Beginning with Christ

London, New Year’s Day, January 1, 1934

This short meditation was published in the January 7, 1934, issue of the Newsletter for German-Speaking Congregations in Great Britain. Later, when writing his book Discipleship (first published in English as The Cost of Discipleship) during the Finkenwalde years, Bonhoeffer referred back to it and developed an interpretation of the text from Luke on which this meditation is based (DBWE 4:59–61, 115). So it is possible that it not only served to inspire his colleagues who were pastors of other German congregations in Britain, but also was discussed in the course of his teaching in the Finkenwalde seminary.

Luke 9:57–62: As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions”—this saying is found in many different countries. But it is not the worldly wise, impertinent statement of someone who refuses to do better. No, it rather reveals a profound Christian insight. Anyone who knows nothing better to do on New Year’s Day than to make a list of bad things he or she has done, and then decide from now on—how many such “from now ons” have we heard before!—to start off with better intentions, is still far from being a Christian.

First of all, such a person thinks that a good intention is enough for a new beginning. That is, he or she supposes that one can make a new start entirely on one’s own, whenever one wants to. This is an evil illusion. It is God alone who makes a new beginning with a person, when God is pleased to do so, and not the human being who undertakes to do it with God. So a new beginning is not something one can do for oneself. One can only pray for it to happen. As long as people rely only on themselves and try to live that way, that is still the old way, the same way as in the past. Only with God is there a new way, a new beginning. And we cannot command God to do anything; all we can do is pray. But we can pray only when we have realized that there is something we cannot do for ourselves, that we have reached our limit, that someone else must be the one to begin.

Second, if you are relying entirely on your own good intentions, you have no idea where they come from. You had better take another look. Our so-called good intentions are nothing other than the products of a weak and fearful heart, which is afraid of bad deeds and sins and is arming itself with all too human weapons to fight these powers. But anyone who is afraid of sin is already fully caught up in it. Fear is the net spread by the Evil One, in which we can easily become entangled and brought to a fall. If we are afraid, we have already fallen in, just as someone who is overcome by fear during a difficult mountain climb is sure to stumble.

So nothing comes of making good resolutions out of fear or anxiety. They will not bring us to a new beginning. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

How do we find our way to a new beginning? Our text tells us about a young man who is obviously very taken with Jesus, who perhaps has been waiting a long time for a chance to express his enthusiasm. Now here comes Jesus into the town, and the enthusiast runs to meet him, stands in front of him, and says: I will follow you wherever you go. He wants to make the first move himself: with glowing devotion he offers himself, thinking he will be able to do everything asked of him and to leave everything behind, for this man. But Jesus demurs, suspicious of this enthusiasm. Do you know what you are doing? Do you know who I am, and where following me is going to lead you? Do you know that I need not someone who throws himself at me with enthusiasm, but rather someone with a firm, unshakeable faith based only on my having called you? Have I called you? Are you coming simply and only in answer to my call? You are enthusiastic; you want to make a new beginning: think about what you are doing and whom you are daring to approach and remember that enthusiasm is only one step away from embarrassment!

Jesus himself calls to the second person in the story. This is someone living in the past, hanging onto some significant grief that he cannot forget. This person no longer looks forward to the future but would rather fade away into the past and into the world of the dead. Jesus’ call is to step forward, out of all that. The person hesitates, wants to go back once more. No, “Let the dead bury their dead”—leave the past behind, free yourself—now or never. Christ calls you to a new beginning—take your chance, just because it is he! Now, today, because Christ is moving on—go with him, answer his call, now!

The third person surely would like to go with Christ. This is someone who takes it seriously and therefore surely can be allowed to attach a small condition to the offer to come and follow Jesus. “Please let me first . . .” Certainly I want to come, but surely you understand, Lord, I just need to do this and that “first.” No, Christ doesn’t understand, doesn’t want to understand. “No one who puts his hand to the plow . . .” A man guiding a plow does not look back, but he also doesn’t look way ahead into the unpredictable distance—only as far as the next step he has to take. Looking back is not the Christian thing to do. Leave your fear, worry, and guilt behind. Look up at the one who has given you a new beginning. Through him you will forget everything else.

The coming year will have its share of fear, guilt, and hardship. But let it be, in all our fear, guilt, and hardship, a year spent with Christ. Let our new beginning with Christ be followed by a story of going with Christ. What that means is beginning each day with him. That is what matters.