The Cost of Discipleship - Assignment Example

Beatitudes The great blessings to the followers of Christ as promised by Jesus from in the Sermon on the Mount, known as the Beatitudes, are the minimum guarantee of eternal bliss to all. The biblical scholars consider the Beatitudes as the greatest blessings to the true followers of Christ and they refer to the qualities of a real disciple of Christ. The Beatitudes also suggest how Jesus calls people to be his disciples and the Bible is referring to these qualities when it mentions discipleship of Christ. "When the Bible speaks of following Jesus, it is proclaiming a discipleship which will liberate mankind from all man-made dogmas, from every burden and oppression, from every anxiety and torture which afflicts the conscience. If they follow Jesus, men escape from the hard yoke of their own laws, and submit to the kindly yoke of Jesus Christ." (Bonhoeffer, xxxiii) Therefore, the significance of the Beatitudes in Christian life cannot be overlooked in any case and they are the real cost for discipleship in Christianity. Analyzing the significance of the Beatitudes to all the followers of Christ, it is essential to respond to the remarks by Glen Harold Stassen and David P. Gushee who claim that Christianity is a nonsensical institution apart from its central figure Jesus. They raise the problem as that of the Christian churches and ethics which "are often guilty of evading Jesus, the cornerstone and center of the Christian faith. Specifically, the teachings and practices of Jesus - especially the largest block of his teachings, the Sermon on the Mount - are routinely ignored or misinterpreted..." (Stassen and Gushee, 11) Thus, Stassen and Gushee try to reclaim Christ for Christian ethics and moral life. To them, the Christian life consists of following Jesus and his teachings and they recover the Sermon on the Mount for Christian ethics. In his book The Cost of Discipleship Dietrich Bonhoeffer also interprets the Beatitudes as the cost for Christian bliss and the discipleship of Christ and, to him, Divine Grace is a costly affair. In fact, he tried to read the Sermon on the Mount, as John W de Gruchy in the Preface, with new eyes. "Instead of regarding Jesus' sermon in the way that had become traditional for Lutherans, that is, as a 'law' that condemns us and so prepares us to receive the 'gospel' of grace, Bonhoeffer came to see that the Sermon on the Mount was a charter for life lived by grace." (Gruchy, viii) Bonhoeffer connects obedient discipleship and justification by faith in his work and he demonstrates that following Christ is related to living by faith in Jesus. Therefore, Bonhoeffer provides a very useful exposition of the Sermon on the Mount which summarizes the significance of the Beatitudes. In a reflective analysis of the Beatitudes in the lights of the various studies concerning them, one notices how significant it is to live a life in the contemporary world according to the teachings of Christ. Following Christ in the contemporary context specifically requires living a life of according to Christ's teachings and the basis of all these teachings are the Beatitudes. From the preliminary studies in relation to the Beatitudes, one may comprehend some essential factors which may be helpful in leading the modern life in the way of Christ. Thus, every Christian needs to look forward the reign of God and prepare oneself in the Christian character. The primary learning I had from this analysis is that a "Christian is (or should be) defined as one who humbles himself or herself and chooses to enter into discipleship, to follow Jesus' path, to build his or her life upon his teachings and his practices even at great cost, to pass those teachings and practices on to others, and thus to enjoy the unspeakable privilege of participating in the advance of God's reign." (Stassen and Gushee, 30)Secondly, it is important to realize that the true followers of Christ will be heavily blessed and Jesus addresses his disciples blessed. "He calls them blessed, not because of their privation, or the renunciation they have made, for these are not blessed in themselves. Only the call and the promise, for the sake of which they are ready to suffer poverty and renunciation, can justify the beatitudes." (Bonhoeffer, 60) Thirdly, one needs to realize that privation is the fundamental factor of a disciple's life and that only the Beatitudes can help him in suffering the hardships in the true Christian spirit. The Beatitudes have immense value to the lives of the true disciples of Jesus Christ and every Christian needs to live a life accordingly. Thus, it is important to have a profound understanding of the Sermon on the Mount and the meaning of the Beatitudes. One of the most significant Beatitudes is the first one: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' As has been aforementioned, privation is the lot of Christ's followers and the disciples will face hardships at their best in every sphere of their lives. It is the right and duty of every disciple to live a life according to the teachings of the Lord. Therefore, the followers of Christ should realize that they do not have any possessions in this life and there is no security to them. They do not even have spiritual power, experience or authority to claim any security in this world and they are truly poor in spirit. In fact, every Christian is expected to live a life of poverty and denounce everything that could make him rich and even his own life. Only by denouncing all the comforts of life can a Christian have the complete hope in the One who called him. "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." (Bonhoeffer, 61) In short, this beatitude needs to be realized as poles removed from the caricatures if it which may be found in political and social manifestos. The true spirit of this beatitude is the suffering of Christ who showed the model of poverty through his sacrifice in the cross. Every Christian, therefore, should realize the real meaning of this beatitude and live a life according to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Works Cited Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. SCM-Canterbury Press Ltd. 2001. P xxxiii. Gruchy, John W de. "Preface." The Cost of Discipleship. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. SCM-Canterbury Press Ltd. 2001. Stassen, Glen Harold and David P. Gushee. Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. InterVarsity Press. 2003. P 11. Read More