Who is Christ actually for us today? - September 13, 2023

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 119:49-72; PM Psalm 49, [53]; 1 Kings 17:1-24; Phil. 2:1-11; Matt. 2:1-12

On April 30, 1944, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote his closest friend Eberhard Bethge a stirring letter from the Tegal prison where he was being incarcerated.  He writes, “What keeps gnawing at me is the question, what is Christianity, or who is Christ actually for us today.”  He wonders if we are approaching a completely religionless age, “even those who honestly describe themselves as “religious” aren’t really practicing that at all; they presumably mean something quite different by “religious.”  I find these questions provocative as he raises the question of 100 years ago if even the Western form of Christianity was in a preliminary stage of a complete absence of religion.  

The context might help some.  Bonhoeffer has watched the Nazi government grab hold of the German state church.  He has been imprisoned for his resistance to the Nazification of the German church, and his work to help pastors evade military service. He is watching his whole identity as a Christian being co-opted by power and in this letter from April 30, wonders, if what has found its place is “human beings becom(ing) powerful enough to push the boundaries a bit further and God is no longer needed as the outside force (deus ex machina).”

 His words are stirring as we live in a culture where a lot of people claim religion that seems so absolutely absent of humility and compassion and completely surrendering to the awe of the mystery of the power of God.  Instead, it feels like people grab a hold of Christianity to gain power, exercise control of one another, and be liberated from any personal responsibility for one another. “Who is Christ actually for us today?” Bonhoeffer’s question has only grown in importance.

Today’s epistle from Philippians explores this tension.  This text which draws upon an ancient hymn can be found in our liturgical life more than any other of scripture and reminds us that Christ didn’t grab ahold of power, but emptied himself in the ultimate act of humility and compassion.    

“Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
 who, though he was in the form of God,
   did not regard equality with God
   as something to be exploited,
 but emptied himself,
   taking the form of a slave,
   being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
   he humbled himself
   and became obedient to the point of death—
   even death on a cross.” Phil. 2:4-8

Who is Christ actually for us today?  It may be as important a question for us today as it was in 1944. 

Faithfully,

John+

Question for Self-Reflection: Who is Christ actually for us today?