Quotations to Think About #2
“The Christian cannot simply take for granted the privilege of living among other Christians. Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. In the end, all his disciples abandoned him. On the cross he was all alone, surrounded by criminals and the jeering crowds. He had come fore the express purpose of bringing peace to the enemies of God. So Christians too, belong not to the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the midst of enemies. There they find their mission, their work“ – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together DBW Volume 5 (Fortress Press: English edition 1996): 27.
So the Christian life is not a solitary one. We are in fellowship with others who seek out God by faith. But even then, our fellowship is incomplete because Jesus encircled himself with a hostile world. Enemies with their murderous threats and schemes were his companions. He drew them into himself and in so doing brought the world into the presence of God.This is the meaning of the cross and the resurrection and perhaps the defining mission of the people of God. We live as Christ does– seeking the Father’s glory and desiring to share that unique glory with an ever reluctant world.
“He came to his own and his own received him not. But as many as received him, he gave the right to become children of God. . .” John 1:11-12
