Dying to Come Alive: Lessons from the Life of a Modern MartyrExemplo

Bonhoeffer was in the heart of the conspiracy to kill Hitler, lending emotional support and encouragement to those more directly involved, such as his brother Klaus and his brother-in-law Dohnanyi. He didn’t have qualms about it. But for him to become more officially involved was something else entirely.

Bonhoeffer’s situation was a complicated one. As a leader in the Confessing Church, he had more difficult choices than if he had been acting alone. Whatever he chose to do, he must consider others, just as he had done when he rejected becoming a conscientious objector. He wasn’t free to do as he pleased. Bonhoeffer never arrived at decisions easily, but once he saw things clearly, he moved forward. . . . He was not yet clear about what God was leading him to do. . . .

A major theme for Bonhoeffer was that every Christian must be “fully human” by bringing God into his whole life, not merely into some “spiritual” realm. To be an ethereal figure who merely talked about God, but somehow refused to get his hands dirty in the real world in which God had placed him, was bad theology. Through Christ, God had shown that he meant us to be in this world and to obey him with our actions in this world. So Bonhoeffer would get his hands dirty, not because he had grown impatient, but because God was speaking to him about further steps of obedience. . . .

At the Dohnanyis’ house that September of 1941, Bonhoeffer famously said that, if necessary, he would be willing to kill Hitler. It would not come to that, but Bonhoeffer had to be clear that he was not assisting in the fulfillment of a deed he was unwilling to do. He stipulated, however, that he would first have to resign from the Confessing Church. Bonhoeffer knew that most of its members would not share his position on this matter, but more important, he did not want to implicate them in something that he was undertaking alone. His role in the conspiracy was between him and God alone; that much he knew. And he knew that being chosen by God, as the Jews were chosen, and as the prophets were chosen, was something unfathomable. It was the highest honor, but a terrible one, one that none would ever seek.

What does it mean to you to be chosen by God? How does that change your perspective of your relationship with God?