Cognitive dissonance is created when our existing beliefs or conduct comes into conflict or tension with new information. The cognitive unconscious part of our brain serves as a filter and auto-response mechanism. It is where our minds store our beliefs and ideas much like pictures. Once formed, those pictures (schema) are fairly ridged and resistant to change. But if we are to learn and grow, we must effectively find resolution to the dissonance.
When presented with new information that doesn’t fit our current picture, we automatically choose one of several options to resolve the tension:
- We simply reject the new data as irrelevant.
- We modify the new data to fit what we already believe.
- We bring the old picture into the conscious part of our minds and compare it to the new information being presented. After wrestling with the tensions, we modify the old picture with new truth based on conscious conclusions.
The third option is what Paul calls “renewing our minds” (Romans 12:2). However, unlike responses one and two, number three requires effort and intentionality over time, requiring more work than most of us want to engage in and so we routinely practice “dissonance avoidance”.
This strategy applied to discipleship assumes that Jesus’ description of discipleship is simply an affirmation of what we are already thinking and doing. In this way, we eliminate any uncomfortable tension or cognitive dissonance.
At the end of Luke 9 Jesus purposely created cognitive dissonance in the minds of three men. Each of these three men came to Jesus expressing his desire to be one of His disciples. However in each case, Jesus, rather than celebrating, challenges their mental picture (their schema) of discipleship, creating cognitive (and emotional) dissonance. It is not that Jesus rejects their offer; He simply clarifies what they were asking for. Together these three men give Jesus the opportunity to challenge our mental picture of discipleship. So before we look at the five marks of a certified disciple (promised in blog 34), I want to highlight three challenges to our cultural picture of discipleship.
The first man illustrates the issue of destiny. “I will follow You wherever You go”. A new kingdom with miracles and power sounds exciting. Count me in!
Jesus response was a gentle but clear, “Really? Are you sure you understand what that means?” There was no bait and switch with Jesus.
“Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head (Luke 9:58 NLT).
Jesus clarified that the cross comes before the crown, humility before glory, vulnerability before security.
Peter understood this principle when he rebuked Jesus for saying He was going to Jerusalem to be killed. I’m sure Peter didn’t want anything to harm his Messiah, but he also understood that if death awaited Jesus, it would likely await him as well. It was the issue of destiny that Peter struggled with when he denied Jesus three times at the trial.
Paul understood the principle of destiny in his desire to know Christ:
I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! (Phil. 3:10-11 NLT).
Paul understood that following Christ (knowing), involves the destiny of suffering as well as the power and glory of the resurrection.
Our second potential disciple illustrates the issue of priority. This man was interested in discipleship, but only after he got his affairs in order. “But first let me…. then I will.” Waiting until his father died and was buried was an excuse that sounded reasonable but revealed a deeper issue. Expressed a little differently, Jesus addressed the same issue in Matt 6:33. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and (then) all these things will be added to you”
Our version of the priority issue might go like this:
- I will get serious about following Christ once I get my career established and my family raised.
- I will follow once I enjoy life a little more.
- I will follow but I will choose the time and place.
It is not that we don’t intend to follow, but just not now. It is just not convenient since we have so many things on our agenda that may not be discipleship friendly!
The third man illuminates the issue is duplicity. Duplicity is when we try and live with two competing values, beliefs, or authorities. The third man asked to first go home and connect with his friends and family. Jesus’s response reveals the true intentions in this request.
But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:62).
This was an old proverb that was intuitively obvious in an agricultural culture. You can’t plow in a straight line if you are constantly looking backward. It is not referring to glancing back periodically, but rather trying to hang on to two opposing ideas, beliefs, or authorities.
The Israelites struggled with duplicity after leaving Egypt. Facing the unknown and challenging future of entering the Promised Land, they longingly looked back to Egypt (Numbers 14:2-4). They had left Egypt geographically but not in their hearts.
We constantly face the challenge of duplicity: leaving the old and embracing the new, replacing our secular worldview with a biblical one, being in but not of the world. It has never been easy to discern what needs to be rejected from the culture and what can be integrated into our journey of faith. But discipleship means we are constantly asking those hard questions.
We are not told how the three men in our story responded to the dissonance Jesus created in their picture of discipleship. It is not really important. What is important is how we respond. Discipleship in poker terms is an “all in” response. Are we willing to let Scripture challenge our cultural picture of what it means to follow/apprentice Christ?
Reflection:
- Which of the three men in the story do you mostly identify with and why?
- What conditions have you placed on your apprenticeship with Christ?