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 includes, The Cost of Discipleship, which is a call to total obedience to 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. Of course, I speak rhetorically because if you study the life and ministry of Jesus, you will quickly discover “the view from below” was one of the central lessons that He taught His disciples. Therefore, it is also 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,” (cf. Heb.12:2a). This verse teaches us that Jesus is the example and pattern for our lives. It is through His life and ministry that the character of God is revealed. There is nothing greater than seeking after Jesus, but to do so means enduring 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” (cf. Heb.12:2b). Having the perspective of “the view from below” means (1) looking up to Jesus and (2) sharing in His sufferings. Those two axioms cannot be separated.
The cross of Christ is the greatest example in all of history that illustrates “the view from below” perspective. It is the ultimate portrait of "looking up to Jesus" and "sharing in His sufferings." In addition, the cross of Christ is also a profound invitation for us to follow after Him. Jesus was taken to a hill called Golgotha, one of the highest points in all of Jerusalem. Those who chose not to trek up the hill to get a front row seat, looked upward. Those who were present at the crucifixion, looked upward. Those 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 Jesus. Never will we see Jesus 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 by wearing around our neck or in our pierced ears. The cross stands as the altar of our salvation. It stands as the crossroads of death and life. The cross is the life-bridge between a fallen world and a Holy God. Christ, who is life (cf. John 14:6), was stretched out upon the bridge (the cross) so that you and I might live! The cross itself is not powerful; The Christ on the cross is powerful. The cross does not save - Jesus saves!
The cross is where Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took upon Himself the wrath of God in exchange for our salvation. As the old hymn says so poignantly, “His wounds have paid my ransom.” He came to us when we could not go to Him and He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. 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” (cf. 9:23-28).
Several years ago I was privileged to travel to India. One afternoon I had an opportunity to do some sight-seeing and browse several shops along the way. 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 shared with him that “the little man” on the cross was Jesus, God’s Son. He came to earth, died on the cross for the sins of the world, and on the third day rose again. Therefore, He is no longer on the cross. I would have purchased a cross, but he didn’t have one without “the little man” on it. How tragic it is that there are those who have never heard the name of Jesus, never heard the message of the gospel, never experienced the awesome power of the cross, and refer to him simply as “the little man.”
Jesus is not “the little man,” but the great I AM, the Alpha and the Omega, and the Agent of creation (cf. Heb. 1:2). According to Colossians, “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” (cf. 1:15-17). He is not on the cross nor in the tomb. If the cross and the tomb are both empty there is only one place He could be; He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. As a display of God’s unconditional love for us, He commissioned Jesus to come, die, rise again, and one day come again. This is the gospel. "The view from below" is all about living out the gospel so that lives are pointed toward the Savior!
Before we can look horizontally and see the needs of the outcasts, powerless, and oppressed, we must first understand that we, too, fit this very description. Apart from Christ, we are spiritual outcasts, powerless, and oppressed. The gospel must first minister to our hearts before we can ever minister to others. In the sinful heart of man we often try to look down on others, especially when they are not like us. Rather than helping the poor, the needy, and the downtrodden we often make internal comparisons and judgments. The truth of the matter is that if we look down, we only see ourselves. Christ-like humility recognizes personal lowliness of position. On our own merit we are absolutely nothing apart from the incomparable grace of God. Only by looking up to Christ can we gain His perspective of grace and see others as He sees them. Pride never looks horizontally toward others - only vertically. One who is prideful and self-centered is spiritually bankrupt and useless to the work of Christ and His kingdom.
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 and sits us upon the Father’s knee. “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” (cf. Phil. 2:8-11). He is not “the little man,” rather, He is the embodied glory of the Father who is worthy to be praised!
