The Call to Die

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How apropos as we travel through to the end of Lent to the cross and the grave.

March 29, 2007

The Call to Die

Jesus's summons to the rich young man was calling him to die, because only we who are dead to our own will can follow Christ. In fact every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. But we do not want to die, and therefore Jesus Christ and his call are necessarily our death as well as our life. The call to discipleship, the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, means both death and life. The call of Christ, his baptism, sets the Christian in the middle of the daily arena against sin and the devil. Every day we encounter new temptations, and every day we must suffer anew for Jesus Christ's sake. The wounds and scars we receive in the fray are living tokens of this participation in the cross of our Lord.


- Dietrich Bonhoeffer -


from A Testament to Freedom 314
from A Year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer Carla Barnhill, Ed., HarperSan Francisco, 2005


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