Is Contemporary Discipleship a Myth or Can It Actually Take on Crisis and Suffering?
The Battle of Bull Run was at the start of the Civil War. The Union was expected to win, and to win easily. Union sympathizers came out to the battlefield with blankets and picnic baskets. They found grassy hills to sit on to watch the proceedings while lounging in the shade, drinking tea as the battle raged in the distance. Soon, however, they were grabbing their blankets and baskets and ran for their lives. Christianity Americana is much the same - we know there is a spiritual battle raging, we know we have an enemy, and we know that Christian persecution around the world has never been worse. Over 1 million Christians have been killed via persecution in the last five years.
As author Matthew Walsh states in his recent book, A Church of Cowards, “we are like the apostles in Gethsemane, but that would be giving us too much credit. Their spirit was willing while their flesh was weak. Our spirit is weak and our flesh even weaker.” He goes on to say, “I do not believe that I exaggerate when I say that the average American Christian has never given up one single thing for Christ. I survey my own life and I write these words and I see myself in a constant state of flight. Fleeing from sacrifice. Fleeing from suffering. Jesus says, give up everything, embrace your suffering, carry your cross, go hungry for me, bleed for me, die for me.” [1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.”[2] Bishop Bell also quoted him in his introduction to The Cost of Discipleship, “When Christ calls a person, he calls them to come and die.”[3]
It is an idea, a myth. How does crisis and suffering define discipleship? Bonhoeffer was German and you can’t really talk about German spirituality without a nod to Martin Luther. The gold standard biography on Luther is was written in 1955 by Roland Bainton, a history professor at Yale Divinity School. I have read it cover to cover and made plenty of notes. Luther defined Christianity for the German people.
“[Luther’s] sermons were read to congregations, his liturgy was sung, his catechism was rehearsed by the father with the household, his Bible cheered the fainthearted and consoled the dying… no Englishman had anything like Luther’s range. The Bible translation in England was the work of Tyndale, the prayer book of Cranmer, the catechism of the Westminster divines. The sermonic style stemmed from Latimer, the hymnbook came from Watts, [I might add, the Dictionary by Samuel Johnson]. And not all of these lived in one century. Luther did the work of more than five men. And for sheer richness and exuberance of vocabulary and mastery of style he is to be compared only to Shakespeare.” [4]
Luther was a towering figure in Bonhoeffer’s life. He also had a naughty sense of humor, an explosive temper, and was a big man with many physical maladies - he suffered greatly. These sufferings contributed to his outbursts and occasional offensive and combative statements. He was stubborn and, in some cases, unforgiving, especially against what he considered to be an ungrateful Jewish population. He was anti-Jewish for theological reasons, but in later years he slipped into anti-sematic statements.
Luther was looked to for his attitude concerning deadly plagues. I must be careful here, but plagues in the 1500s were indeed deadly for up to half of the population. Something more severe than we are facing right now in over 150 countries of the world. It is deadly for 1% of the population who get the novel coronavirus, and we dare not discount the damage that will do. We must not underestimate the financial ruin that may visit the world or the long-term emotional trauma that may ensue. Globalization has changed the game. The anxiety level is a great threat because world-wide news can multiply the fear, panic, and difficulty.
So, what can we learn from Luther, Bonhoeffer, and others? I have read and sent out an article summarizing a letter Luther wrote on the subject, Whether One May Flee From A Deadly Plague.[5] This letter was delayed because Luther had suffered a severe attack of cerebral anemia, an illness from which he suffered repeatedly. It would be followed by a deep depression.
This twelve-page letter blends together bedrock theological truth and practical advice. I would summarize it to read as follows:
Local officials, including clergy, may not flee as long as there are people in need. He says that normal citizens can flee once they know their families and neighbors have what they need. One’s confidence is to be found in the familiar refrain, “For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain.” This, of course, is little comfort to those who do not believe it or are so gripped by fear of death that they do not long for what lay beyond death, namely, eternal life with God.
This is what I mean by crisis and suffering defining our discipleship for what it is. Luther and Bonhoeffer were together on Luther’s justification by faith. Eberhard Bethge, Bonhoeffer’s best friend put it this way:
“[Bonhoeffer] tried to grasp the Reformed articles of faith, justification, and sanctification within the single concept of discipleship. Yet with his key formula, ‘only the believer is obedient, and only those who are obedient believe,’ he did not mean to question the complete validity of Luther’s sola fide and sola gratia, but to reassert their validity by restoring to them their concreteness here on earth.”[6]
He defended justification by faith; indeed, he wanted to restore Luther’s teaching to its full robust place. He spoke of how justification by faith had been corrupted. “Only a small, hardly noticeable distortion of the emphasis was needed, and that most dangerous and ruinous deed was done.” [7]
Bonhoeffer takes justification by faith and explains it as faith only exists in obedience and is never without obedience. Faith’s primary property is to act in obedience.
“What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, ‘Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well’—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. Now someone may argue, ‘Some people have faith; others have good deeds.’ But I say, ‘How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.’ You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?” - James 2:14-20
How does this apply now to the knot in your stomach, the two-year supply of TP in your garage, and the six-months of paper towels in your closet? People like me can’t get any. How about the eggs, the water, the guns, the face masks, the night vision goggles?
What takes that knot out of your stomach? The realization that spiritual knowledge is as real as any other and that faith is applying it to one’s thought life.
[1] Matthew Walsh, A Church of Cowards, page 187
[2 & 3] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
[4] Here I Stand, Roland H. Bainton, Meridan Books, 1955, page 301
[5] Whether One May Flee From A Deadly Plague, The Lutheran Witness, Martin Luther’s Works, Vol. 43: Devotional Writings II ed. Philadelphia; Fortress Press, 1999, 119-38.
[6 & 7] Eberhard Bethge, Dietrich Bonhoeffer A Biography (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), 454.
