St Stephen - The Cost of Discipleship

It is always a shock to get up the day after Christmas to celebrate the martyrdom of St. Stephen. Though I understand the necessity of emphasizing the cost of discipleship, I wish we could wallow for a day or three in Christmas warmth before being overwhelmed by the horror of Stephen's death by stoning. But this is how it is.  We have enjoyed, even delighted in, the memory of Christ's birth, of God become human, and now we must face the reality of gospel life as most people encounter it. Witnessing to his faith cost Stephen his life and few speak more eloquently about this most challenging gospel demand than the 20th century Lutheran pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed by the Nazis because he could not keep silent in the face of Hilter's atrocities, especially against the Jews.

In perhaps the most quoted passage of his theological and spiritual classic, The Cost of Discipleship, (1) Bonhoeffer confronts his readers plainly and clearly. "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." While all of us might nod in agreement as long as it doesn't threaten our life, discipleship costs a lot. Bonhoeffer was hanged for cooperating with a German Resistance movement that believed the gospel demanded Hitler's removal from power, even if it meant asassination.

But Bonhoeffer did not coin the phrase "cheap grace."  While a student at Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 1930, Bonhoeffer heard Adam Clayton Powell, the African American activist pastor of the Abyssian Baptist Church in New York City's Harlem, rail against "cheap grace" when preaching about social justice and equality for black Americans. While Bonhoeffer did not speak highly of his theological education at Union Theological, he freely acknowledged that it was the witness of American blacks that radicalized him in action.

Discipleship, even on the day after Christmas, must be our first goal as Christians. Being a "good Catholic" does not simply mean obeying the dictates of the church hierarchy alone, no matter how laudable its teaching. Rather, discipleship demands that we seek justice for all despite the cost. Like Bonhoeffer, Jesus died because he confronted the leaders of the Jewish community who were more concerned about their own power than the freedom of all God's children. When faced with the abuse of power, in the church and world, the Gospel demands that we speak and act with and on behalf of the poor whose "cries" God always hears." (Job 34:28)


Today, filled with Christmas hope, ask for the grace to die for sake of God's reign.