In 1945, German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was executed in a Nazi prison camp at the age of 39. He was imprisoned for trying to help people flee the country and find safety with the impending war and Hitler’s rise to power. While in prison, he wrote many books and letters that are circulating today and encouraging God’s people all around the world. One of his greatest books, The Cost of Discipleship, is a call to total obedience in the Lord Jesus Christ. He could have never imagined the extent to which God would use his writings. One view that Bonhoeffer spoke of was the incomparable value of learning to see the world with “the view from below” – the perspective of the outcast, the powerless, and the oppressed. I wonder if Bonhoeffer was influenced at all by Scripture? A study of the life and ministry of Jesus will reveal that “the view from below” was one of the central lessons that He taught His disciples. Let me interject that if He taught it to His disciples it is applicable to us!
God the Creator condescended to earth to meet with His created humanity. People are small. People are weak. People are sinful. God is big. God is strong. God is holy. Never will we see God by looking downward, but rather our eyes must be “fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith,” (Heb.12:2a). In its context, this verse is teaching us that Jesus is the example that we should pattern our lives after. If we want to know what God is like, we must study the life of Jesus. But, a word of caution: if we seek after Jesus we must be willing to endure the cross along with Him; “Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb.12:2b). You cannot stop reading after the first part of the verse. Having the perspective of “the view from below” means looking up to Jesus and sharing in His sufferings. The Apostle Paul highlighted this theme throughout his epistles; "...that I may know Him and the power of the resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death..." (Phil. 3:10).
The cross of Christ is the greatest example I can find in all of history to illustrate Bonhoeffer’s “the view from below” perspective. It is the ultimate portrait of the sufferings of Christ on our behalf, and yet, the profound invitation for us to follow Him. Jesus was taken to a hill called Golgotha, one of the highest places in all of Jerusalem. Once there, He was nailed to a cross for you and me. All who chose not to trek up the hill to get a front row seat; looked upward. All who were present at the crucifixion; looked upward. All who mocked Him; looked upward. The one who pierced his side with a spear; looked upward. Jesus Himself; looked upward to the Father.
Never will we see God by looking downward. Never will we see God until we have seen the Christ. Never will we see the Christ until we have seen the cross. Never will we know of His salvation until we understand the message of the cross. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says; “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” The cross is not simply a piece of jewelry that we glamorize and idolize. It is not just a religious symbol that gains marginal acceptance in a fallen society. The cross of Christ is powerful. It offers salvation, but yet demands sanctification – a life committed to daily becoming like Christ. It is a call to die to self and a commission to live as Christ. The cross is the life-bridge between a fallen world and Almighty God. This point must be emphasized: the cross doesn’t save, Christ alone saves.
The cross is where Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took upon Himself the wrath of God so that we might be clothed with His righteousness. He came to us when we could not go to Him and He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He is our Savior! The writer of Hebrews puts it this way; “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
Last summer (2007) I was privileged to travel to India. One afternoon I had an opportunity to do some sight-seeing and browse several shops. I entered a gift shop and soon noticed several cross necklaces and a few little hand-carved wooden crosses. The shopkeeper could tell that I was interested in crosses so he asked me, “Would you like one with or without the little man on it?” I had to choose my words carefully because I truly wanted to respond not react - there is a difference. I shared with him that “the little man” on the cross was Jesus, God’s Son. God came to earth as a man, died on the cross for the sin of the world, and on the third day rose again. Therefore, because of the resurrection we know that He is no longer on the cross. The shopkeeper was hearing this message for the first time. I decided not to purchase a cross with “the little man” on it. As I walked out of the souvenir shop I thought to myself how tragic it is that there are those who have never heard the name of Jesus, have never heard the message of the Gospel, have never experienced the awesome power of the cross, and have never heard that God loves them. How sad that the God-Man would be referred to simply as “the little man.”
Jesus was, and is, and is to come. He is not to be addressed as “the little man.” According to Colossians Chapter One; “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” He is not on the cross. He is not in the tomb. If the cross and the tomb are both empty, by process of elimination there is only one place left; He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. As a display of God’s unconditional love for us, He came in the flesh, died, rose again, and has promised to one day come again. This is the Gospel.
Before we can look horizontally and see the needs of the outcasts, powerless, and oppressed, we have to first understand that we too fit this very description. Apart from Christ, we are spiritual outcasts, powerless, and oppressed. In the sinful heart of man, we often try to look down on others, especially when they are not like us. Often when we see the poor, the needy, and the downtrodden we begin making internal comparisons and judgments; "they are in that situation because of choice." Is that what we are to tell the children playing ball in the streets of Brazil where open sewers run? If the message can't be preached everywhere, it ought not be preached anywhere! Truth is true regardless of geography and ethnicity.
The truth of the matter is that as we look down on others, we see only a reflection of ourselves. Christ-like humility recognizes a position of lowliness. We are absolutely nothing apart from the incomparable grace of God. The Gospel is a horizontally shared message of grace meaning that it is shared person-to-person in normal conversation. This is primarily how most people have come to know the Gospel. Someone in their life shared the message with them. Therefore, why would we ever think we were privileged? Why would we ever think we have a monopoly on the Gospel? My former Greek professor, Dr. David Alan Black said it this way, "The Gospel is for sinners; no one else need apply!" Christ died for sinners - that includes all of us.
We must understand that in the presence of a holy God, we are hopeless. It is only because of Christ' work on the cross that we have access to His righteousness. It is only when we look up to Christ that we gain His perspective of grace. This perspective of grace enables us to see others as He sees them and we become useful and empowered servants. We must make much of Him and less of us. Pride and self-centeredness will never look horizontally (eye-to-eye) toward others. Rather, pride causes us to look vertically (down) on others. A prideful, arrogant, self-centered person is spiritually bankrupt and is useless to the work of the kingdom of God.
When we find ourselves straying from “the view from below” we need only to meditate on the cross. Even in the midst of His great suffering, Jesus was still exalted and lifted high above the crowd. All who were present had to look up to fix their eyes upon Him. The same is true today. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:6, “Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.” As we seek to live “the view from below” we can always claim the promise - that His name will be glorified. As we seek to view others through the eyes of Christ, we bring glory to His name. He lifts us up as if to sit us upon the Father’s shoulders.
Often when teams win a serious competition (world series, national title, etc.), the players will take the coach (placed high on the players shoulders) and parade him around the field. Why? To show him off to all who are present; to make much of the coach and less of the players; and to acknowledge their winning as a result of the work and dedication of the coach. It all comes down to the work of the coach. In some ways, we see this portrayed at the resurrection. As a result of the Son humbling Himself and taking the sin of the world upon His shoulders, God the Father has placed His Son upon His shoulders and paraded Him around for all to see. This is the One who has come in obedience to the will of the Father to conquer sin, provide victory over death and the grave, and to offer eternal life for those who will believe! Acknowledging Jesus as Savior and Lord is the first step to seeing others with "the view from below."
“Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:8-11). He is not “the little man,” rather; He is the embodied glory of the Father.