Day 2 of 14
"When Christ Calls a Man, He Bids Him Come and Die"
The Heart of Bonhoeffer's Message
Scripture Readings
Today's Reading
Read Mark 8:34-38: "And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?'"
Then read Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Reflection
Bonhoeffer's most famous sentence is not an exaggeration: "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." He wrote these words knowing that they might prove literally true for him — as they did, eight years later, at the gallows of Flossenburg concentration camp.
But Bonhoeffer is not speaking primarily about martyrdom. He is speaking about the fundamental nature of discipleship itself. Every genuine encounter with Christ involves a death — the death of the old self, the old way of life, the old securities. For the first disciples, it meant leaving nets and tax booths. For Martin Luther, it meant leaving the monastery and its system of works-righteousness. For every believer, it means something specific and concrete.
Jesus states it plainly in Mark 8: "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." In the first century, the cross was not a piece of jewelry or a metaphor for minor inconvenience. It was a Roman instrument of execution. To "take up your cross" meant to walk toward your own death. Jesus is not asking for moderate adjustments to lifestyle. He is asking for total surrender.
Bonhoeffer insists that this applies universally: "The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world." This does not necessarily mean giving up material possessions — though it might. It means that nothing in your life can be held more tightly than Christ. Whatever competes with Him for ultimate allegiance must be surrendered.
Paul understood this. "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." This is not metaphorical language for Paul. It is a description of what happened to him on the Damascus road and what continues to happen daily — the old Paul dying so that the Christ-inhabited Paul can live.
Going Deeper
The paradox at the heart of Bonhoeffer's message — and of the gospel itself — is that this death is the pathway to life. "Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it." Clinging to your life destroys it. Releasing it to Christ transforms it. The death Christ calls you to is not annihilation. It is liberation — the shedding of everything that was never truly you so that the person God created you to be can finally emerge.
What is Christ calling you to release today?
Key Quotes
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther's, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time.”
“The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world.”
Prayer Focus
Asking God to show you what needs to die in your life so that Christ's life might flourish — and for the courage to let it go
Meditation
Bonhoeffer says the call to follow Christ is always a call to die — to old securities, old identities, old loyalties. What has following Jesus cost you? What might it need to cost you that you have been unwilling to give up?
Question for Discussion
Bonhoeffer says the call to follow Christ is the same death every time — whether it looks like leaving your career, leaving a comfortable religion, or literally dying. What form has this 'death' taken in your life? What form might it need to take next?