The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Week 10: The Messengers — The Mission Discourse

Read Chapters 23-26 of The Cost of Discipleship (on the harvest, the apostles, the work and suffering of the messengers). Key passages: Matthew 9:35–10:42.

Bonhoeffer now moves from the Sermon to the missionary sending of the disciples — the community formed by the Beatitudes is now sent out into the world, and the same costly logic applies.

Discussion Questions

7 questions

1.Bonhoeffer opens this section with Jesus' compassion for the crowds "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." He insists that this compassion is the motive for mission — not strategy, not church growth, but the suffering of people who have no shepherd. Does compassion or strategy more often drive your involvement in outreach?

2.He notes that Jesus tells his disciples to "pray the Lord of the harvest to send out workers" — and then immediately sends them. Prayer and mission are inseparable in the text. How does your experience of prayer connect to (or disconnect from) your engagement in mission?

3.The disciples are sent with nothing — no bag, no money, no extra tunic. Bonhoeffer reads this radical dependence not as an ascetic ideal but as a theological statement: the messenger must not be distracted by material security. How does material security either enable or impede your witness today?

4."I am sending you out as sheep among wolves." Bonhoeffer takes seriously that the mission of the church is inherently dangerous — the messenger shares the fate of the message. He says the disciples are not to be surprised by hostility, as if something had gone wrong; hostility is the expected reception of the gospel in a fallen world. How does this reframe setbacks or opposition you have faced in sharing your faith?

5.Jesus warns that he comes "not to bring peace but a sword" — to divide families and communities. Bonhoeffer refuses to soften this: the gospel genuinely disrupts human allegiances, and the messenger who wants to keep everyone comfortable will not deliver the message faithfully. Where has your desire for social peace led you to soften or silence the gospel?

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Closing Prayer

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Lord of the harvest, the fields are still plentiful and the workers are still few. Forgive us for our comfort, our caution, and our silence. Send us — not because we are bold or gifted, but because the people around us are harassed and helpless and have no shepherd. Teach us to carry the message with empty hands, trusting that the one who sends us will provide what we need. And give us the courage to accept that the world which rejected you may well reject us. Amen.

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