Cost of Discipleship
...o hell fire.” Now to pluck ones eye out should be taken figuratively; it implies that we are to take drastic action in order to avoid sin. Obedience and self-control are necessary to overcome sin. Discipline is also a requirement of discipleship. It is a theme that Bonhoeffer discusses through out his book in the many different areas. “Strict exercise of self-control is an essential feature of the Christian’s life. Such customs have only one purpose- to make the disciples more ready and cheerful to accomplish those things which God would have done.”3 This statement rings true in the areas of fasting, lust, being truthful, and many others. For us to stay as our old selves is to make discipleship impossible. In order for a person to grow in their walk with God, discipline is crucial. Bonhoeffer states, “Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ. It remains an abstract idea, a myth which has a place for the Fatherhood of God, but omits Christ as the living Son. … There is trust in God, but no following of Christ.”4 So without discipline our walk cannot exist, just as Christianity cannot exist with out Christ. Bonhoeffer comments on how many of us call to God and tell him that we want to follow him, and yet we stand before God, retaining our rights only willing to do what we feel we can do on our own terms. Discipleship is not only self-discipline and self-sacrifice, but discipleship of Christ brings along with it suffering and rejection. Christ says, “that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected” Mark 8:31. In The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer states that “Jesus is a rejected Messiah. His rejection robs the passion of its halo of glory. It must be a passion without honor. Suffering and rejection sum up the whole cross of Jesus. To die on the cross means to die despised and rejected of men. Suffering and rejection are laid upon Jesus as a divine necessity.”5 With out Jesus being rejected, His mission would not have been fulfilled. So we must realize that rejection is not just required of Jesus, but of ourselves in our walk with God, and for the cross. But the people could not only reject Jesus, but he had to also suffer. “Discipleship means allegiance to the suffering Christ and it is therefore not at all surprising that Christians should be called upon to suffer.”6 Suffering is a symbol of true discipleship, a willingness to put something greater above ones own personal interest. In Mark 8:35 it says that, “whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” If we refuse to take on this burden, and deal with the rejection and suffering from our fellow man, then we choose not to follow the Christ. In Mark 8:32, after Jesus finishes speaking of suffering and rejection, Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes Jesus. Peter understands clearly Jesus’ prediction of death and couldn’t accept or understand it, so he began to rebuke Him. Peter’s thoughts, born of fear and concern, were probably well-intended, but they did not take in God’s eternal purposes and plan. Peter was not indwelt by Satan, but Satan had certainly suggested his thoughts. If Peter had his way, Jesus’ mission would not have been accomplished. “Suffering and rejection are laid upon Jesus as a divine necessity, and every attempt to prevent it is the work of the devil, especially when it comes from his own disciples; for it is in fact an attempt to prevent Christ from being Christ.”7 Peter’s rebuking of Jesus shows his own unwillingness to follow Christ in His suffering, showing that Satan has gained entry into the Church and is already trying to break it down. Jesus then must make it clear to all the disciples that they must suffer as well if they want to follow him. “Just as Christ is Christ only in the virtue of his suffering and rejection, so the disciple is a disciple only in so far as he shares his Lord’s suffering and rejection and cruxification.”8 Christ does...