Bonhoeffer: The Cross of Suffering, Rejection and Forgiveness

In his chapter 4, “Discipleship and the Cross”, Bonhoeffer says that “Suffering and rejection are laid upon Jesus as a divine necessity, and every attempt to prevent it is the work of the devil….”  He specifically discusses both suffering and rejection as necessary, “it must be a passion without honor” he says, with suffering and rejection being the sum of the whole cross of Christ.  Christ endured physical suffering on the cross, and He endured the torment of being rejected not just by those He came to save but by God His father as He suffered rejection for us.  Bonhoeffer tells us that “…the very notion of a suffering Messiah was a scandal to the Church, even in its earliest days.  That is not the kind of Lord it wants…it does not like to have the law of suffering imposed on it by its Lord.”  Bonhoeffer points us to where Peter rebuked Jesus when He discussed His unavoidable need to suffer and die; even Peter, who had just articulated faith in Christ as the living Son of God (Matthew 16: 16), was appalled to hear Jesus talk about suffering being necessary.  

I don’t want to suffer.  I don’t think anyone does, its human nature to try to avoid suffering or at least to control it and to take it only on our own terms.  Drugs illicit and licit, alcohol in moderation and to excess, other brain-numbing activities like internet shopping, pornography and gambling…all of these things we use to limit or avoid suffering of some kind.  We exercise and eat right to avoid disease and disability, to prolong the time until death.  We stress about “becoming a burden” with age and infirmity, we make arrangements to both save pride and stave off pain.  But this is not even the pain that Bonhoeffer is talking about.  He says that “It is not the sort of suffering which is inseparable from this mortal life, but the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life.  It is not suffering per se but suffering-and-rejection, and not rejection for any cause or conviction of our own, but rejection for the sake of Christ.” That is, life will be full of pain simply because this world is fallen:  everyone experiences pain, disability, disease and death; everyone experiences inconveniences and disasters.  But the cross of Christ is more than this.  Christ calls us to be rejected and suffer for His sake, as we carry the identity of Christ-follower and seek to keep close to Him in self-denial and with single-minded obedience.

This is an even more difficult concept to read and accept.  I don’t like the regular every-day suffering of head colds and rain on my parade; to be told that greater suffering combined with rejection is the call for each Christian is discouraging and intimidating, even frightening.  “When Christ calls a man, He bids Him come and die” Bonhoeffer says.  But he says this as he describes what is meant by bearing our cross in Christ.  “As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with His death—we give over our lives to death.  Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise godfearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ.”  Bonhoeffer tells us that this “death” may take many forms—leaving all worldly attachments to be a disciple, or abandoning asceticism to enter the world as a disciple.  It is always the death of the old man, “The call to discipleship, the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ means both death and life.” 

In Romans 6: 1-14, Paul describes the relationship between baptism and new life.  He tells us that we are united with Christ’s death through our baptism; we die with Him and are raised to new life with Christ through baptism. “If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection.  For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with…anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” (vs 5, 6).  We are dead to sin and raised to new life in Christ through our baptisms; we are called to discipleship, called to abandon sin in all forms and to take on the cross of Christ.  Our burden is no longer that of sin; our suffering is no longer the threat of eternal damnation and separation from God.  Our burden is the cross and our suffering is “the badge of true discipleship.”  As 1 Peter2: 20-24 says “But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it?  But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.  To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.  ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’  When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats.  Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.  He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.”

Our suffering has no atoning power, no ability to redeem or to add to the total work completed by the suffering and death of Christ Jesus.  But we are called to suffer with Him and for His name’s sake, as His disciples.  Bonhoeffer in particular draws attention to our responsibility to bear and to forgive the sins of others.  Bonhoeffer draws our attention to Galatians 6:2, which reminds us to “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”  Further on, in verse 5, we are told  “each one should carry his own load.”  That is, each of us must bear our own troubles and challenges with grace and perseverance; and each of us must respond with grace and love toward others who are struggling.  We forgive others because Christ has forgiven us.  We, the recipients of perfect and total forgiveness ain Christ, cannot withhold that forgiveness from others. Bonhoeffer says “My brother’s burden which I must bear is not only his outward lot, his natural characteristics and gifts, but quite literally his sin.  And the only way to bear that sin is by forgiving it in the power of the cross of Christ which I now share.  Thus the call to follow Christ always means a call to share the work of forgiving men their sins.  Forgiveness is the Christlike  suffering which it is the Christian’s duty to bear.”  Turn the other cheek…give the shirt off of your own back…go the extra mile…love your enemies… (Matthew 5: 38-48).

