Excerpts from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s: The Cost of Discipleship
On the Beatitudes
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
- Privation is the lot of the disciples in every sphere of their lives. They have no security, no possessions to call their own, not even a foot of earth to call their home, no earthly society to claim their absolute allegiance. They have no spiritual power, experience or knowledge to afford them consolation or security. For His sake they have lost all. In following Him they lost even their own selves, and everything that could make the rich. Now they are poor—so inexperienced, so stupid, that they have no other hope but him who called them.
- Jesus knows all about the others too, the representatives and preachers of the national religion, who enjoy greatness and renown, whose feet are firmly planted on the earth, who are deeply rooted in the culture and piety of the people and molded by the spirit of the age. Yet it is not they, but the disciples who are called blessed… They have their treasure in secret, they find it on the cross. And they have the promise that they will one day visibly enjoy the glory of the kingdom, which in principle is already realized in the utter poverty of the cross.
“Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
- By “mourning” Jesus, of course, means doing without what the world calls peace and prosperity: He means refusing to be in tune with the world or to accommodate oneself to its standards. Such men mourn for the world, for its guilt, its fate, and its fortune.
- They see that for all the jollity on board, the ship is beginning to sink. The world dreams of progress, of power, and of the future, but the disciples meditate on the end, the last judgment, and the coming of the kingdom.
- And so the disciples are strangers in the world, unwelcome guests, and disturbers of the peace. No wonder the world rejects them!
- The disciple-community does not shake off sorrow as though it were no concern of its own, but willingly bears it… But at the same time they do not go out of their way to look for suffering, or try to contract out of it by adopting an attitude of contempt and disdain. They simply bear the suffering which comes their way as they try to follow Jesus Christ, and bear it for his sake. Sorrow cannot tire them or wear them down, it cannot embitter them or cause them to break down under the strain; far from it, for they bear their sorrow in the strength of him who bears them up, who bore the whole suffering of the world upon the cross.
- This is their comfort, or better still, this Man is their comfort, the Comforter.
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”
- This community of strangers possesses no inherent right of its own to protect its members in the world, nor do they claim such rights, for they are meek, they renounce every right of their own and live for the sake of Jesus Christ. When reproached, they hold their peace; when treated with violence they endure it patiently; when men drive them from their presence, they yield their ground… They are determined to leave their rights to God alone—non cupidi vindicate, as the ancient Church paraphrased it. Leave heaven to them, says the world in its pity, that is where they belong. But Jesus says: “They shall inherit the earth.” To these, the powerless and the disenfranchised, the very earth belongs.
“Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
- Not only do the followers of Jesus renounce their rights, they renounce their own righteousness too.
- They cannot have righteousness except by hungering and thirsting for it… They are longing for the forgiveness of all sin, for complete renewal, for the renewal too of the earth, and the full establishment of God’s law.
- Happy are they who have the promise that they shall be filled, for the righteousness they receive will be no empty promise… They are blessed because they already enjoy this bread here and now, for in their hunger they are sustained by the Bread of Life, the bliss of sinners.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
- These men without possessions of power, these strangers on earth, these sinners, these followers of Jesus, have in their life with Him renounced their own dignity, for they are merciful. As if their own needs and their own distress were not enough, they take upon themselves the distress and humiliation and sin of others. They have an irresistible love for the down-trodden, the sick, the wretched, the wronged, the outcast, and all who are tortured with anxiety. They go out and seek all who are enmeshed in the toils of sin and guilt. No distress is too great, no sin too appalling for their pity.
- In order that they may be merciful they cast away the most priceless treasure of human life, their personal dignity and honor. For the only honor and dignity, they know is their Lord’s own mercy. He was not ashamed of His disciples, he became the brother of mankind, and bore their shame unto the death of the cross. That is how Jesus, the crucified, was merciful.
- His followers owe their lives entirely to that mercy. It makes them forget their own honor and dignity, and seek the society of sinners. They are glad to incur reproach for they know that then they are blessed. One day God Himself will come down and take upon Himself their sin and shame. He will cover them with His own honor and remove their disgrace.
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”
- Who is pure in heart? Only those who have surrendered their hearts completely to Jesus that He may reign in them alone. The pure in heart have a child-like simplicity like Adam before the fall. Their hearts are not ruled by their conscience, but by the will of Jesus. If men renounce their own good, if in penitence they have renounced their own hearts, if they rely solely upon Jesus, then His word purifies their heart.
- They are wholly absorbed by the contemplation of God. They shall see God, whose hearts have become a reflection of the image of Jesus Christ.
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
- His disciples keep peace by choosing to endure suffering themselves rather than inflict it on others. They maintain fellowship where others would break it off. They renounce all self-assertion, and quietly suffer in the face of hatred and wrong. The peacemakers will carry the cross with their Lord, for it was on the cross that peace was made.
“Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
- This does not refer to the righteousness of God, but to suffering in a just cause, suffering for their own just judgments and actions. For it is by these that they who renounce possessions, fortune, rights, righteousness, honor, and force for the sake of following Christ, will be distinguished from the world. The world will be offended at them, and so the disciples will be persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Not recognition, but rejection, is the reward they get form the world for their message and works. It is important that Jesus gives his blessing not merely to suffering incurred directly for the confession of His name, but to suffering in any just cause. They receive the same promise as the poor, for in persecution they are their equals in poverty.
Having reached the end of the beatitudes, we naturally ask if there is any place on this earth for the community which they describe. Clearly, there is one place, and only one, and that is where the poorest, meekest, and most sorely tried of all men is to be found—on the cross at Golgotha. The fellowship of the beatitudes is the fellowship of the Crucified.
The last beatitude is addressed directly to the disciples, for only they can understand it.
“Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
“For my sake” the disciples are reproached but because it is for His sake, the reproach falls on Him. It is He who bears the guilt. The curse, the deadly persecution, and evil slander confirm the blessed state of the disciples in their fellowship with Jesus… With Him it has lost all, and with Him it has found all. From the cross there comes the call “blessed, blessed.”
Some thoughts:
Isn’t it beautiful that the Beatitudes are not a checklist of spiritual virtues we must cultivate to earn God’s favor, but a description of a people who have been shaped by His grace and bear the mark of the cross? The cross reveals the cost of discipleship, but we do not bear that cost in our own strength. We follow the One who first bore the whole suffering of the world on the cross, and it is through His grace that we are sustained as we follow after Him.
