Martin Luther on missional living

I’m re-reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together. Bonhoeffer paints such a rich portrait of Christian community in this short book. This quote from Martin Luther on the first page of the first chapter hit me right between the eyes. As a pastor, I spend most of my time with Christians. Luther’s penetrating words remind me that Jesus was always on mission, among broken, jacked-up lost and hurting "bad" people, so much so that he was accused of being a party animal (Luke 7:34). Convicting. Let Brother Martin’s words instruct us and push us towards people who need Jesus.

“The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been sparred?”

Martin Luther, quoted by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together, p.18