Let us picture the scene: Jesus on the mountain, the multitudes, and the disciples. The people see Jesus with his disciples, who have gathered round him. Until quite recently they had been completely identified with the multitude, they were just like the rest. Then came the call of Jesus, and at once they left all and followed him.’

 

This is how Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great Lutheran German theologian, describes the Sermon on the Mount in his little book The Cost of Discipleship. There is a strong sense of connection with Bonhoeffer at the University Church. His sister was one of the founding members of the German congregation which still meets here, and which met for the very first time in September 1939. She had become a refugee from Germany at the beginning of the second world war. Like Bonhoeffer, she had belonged to the Confessing Church, which had separated from the German Reich Church, on the grounds that the established church had capitulated to Nazi ideology. Bonhoeffer was one of the leaders of this movement. Eventually, he faced trial and execution at the hands of the Nazis. He died at the hands of the Nazis on 9 April 1945. We will commemorate his martyrdom next week.

 

A martyr is a witness. That is what the word means in Greek. Bonhoeffer bore witness to the truth of Jesus Christ. He opposed the upsurge in populism and the rise of fascism in the 1930s. He was sceptical of those who saw salvation in political appeals to ‘blood and soil’ because he could see the hurt and the suffering this caused to the defenceless and the vulnerable. Rather Bonhoeffer saw salvation in the summons to follow Jesus Christ. This is the beginning of true discipleship:

 

“And if we answer the call to discipleship, where will it lead us? What decisions and partings will it demand? To answer this question we shall have to go to him, for only he knows the answer. Only Jesus Christ, who bids us follow him, knows the journey’s end. But we do know that it will be a road of boundless mercy. Discipleship means joy.”