The cost of Christian discipleship

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran pastor who was executed by the Nazis in April 1945, towards the end Second World War, was undoubtedly one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century. He suffered martyrdom on account of his unshakeable steadfastness and outspoken stance against Hitler’s persecution of the Jews and his imposition of […]

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran pastor who was executed by the Nazis in April 1945, towards the end Second World War, was undoubtedly one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century. He suffered martyrdom on account of his unshakeable steadfastness and outspoken stance against Hitler’s persecution of the Jews and his imposition of atheistic nationalism on the German nation. He described Hitler’s atheistic nationalism as “a brutal attempt to make history without God and to found it on the strength of man alone.” His book, The Cost of Discipleship, first published in 1937 was a vigorous attempt to rouse Christian leaders and people all over the world, especially in Germany, at that crucial moment to stand up for Jesus Christ and to oppose the monstrous reign of evil under Hitler’s shadows.
In the first chapter of his book, Bonhoeffer made a brilliant distinction between “cheap grace” and “costly grace” and how in the attempt to open the doors of the Church to sinners, we have ended up lowering the standard of the Gospel and have made grace available to all at a very low price.Bonhoeffer tried to convince his readers that there is no space for cheap grace in the Christian life. If it costs God the death of his Only-Begotten Son to save humanity, it is impossible for us to embrace salvation without some commitment to a life of sacrifice, witnessing to the truth of the Gospel and living the Christian life with dignity and integrity. For Bonhoeffer the consequences of our lowering of the standard of the Gospel are all too evident today, especially in the millions of spiritual corpses littered all over the place. “This cheap grace has been no less disastrous to our own spiritual lives. Instead of opening up the way of Christ it has closed it. Instead of calling us to follow Christ, it has hardened us in our disobedience.”
What is the cost of discipleship? Bonhoeffer simply puts it this way: “When Christ calls a man to follow him, he bids him to come and die.” In other words, the invitation to follow Jesus passes through a rough road that leads to martyrdom. This martyrdom can be understood in two ways. It can be a renunciation of sin, meaning a commitment to die to sin and live to righteousness.In his Letter to the Romans (6:3-6), St Paul says that, “When we were baptised in Christ Jesus, we were baptised into his death; in other words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life. If in union with Christ we have imitated his death, we shall also imitate him in his resurrection. We must realise that our former selves have been crucified with him to destroy this sinful body and to free us from the slavery of sin.”
Following Jesus entails the renunciation to sin and the commitment to a new way of life, which brings us into union with God through obeying his commandments and doing his divine will. At St Paul says in his Second Letter to the Corinthians (5:17), “Anyone who is in Christ Jesus is a new creation. The old order passes away. Everything has become new.” The second form of martyrdom is that which leads a man to give up his own life for the sake of Jesus. This often occurs when persecution of Christians breaks out, as was the situation in the earliest days of Christianity. In those days, Christians gladly went to death on account of their belief in Jesus, following him even to the last drop of their blood. Their love of Jesus did not allow them to deny him before the powers and principalities of the world. Instead of obeying earthly powers, they chose to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).
In the Gospel of Mark (8:34-37), Jesus gives his disciples a stringent condition for following him. He says, “If you want to follow me, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it; and if you you’re your life for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel, you will save it. What good is it to gain the whole world but destroy yourself? There is nothing you can give to recover your life.” In other words, it is not cheap to follow Jesus. Following him is an invitation to endure sufferings, hardships, and tribulations in view of the greatest good of eternal happiness with God in heaven. The Beatitudes of Jesus (Matt. 5:1-12) specify the reward of those who suffer in this world, in hope of the glory of heaven.
Following Jesus entails renouncing a life of sin and denouncing evil wherever it exists and whichever guise it assumes. Christians are called to be signs of contradiction in a world that no longer seeks “the things that are above” (Col. 3:2). Jesus calls us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matt. 5:13-14). The light of our faith and the coherence of our lives must shine brightly before the men and women of our day.When the early followers of Jesus were called Christians, it was on account of the kind of life that they were living. Those around them saw the beauty of their lives, their love, their commitment, humility, honesty, faith, dedication and courage. They were so moved by the credibility of the lives of the Christians that they readily wanted to be part of them.
Today many Christians profess Jesus but reject the cross; many Christians no longer want to hear about suffering or tribulations. They want a Christian life that is built on a bed of roses; they think that being a Christian is bread and butter. Christian discipleship costs a great deal, and many people are not prepared to pay the cost. That is why the quality of Christian conversion is still very low in our society; that is why millions of people profess to follow Jesus but their Christian life does not have any positive impact in their immediate environment; that is why as more and more churches litter our geographical spaces, so does the level of corruption, venality, injustice and all forms of social vices skyrocket.
What makes us disciples of Jesus Christ is not our enlisting in a Church and our participation in prayer vigils or crusades or worship sessions. These paraphernalia of religiosity does not necessarily make us spiritual people whose minds and hearts and actions are attuned to Christ. There are many of us who call ourselves Christians, but to the extent that we are not ready to pay the true cost of discipleship, our Christianity will remain stale, ineffective and lacking life, vigour and enthusiasm for good. Discipleship costs nothing less than everything. Little wonder then that the great Indian sage Mahatma Gandhi, a man greatly inspired by the life of Jesus, developed a syllabus of what he calls the seven deadly social sins, and listed one of them as “religion without sacrifice.” It is both illusion and delusion for anyone to think that he is religious, let alone to say that he is a Christian, when he is not ready to pay the high price of discipleship.
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Ojeifo is a priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja.