipleship” Rev.4 Pdf Page 3 Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”6 IV. Costly Grace It seemed that as Bonhoeffer was defining cheap grace for us, he was demonstrating the opposite as well. Now he moves to costly grace. And again, we quote Bonhoeffer.. “Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of which a man will gladly go and sell al that he has. It is the pearl of great price and to buy that pearl the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him. Costly grace is the which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man his only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: ‘You were bought for a price,’ and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnate God. Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: ‘My yoke is easy and my burden light.’ On two separate occasions Peter received the call ‘Follow me.’ It was the first and last word Jesus spoke to his disciple (Mark 1:17; John 21:22). A whole life lies between these two calls. The first occasion was by the Lake of Gennesareth, where Peter left his nets and his craft and followed Jesus at his word. The second occasion is when the Risen Lord finds him back again at his old trade. Once again it is by the Lake of Gennesareth, and “Peter, Do You Love Me?” again the call is ‘Follow me.’ Between these two calls lay a whole life of discipleship in the following of Christ. Half way between them comes Peter’s confession when he acknowledges Jesus as the Christ of God. Three times Peter hears the same proclamation that Christ is his Lord and his God – at the beginning, at the end, and at Caesarea Philippi. Each time it is the same grace of Christ which calls to him ‘Follow me’ and reveals himself to him in his confessions of the Son of God. Three times on Peter’s way did grace arrest him, the one grace, proclaimed in three different ways.”7 p0

6. Ibid., pp. 43-45.

7. Ibid.,pp. 45-46.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer:- “The Cost of Discipleship” Rev.4 Pdf Page 4 V. The Riddles of Grace The congregations of our day struggle to deal with both the difficulties of understanding grace and of living within God’s grace. It presses upon us much in our culture today, and in our politics, as it did eight plus decades ago in Nazi Germany with secular and religious demands of the Third Reich. Some speak of our time as the post-Christian era, and perhaps that is so. Similarly, we struggle with how to understand God’s grace, how to be responsible in our living within that grace. Some say that “grace is not getting what one deserves or getting what one does not deserve.” Others lean on ’s response when asked the question of how he knows he is saved: He would answer “I’m baptized!” Then there is the old Lutheran affirmation: “Christ alone! Scripture alone! Faith alone!” Yet, nothing is said of discipleship, actually following and being obedient to Christ. Bonhoeffer, longing for the Church to stand up to the Third Reich would likely want more. The opening words of Bonhoeffer’s next chapter are these: ”The CALL goes forth, and is at once followed by the response of obedience. The response of the disciples was an act of obedience, not a confession of faith.”8

The Life and Witness of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a 20th Century Martyr 4 February, 1906 – 9 April, 1945 German Lutheran Pastor, Churchman, Theologian, Teacher, anti-Nazi Dissident, Martyr July 19 – An Introduction to a Martyr – Part One July 26 – An Introduction to a Martyr – Part Two August 2 – An Agent of the Abwehr August 9 – The Cost of Discipleship August 16 – Bonhoeffer and Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” August 23 – The Violent Death of a Pacifist August 30 – The Legacy of Bonhoeffer

If you are Looking for Books By or About Bonhoeffer, Pasdor Dave has supplied the following:

Other Topics in Planning: Saints: Who Are They? How Does One Become a Saint? The Book of Isaiah - A Historical Study, Lifting Significant Passages

8. Ibid., p 57.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer:- “The Cost of Discipleship” Rev.4 Pdf Page 5