“Suffering, then, is the badge of true discipleship….The opposite of discipleship is to be ashamed of Christ and His cross and all the offense which the cross brings in its train….Discipleship means allegiance to the suffering Christ, and it is therefore not at all surprising that Christians should be called upon to suffer.”   Bonhoeffer goes so far as to say that if we do not suffer, we are not following Christ; our suffering is a sign of our fellowship with Him.  He also states that the only way to triumph over suffering is to bear it, to go through it, just as Christ did.  Jesus’ prayed in Gethsemane that the suffering and death of the cross could pass over Him.  But He prayed that God’s will be done, and ultimately His victory required His suffering and death.  It was required of Him to drink that cup of suffering.  As the writer of the book of Hebrews says in 12: 2-3 “…for the joy set before Him [Christ] endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”  Bonhoeffer tells us that we do not have to go and search for a cross to carry, and that each person’s cross will be different, but that each of us will carry a cross as a disciple of Christ.

We already have victory in Christ.  He bore our sins in His body on the cross, and through our union and communion with Him we have triumphed over sin, death and the power of the devil.  But we are still here on earth and we must bear the cross daily as we live and suffer as His disciples in the world.  Bonhoeffer starts and ends the chapter by discussing the combination of both suffering and rejection, that Christ was rejected by both men and by God.  Bonhoeffer states somewhat contradictorily “Suffering means being cut off from God.  Therefore those who live in communion with Him cannot really suffer.”  That is, Christ suffered true separation from God on the cross—“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”—so that we would be saved from temporal and eternal separation from God through Him.  According to Bonhoeffer “…suffering is overcome by suffering, and becomes the way to communion with God.” And again “Suffering has to be endured in order that it may pass away.  Either the world must bear the whole burden and collapse beneath it, or it must fall on Christ to be overcome in Him.  He therefore suffers vicariously for the world.  His is the only suffering which has redemptive efficacy.  But the Church knows that the world is still seeking for someone to bear its sufferings, and so, as it follows Christ, suffering becomes the Church’s lot too….”   As Christ’s body in the world, we bear the suffering of the world.  “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.  Share with God’s people who are in need.  Practice hospitality.  Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn…..Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  (Romans 12: 12-21, selected).

“For God is a God who bears.  The Son of God bore our flesh, He bore the cross, He bore our sins, thus making atonement for us.  In the same way, His followers are called upon to bear, and that is precisely what it means to be a Christian.”  For Bonhoeffer, suffering for the cross of Christ, forgiving others, bearing the suffering of the world as individuals and as the Church, is at the heart of discipleship.  It is the easy yoke and the light burden which Christ calls us to pick up; it is easy and light only because by His grace and power, because of His command to follow Him as disciples, He makes it so.  Abandoning this call, leaving the burden of discipleship behind and forsaking Christ—this leaves us with the truly heavy burden of sin and damnation, eternal rejection by God and lost fellowship with Christ.  Yes, we are called to carry our crosses but this is our joy as disciples, our fellowship as we follow His call.  

1)      Bonhoeffer tells us that “…the very notion of a suffering Messiah was a scandal to the Church, even in its earliest days.  That is not the kind of Lord it wants…it does not like to have the law of suffering imposed on it by its Lord.”  There is a notion in Christendom, a myth, that Christians will not suffer and that suffering is a sign of being punished or forsaken by God.  Whether this manifests as modern “prosperity gospel” preachers, or Jesus’ own disciple Peter telling Jesus to stop being so negative when He was predicting His own death.  Have you fallen victim to this myth, that suffering is a sign that God has abandoned you or that you have somehow fallen out of favor in God’s eyes?  How does this chapter on bearing your cross as a Christ-follower bust this myth?  How can you call this truth of cross-carrying to mind when you are tempted by prosperity-Christianity mythology in the future?

2)      As a baptized child of God in Christ, you are united with His suffering, death and resurrection; you are dead to sin, and death has no power over you into eternity.  How does this reality strengthen you to both endure the daily struggle of life on earth, and to bear the unique cross appointed for you to bear as His disciple?  

3)      Bonhoeffer specifically relates the cross we must bear to forgiving the sins of others.  Jesus told His disciples to forgive “seventy seven times”, or essentially an unlimited number of times (Matthew 18: 21-22).  Through Christ’s atoning sacrifice, your sins are forgiven; He carried the sins of the world in His body on the cross.  Consider what it means to forgive the sins of people in your life for the sake of the cross of Christ, how this is part of the cross you are called to bear.  What does this look like applied to your circumstances?  Pray for strength, perseverance and compassion to carry this cross for Jesus’ sake.