This week's "thought" is in honor of a man who was martyred for the faith 71 years ago this past Saturday (April 9th, 1945), in the closing weeks of WWII -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It is taken from an online post written by Ryan Stewart, entitled, "11 Bonhoeffer Quotes to Remember a Man Who Resisted Evil Unto Death."
Bonhoeffer is best
known for his books, "The Cost of Discipleship" and
"Life Together." The content of each is made more
powerful by the fact that he lived out the advise he gave. I personally
consider Life Together the best book on Christian community ever
written. There is not a believer alive who could not benefit greatly by reading
those two Bonhoeffer classics.
Other biographical
information is provided by the author, so I will simply end by encouraging to
you consider the things Bonhoeffer wrote below. If your interest is perked, and
you would like to find our more about this extraordinary man, the book, "Bonhoeffer -- Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy" by Eric Metaxas (in the full 542 page version, or the abridged 214 page version) is superb. Enjoy.
Remembering a Pastor Who Resisted Evil Unto Death
"If
there was ever a Christian who practiced what he preached, it was Dietrich
Bonhoeffer. A theologian adored by evangelicals and liberals alike,
Bonhoeffer is often invoked in support of action. Decrying the
"cheap grace" of the German church, Bonhoeffer heralded "costly
grace" — a grace that might cost a Christian his or her life.
After
Hitler rose to power Bonhoeffer (who had come to America for his theological
training and stayed on to teach) left his post at Union Theological Seminary in
New York, and his new fiancee, to return to Nazi Germany. He would soon
be accused of joining the plot to assassinate the Führer, and spend two years
in prison. He was executed by the Nazi regime at Flossenbürg
concentration camp just two weeks before the United States liberated the
camp. Before he died (he was hanged by a cord of piano wire) he famously
remarked to another prisoner, "This is the end — but for me, the
beginning."
Here
are 10 quotes to remember his radical legacy:
On
returning to Nazi Germany:
I
have come to the conclusion that I made a mistake in coming to America. I must
live through this difficult period in our national history with the people of
Germany. I will 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.
On
silence in the face of evil:
Silence in the face of evil is
itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to
act is to act.
(Correction: While
often attributed to Bonhoeffer this quote does not actually exist in any of his
written works. Its origin in unknown, though it could
very well have been something he simply shared in a conversation
without ever putting it down in print.)
On
living with your enemies:
Jesus
Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted
him. On the cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers.
For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the
Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the
thick of foes.
On systemic injustice:
We
are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of
injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.
On loving Christian community:
Those
who love their dream of a Christian community more than they love the Christian
community itself, become destroyers of that Christian community even though
their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest, and sacrificial.
On doing God's will:
Being a Christian is less about
cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God's will.
(Correction:
This quote is actually not from Bonhoeffer but from Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer's
biographer, summarizing Bonhoeffer's views. His summation has often been
wrongly attributed to Bonhoeffer.)
On revolutionary Christianity:
Christianity
stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness,
and pride of power, and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too
little to make these points clear... Christendom adjusts itself far too easily
to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world
far more, than they are doing now.
On reconciliation through
Christ:
The
world is overcome not through destruction, but through reconciliation. Not
ideals, nor programs, nor conscience, nor duty, nor responsibility, nor virtue,
but only God's perfect love can encounter reality and overcome it. Nor is it
some universal idea of love, but rather the love of God in Jesus Christ, a love
genuinely lived, that does this.
On silent theology:
We must finally stop appealing
to theology to justify our reserved silence about what the state [Nazi Germany]
is doing — for that is nothing but fear. ‘Open your mouth for the one who is
voiceless’ — for who in the church today still remembers that that is the least
of the Bible’s demands in times such as these?
(As
in the United States, or most any other country, Nazi Germany did not mind what
people claimed to believe regarding Jesus as long as they privately kept it to
themselves, did not speak out against national and political injustice, or take
any action to oppose party policies. Private faith that stays private and
never ventures to put it into action bothers very few. Christians who
don't live out their faith in the public arena really concern no one.)
On Christ's ultimate command to
follow Him:
When Christ calls a man, he
bids him come and die.
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Many
around the world know what Bonhoeffer meant by that last quote. And
surely -- if current trends continue -- we may also come to know what it
means here in the U.S. in the not-so-far-off future. Then we will be forced to
count the cost. For the call to come to Christ in faith is a call to lose
ourselves in His service, and in doing so, truly find ourselves -- and what it
is that life is truly all about.
In
the Bonds of Christian Service, Pastor Jeff
