Recently someone asked me if I was still a Christian. With great hesitation, I answered in the affirmative. My hesitation had nothing to do with my belief in Jesus as a great avatar. Rather, it stemmed from my understanding of what it means to be his disciple. To be a disciple of Jesus necessarily means to live as he lived: surrendering to the Father as he surrendered; loving as he loved; serving as he served; living the truth as he lived the truth; and continuing to live in this manner even if it leads to death, not just to physical death, but death to a life of convenience, to one’s reputation, to the need to be understood and accepted by others, and so forth.
Yes, I am being a bit dramatic, yet this is my point: whether we call ourselves a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu, a Buddhist or a Yogi, we must avoid what the German Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer referred to as “cheap grace.” Cheap grace is wearing the mantle of spirituality or religion while hanging on to our personal agendas and prejudices. Cheap grace is the failure to love our enemies, especially when they hold political views that differ from our own. Cheap grace is the unwillingness to see the presence of God in those who are least among us. Cheap grace is clinging to the bliss of enlightenment while ignoring its truths. Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived in Germany during World War II. He was sent to a concentration camp because he assisted Jews trying to escape Hitler’s reign of terror and also because he was part of a plot to assassinate Hitler. Bonhoeffer lived not by cheap grace, but by pure grace which cost him his life. Below is an account of his death by an eyewitness: “I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer… kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”
Beloved Guruji,
Remind me always
That I am your disciple,
And help me
To live up to this privilege.
