Day 10 of 14
Discipleship and the Cross
Suffering as the Shape of the Christian Life
Scripture Readings
Today's Reading
Read Philippians 1:29: "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake."
Then read 1 Peter 2:21: "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps."
Reflection
No theme in Bonhoeffer is more central — or more uncomfortable for Western Christians — than the relationship between discipleship and suffering. We have been taught, explicitly or implicitly, that following Jesus leads to a better life: more peace, more purpose, more fulfillment. Bonhoeffer says it leads to the cross.
"Suffering, then, is the badge of true discipleship," he writes. "The disciple is not above his master." If Jesus suffered, the disciple will suffer. This is not a possibility but a certainty. The question is not whether suffering will come but what form it will take.
Bonhoeffer distinguishes between ordinary human suffering — illness, loss, disappointment — and the specific suffering that comes from following Christ. Both are real. But the suffering he has in mind is that which comes because you are a disciple: the social rejection, the professional cost, the family tension, the persecution that results from living differently in a world that demands conformity.
"The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise godfearing and happy life," Bonhoeffer insists, "but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ." This is a stunning reframing. The cross is not what happens when discipleship goes wrong. It is what discipleship looks like when it goes right. From the very first step of following Jesus, the shape of the journey is cruciform.
Paul uses remarkable language in Philippians 1:29: suffering for Christ has been "granted" to you. The Greek word is echaristhe — from the same root as charis, grace. Suffering for Christ is a grace-gift, not a punishment. It is something given, not inflicted. Peter says the same: "to this you have been called" — suffering is part of your vocation as a Christian, not an interruption of it.
Bonhoeffer wrote these words knowing what lay ahead. Within a few years, he would be arrested, imprisoned in Tegel prison, transferred to Buchenwald and then Flossenburg, and hanged on April 9, 1945. He did not theorize about the cost of discipleship. He paid it.
Going Deeper
The promise of Scripture is not that the disciple will avoid suffering but that suffering will not be wasted. "Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps." The cross is always followed by resurrection. The suffering of the disciple, like the suffering of the Master, is not meaningless but redemptive. It is the path through which God brings new life — in you and through you.
Where are you suffering for the sake of Christ? And where might you be avoiding suffering in order to avoid the cost of faithfulness?
Key Quotes
“Suffering, then, is the badge of true discipleship. The disciple is not above his master. Following Christ means passio passiva, suffering because we have to suffer.”
“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. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
Prayer Focus
Asking God for the grace to accept suffering not as evidence of His absence but as the badge of genuine discipleship — and to trust that the cross always leads to resurrection
Meditation
Bonhoeffer says the cross 'meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ,' not at the end. How does this change your expectation of what the Christian life should look like?
Question for Discussion
Western Christianity often treats suffering as a problem to be solved or a sign that something has gone wrong. Bonhoeffer calls it 'the badge of true discipleship.' How do these two perspectives shape different kinds of faith? Which one do you default to?