Bonhoeffer got it right.

"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." 

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

After reading this quote you may be thinking about the suffering and death that is ahead this week for our Lord. And, you may also be thinking that this is what he calls us to do. Indeed, you are right in thinking that but perhaps not on a cross made of wood, but the cross of our daily living. You see, Jesus has also called us to love as he loves us, to give as he has given to us, to obey and do the work of our Father in heaven ... just as we see Jesus doing. Our life of devotion to Jesus is a call to suffering and death ... the suffering and death of our self ... and to clarify this ... our sinful self, not the self whom God made and deemed good and worthy of his love.

In John 12:20-36, we visit Jesus with some Greeks who have come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. Greeks! Non-Jews celebrating God's deliverance of his people. What kind of suffering and death did they experience when they were grafted into the Jewish faith? Perhaps, their families disowned them ... they no longer worshiped the same gods, observed the same rituals, held the same values. Perhaps, their friends shunned them, scorned them, ridiculed them. Perhaps, even their new Jewish family held them as second-class members within the faith. Think of what it may have cost them to go to the disciples... crossing cultural boundaries yet again. But, they did it for something they saw in Jesus. Maybe they heard Him teaching in the Temple and now sought out this young rabbi ... and Jesus teaches them the greatest truth for our following him:

"...unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, 

it remains just a single grain; 

but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 

Those who love their life lose it, 

and those who hate their life in this world 

will keep if for eternal life. 

Whoever serves me must follow me, 

and where I am, there will my servant be also.

Whoever serves me, the Father will honor."

Last night at dinner, Mary suffered and died for her love for Jesus. Today, these Greeks suffered and died and come to Him and ... I like to think ... follow Him ... even to His Cross.

Following Jesus is a daily, moment-by-moment decision ... a daily, moment-by-moment suffering and sacrifice of my self - my sinful self - and choosing to live into that person God made me to be, the person whom He loves ... and honors. He promises this for you as well.