Mr. Wolf and Having the Answers

I was reminded this week of a story about one of my favorite theologians Dietrich Bonhoeffer. You may have heard of Bonhoeffer through his writing or maybe his opposition of Hitler and World War II but for a short time in his life Bonhoeffer was actually a youth worker in Barcelona, Spain and he tells this story from his time there in a letter to his older brother. At 11:00am he heard a knock at his door and upon answering it found one of his students who was usually cheerful and positive looking distraught. He invited him inside and soon discovered that his dog, Mr. Wolf, had passed away a short time ago. He talked about the dog and cried for quite awhile and then suddenly became very still. “I know Mr. Wolf is not dead” he said, “His spirit is now in heaven…but tell me, will I see Mr. Wolf again?” Bonhoeffer was stunned to silence. He did not know how to respond. He says, “So there I stood and was supposed to answer him yes or no. If I said, ‘no, we don’t know’ that would have meant ‘no.’” He went on to say that God loves both humans and animals and although it is never clear in Scripture what happens to our pets when they die its clear that God desires all who love each other to remain together but honestly we do not have the answer to that question. The boy left happily, fully knowing where he thought Mr. Wolf would be. Now, to me, the important thing about this story and the lesson for us is not necessarily Bonhoeffer's answer to the question but the encouragement is that we do not need to have all the answers. At times, the best way to minister to someone is not giving them an answer but simply being present. This is not to say that our responsibility is not to answer questions or provide theological truth but this should not be to the exclusion of communicating care and love to those entrusted to us.

To read more about Dietrich Bonhoeffer's time as a youth pastor read Andrew Root's book "Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker." It's an awesome read!