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Cognitive Biases

                 Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” (Matthew 20:17-19)

                I’ve told this story many times because I think it’s an important idea. At different times, I’ve seen my father, my brother, and/or my sister with her younger son and not recognized them. In fact, I looked at my nephew, thought, “cute kid, looks familiar,” and kept on walking. I’ve seen other people in places I didn’t expect them, or wearing casual (not work) clothing, and didn't recognize them. Cognitive biases (they can’t be here, I think it so it must be true, etc.) are real, and they’re a problem. Specifically, they were the problem that the disciples faced.

                The Israelites generally believed that the Messiah was a political figure. We don’t do that, too, do we? He was supposed to be a Zorro figure, appearing in his full glory out of nowhere, rescuing the Israelites from Rome (or whoever the enemy was) and setting up a kingdom that would keep the Israelites in power for all eternity. That was the disciples' cognitive bias. But Jesus talked about dying, and not just on the way to Jerusalem. In today’s passage, He couldn’t make it any clearer, but the disciples couldn’t get it. And we may think they were stupid, even after we find ourselves doing the same thing. Perhaps because we find ourselves doing the same thing. It’s easier to point the finger elsewhere than to have to admit our flaws.

                It’s not wise to blame them. But there were people who had “followed” Jesus when He was feeding the thousands and healing all sorts of sicknesses. When He started saying things that made them uncomfortable, they walked away. We’re like that, too. We’re quick to announce what “my God” or even “God” would or should do (or not do), and when God doesn’t perform according to our expectations, it’s a trauma. The closest God ever got to saying “I’ll make everything in your life wonderful” is when 1) He set Adam and Eve in the garden with one rule and the consequences of breaking that rule (which they did) and 2) He made a legally binding agreement with Israel that if they followed His Law, He would bless them in all these ways, but if they didn’t, He would curse them in all those ways (and they repeatedly and regularly broke the Law.)

                Jesus told the disciples. They couldn’t process what He said. After His resurrection, He appeared to two disciples, who didn’t recognize Him because He couldn’t be there. He was dead. How often are we like them?

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