“On a completely unrelated note, does anyone know if I could go get cheesecake as my movie snack and bring it with me or is that frowned upon?”
A flurry of excited messages followed in the groupchat full of random 20-somethings; some college students, a young wife and mother, a couple people who are working, one a homeowner, one lives with a family member, one has a cat, one from an immigrant family, one who came for music school from Arizona but never went back, one who has never had a permanent home.
What causes a group of different young people, from all over the city, the country and the world, to go out together at 8:30pm on a Monday night to see a movie about a martyr from the Holocaust?
Jesus.
The movie Bonhoeffer, made in 2024, follows the story of a man named Dietrich. Born as a twin in 1906, he was 6th out of 8 children to a well-off family in Germany. His parents valued education and the arts. Despite the criticism from his family, Dietrich decided at the young age of 14 to pursue studies in theology following in his grandfather’s footsteps rather than his father or brothers.
Bonhoeffer went to the United States to study theology, but disapproved of American theology thinking that the students lacked true respect and interest. He found a home in the African American church, despite being oppressed by the people there, and served in the children’s ministry at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. He was especially impressed by their music and their commitment to social justice.
He eventually returned to Germany and became a lecturer in theology at the University of Berlin. Bonhoeffer became involved in the Ecumeical Christian movement, believing that all Christian denominations needed to take a stand against Hitler and his injustices. Dietrich was known to have gone through a significant personal conversion that resulted in him beginning by teaching deep doctrine and theology, to having a sincere personal relationship with God that literally carried out His teachings in the gospels.
Bonhoeffer openly criticized Hitler first by giving a radio address calling him out as an idolatrous cult leader. Before Hitler’s election there was a church election in which the church would vote to be essentially pro-Nazi or pro-gospels. Despite best efforts by Dietrich and his allies, the church of Germany was soon overtaken by voting into power pro-Nazi leaders. More and more anti-Semitism creeped into the church and at some point only about 20 percent of German pastors were part of the true Confessing Church.
For the rest of his life Bonhoeffer traveled around Germany, to England and even visited the United States one last time to rally support for the Confessing Church and anti-Nazi efforts. He was a large and dangerous critic of Hitler. He even joined a plot to assassinate Hitler, a surprising fact considering his commitment to pacifism and right to life. On April 5 of 1943 he was arrested. He was executed by hanging on April 9, 1945.
I first discovered Dietrich Bonhoeffer by picking up a book of his in the “used books” section at my local Barnes and Noble. It was a small, green soft-cover book called “The Cost of Discipleship”. As I read the pages I was immediately engrossed:
Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate…
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.
Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us…
Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.
I felt challenged immediately. Was I taking God’s grace for granted? Had I truly been changed by the great gospel of Jesus Christ? Had I truly considered how great the sacrifice of Christ was?
Being a Christian means we willingly give up ourselves to God. We confess our sin and we give in to the will God has for us. Romans 6:6 says, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin”. We are made new in Christ, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come”(2 Corinthians 5:17). We have a new way of seeing the world, a new way of interacting within it, a new heart.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of my favorite Christians I have ever learned about. His powerful words have shaken me to my core and inspired me to seek the Lord more deeply. While the movie was not entirely historically accurate, I found it to be an incredibly moving tribute to a great man. A man who took the words of Jesus seriously. He counted the cost.
Another one of my favorite quotes of his: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die”. Always a spiritual death of putting to death our flesh. And Christ gives us a new spiritual life. But for Dietrich it was a literal death. He gave his life, for Christ, while holding fast to Him. His convictions against anti-Semitism, against the things of God, were stronger than the love of his own life. I continue to reflect on that.
So why did a group of random 20-somethings get together to see this movie?
Again, simply, Jesus.
We have all been changed and desire to grow in grace and in knowledge of God. Paul exhorts believers in Rome saying, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect(Romans 12:1-2).
The Koinonia Young Adults group is very special. It is full of all kinds of people, from all backgrounds, interests and walks of life. We are all at different points of our walk with God. Some of us are actively defeating sin, some of us are slipping into it and reaching out to others to help pull us out. Some of us are struggling to keep the spark, and some of us are heralding the way for the others. We all have this one thing in common: we have counted the cost, and we continue to do so. We rely on each other to pray for one another, to love one another, to minister to one another to keep pressing onward toward the prize that is Jesus Christ.
We went to see a movie together. Sure, it was an inspiring movie about a martyr, but what was really happening was a knitting of our hearts together. To witness God move through that testimony, together. To all walk away changed by the same thing. To do this together, it is a good and beautiful and powerful thing.