Thoughts on grace

 The Costly Grace of Discipleship

 

The Cost of Discipleship is a Christian classic by the German "martyr" to the sin of racism, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The book centers around an exposition of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, in which Bonhoeffer spells out what he believes it means to follow Christ. It was first published in 1937, when the rise of the Nazi regime was underway in Germany. Against this background Bonhoeffer developed a spirituality of costly discipleship, which ultimately led to his execution in a concentration camp because he opposed the racist Nazi regime. As he went to his death in 1945 Bonhoeffer wrote: "This is the end-for me the beginning of life."

 

A central element of this book is the contrast Bonhoeffer makes between "cheap" grace and "costly" grace. In his words: "cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ."

 

Costly grace contrasts with cheap grace confronting us as "a gracious call to follow Jesus, coming as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. It is costly because it compels one to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

 

In Sunday's gospel (Mt 16:21-27) Jesus invites us to grow in costly discipleship with these words: "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny self, take up one's cross and follow me." The grace-filled school of prayer and discernment we offer freely in the Spiritual Exercises at White House invite us to grow in the fulfillment of Jesus's promise: "if you lose your life for my sake, and for the gospel, you'll find it," and that means abundant riches flourishing out of costly discipleship. For all of us, isn't this the end-the beginning of life?

-Fr. Ted Arroyo, SJ