Extraordinary Christianity: The Hidden Life Seen By All

In Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship he writes for many chapters on the Sermon on the Mount. In his analysis and commentary on Jesus’ most famous teachings, he spend a chapter talking about the nature of righteousness as Christ talks about it in Matthew chapters 5 and 6. Bonhoeffer writes, “In Chapter 5 we were told how the disciple community is essentially visible in character and how its visibility culminates in perisson. (Greek transliteration meaning more or going beyond) We saw that the hall-mark of Christianity is our separation from the world, our transcendence of its standards and our extraordinariness.”

He goes on to discuss the pardoxical nature of the extraordinary life Christ has called us to. The righteousness that defines our character and this extraordinariness is both hidden and visible. We have Christ in chapter 5 telling us that our light must shine forth for all to see and then he talks about doing our acts of righteousness, our prayers and giving in a secret manner. So which is it? Is our righteousness supposed to be on display for the who world? Or is it supposed to be a secret?

Bonhoeffer believed that somehow the answer was both/and not either/or. Stressing the nature of righteousness as a drawing closer to Christ, Bonhoeffer suggests that our righteousness is supposed to be on display for the world, but a secret from ourselves. This is a fascinating idea that I have been toying with, the idea of our righteousness somehow being hidden from ourselves. What does that mean? How can we hide it from ourselves? If Bonhoeffer’s assertion is correct, I believe it must be tied into our taking on the humility of Christ as Paul describes in Philippians 2. Paul says that even though he was God, Jesus did not consider equality with God to be grasped. If we heed Paul’s words and take on such humility in our own life, perhaps we can be somewhat ignorant of our own righteousness.

To be righteous is a state of legal standing of being right which we receive from the work of Christ on our behalf, the activity of doing what is right, and the activity of putting things right in the world. So in many ways, our righteousness can be on display for the world as it manifests itself in our actions and attitudes in this world. It can also be, as with Christ’s example, a state of right being that is inherently full of humility before God. As we draw closer to God we are made more aware of our own sinfulness and our utter lack of extraordinariness in comparison to God. In many ways then, as we become more righteous we in fact become less aware of it.

This is an interesting paradox and Bonhoeffer’s words offer great challenge. We must not look towards the spotlight to highlight our righteousness. We can not put it on display for the world to see. If it is truly righteousness we are exhibiting, it will shine forth for the world to see and at the same time be increasingly hidden from our own understanding. Let us all seek this kind of righteousness and put on the humility of Christ as we seek to draw others to Him. Amen