Year's ago, German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a book entitled, The Cost of Discipleship. He was a man who understood what it meant to pay a price for following Jesus. His unwavering commitment to the truth caused him to stand up for Christ against Hitler's regime. He was thrown in prison for faith and eventually put to death.In his book, Bonhoeffer speculated as to why the church in Europe had become so ineffective. He believed it was because the church had begun to preach cheap grace. Look at this quote from The Cost of Discipleship: ". . .this cheap grace has turned back upon us like a boomerang. The price we are having to pay today in the shape of the collapse of the organized church is only the inevitable consequence of our policy of making grace available at all too low a cost. We gave away the Word and sacraments wholesale; we baptized, confirmed, and absolved a whole nation unasked and without condition. Our humanitarian sentiment made us give that which was holy to the scornful and unbelieving. We poured forth unending streams of grace. But the call to follow Jesus in the narrow way was hardly ever heard."
When He spoke to those around Him in Luke 14, Jesus minced no words when talking about the cost of following Him. As you read today's passages you'll see that sometimes following Christ can be tough, but it is always worth it.
For a look at notes on all of today's readings click here.
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Brian,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your comments from Boenhoffer. We don't hear much today about the cost of discipleship, but Jesus spoke of it often. Often we tend to ignore those passages and emphasis ones on grace.
Christs' lament in Luke 13:34 always touches my heart. How He longs to gather His chicks but many refuse much to His grief.
NP