Discipleship and the Cross

Bread and Wine Reading: "Discipleship and the Cross", Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Scripture Reading: Mark 8: 31-34
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

Bonhoeffer reminds us that “death on the cross means to suffer and to die as one rejected and expelled.” Those words—rejected and expelled—are not typical “God-language.” That is not what God does. That is what we do. Bonhoeffer claims that from the very beginning, the Church has taken exception to the idea of Jesus’ suffering. Well, of course we have. It’s incredibly uncomfortable to think that humanity, of which we are a part, would inflict this upon our Lord whom we love.

I think that’s why somewhere along the way it was easier and more comfortable to try to make sense of the whole thing by doctrinally professing that God somehow pre-ordained Jesus’ suffering, that God sent the human part of Godself into the world with the purpose of suffering. I, for one, struggle with that. I’m pretty clear that Jesus’ suffering was not inflicted by God. Joan Chittister, in her book In Search of Belief, describes the suffering of Jesus as “a very human thing”. In fact, she contends that the phrase “Jesus suffered” “may be the two most human words in Scripture.”

The truth is, the suffering of Jesus was part of what made Jesus human. It is also part of the way with which we can identify with that humanness. In our very human suffering, we are connected and bound to the Divine, the God who chose not to suffer for us but to be human enough to walk with us through our humanness, through our suffering. And, I would contend, how many gods have done that? How many “gods”--the god of wealth?....the god of popularity?...the god of security?...the god of control?—how many of them are there at the bowels of our existence, at the very core, at our deepest and most profound suffering? And, more importantly, how many of them can continue walking with you until you are raised to glory?

Bonhoeffer said that “discipleship is commitment to the suffering Christ”. It is following Christ through all that is human that you may experience all that is Divine.

Discussion Questions:
1.) What images do the idea of being “rejected and expelled” as a depiction of suffering hold for you?
2.) What are the “gods” of your existence and how do those “gods” interact with suffering?
3.) What, for you, is discipleship as commitment to the suffering Christ?

So go forth, denying yourself, suffering with Christ, and living the life of a true disciple!

Grace and Peace,

Shelli