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Dietrich Bonhoeffer on a weekend getaway with
confirmands of Zion's Church congregation (March 21, 1932)
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“Jesus
Christ has to suffer and be rejected. … Suffering and being rejected are not
the same. Even in his suffering Jesus could have been the celebrated Christ.
Indeed, the entire compassion and admiration of the world could focus on the
suffering. Looked upon as something tragic, the suffering could in itself
convey its own value, its own honor and dignity. But Jesus is the Christ who
was rejected in his suffering. Rejection removed all dignity and honor from
his suffering. It had to be dishonorable suffering. Suffering and rejection
express in summary form the cross of Jesus. Death on the cross means to
suffer and to die as one rejected and cast out. It was by divine necessity that
Jesus had to suffer and be rejected. Any attempt to hinder what is necessary is
satanic. Even, or especially, if such an attempt comes from the circle of
disciples, because it intends to prevent Christ from being Christ. The fact
that it is Peter, the rock of the church, who makes himself guilty doing this just
after he has confessed Jesus to be the Christ and has been commissioned by
Christ, shows that from its very beginning the church has taken offense at the
suffering of Christ. It does not want that kind of Lord, and as Christ's church
it does not want to be forced to accept the law of suffering from its Lord.” [p. 84 of Discipleship
and the Cross]
AUTHOR: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (German: [ˈdiːtʁɪç ˈboːnhœfɐ]; February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945) was a
German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi and founding member of
the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world
have become widely influential, and many have labelled his book The Cost of
Discipleship a modern classic.
Apart from his
theological writings, Bonhoeffer became known for his staunch resistance to the
Nazi dictatorship. He strongly opposed Hitler's euthanasia program and
genocidal persecution of the Jews. He was also involved in plans by members of
the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate
Adolf Hitler. He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and executed by
hanging in April 1945 while imprisoned at a Nazi concentration camp, just 23
days before the German surrender.
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