'...to become free does not mean becoming free in the world, not becoming free from your brother, not even free from God, but to become free from oneself, one's lies. It means to become free from thinking only of myself, from being the center of my world, from hate, by which I despise God's creation. It means to be free to be for the other: the person for others...
The man who loves because he has been made free by God is the most revolutionary man on earth. He challenges all values. He is the explosive material of human society. He is a dangerous man. For he recognizes that the human race is in the depths of falsehood. And he is always ready to let the light of truth fall upon his darkness; and he will do this because of his love. But this disturbance, which such people bring, calls forth hatred from the world. And therefore this knight of truth and love is not the hero that men long for or honor, not one who is without enemies; but one whom they would do away with, outlaw, and indeed kill. The way of God's truth leads to the cross.'
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Edwin Robertson (Ed.), Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Christmas Sermons, p.71.
