Do people hear the same message differently?
A friend emailed me the question about two weeks ago. Do people hear the same message differently?
I told her I’d think about it before answering. Her question is a good one, so I thought I’d share it with all of you.
To begin, my friend is direct. By this I mean there is nothing hidden or complicated in what she is asking. Do people hear (do they receive) what is being shared the same way?
The answer is no.
As a college freshman, I remember my roommate and our suitemate went to the same Christian concert. The concert must have been on campus. The two returned to our dorm at the same time.
Their reactions to the concert were completely opposite. My roommate experienced what Christians call a mountaintop experience. To him, this concert—this message in songs—was awe inspiring and faith forming. To say he loved it would be an understatement. To say it helped shaped his relationship to and understanding of Jesus Christ could not capture all his enthusiasm, joy, and energy. He lit that night.
Our suitemate? Total opposite. He found the show to be just that—a show. He shared the band was inauthentic. I don’t remember his exact words, of course, but he might have used the word “gimmicky.”
One concert. Two different reactions?
My friend who asked the question about people hearing the same message differently is a Christian. Let me clarify that. I say with appreciation that my friend is a profound Christian. By this, I mean she is transparent in her sinful nature, thirsty for the Word of God, and she studies and prays with an enthusiasm, joy and energy that is beautiful to experience.
So, huh. How can this be? How can one message (be it a concert, a sermon or a lecture) be received so differently? This isn’t the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9). People aren’t speaking in their own unique languages that no one else can understand.
Isn’t God clear? Like really, really clear? And Jesus doesn’t lean one way in one gospel and a completely different way in another.
Now it is true that there are differences in the four gospels. Each writer speaks from a different location to a different audience. Generally speaking though, is scripture truly open for interpretation when, in essence, it is one script? If so, how can this exact, single source be taken so differently?
I am not a lecturer, but can speak to scripture and sermons. Scripture does not change. It does not vary. Okay, yes, versions of the Bible do slant differently from others, but I am talking generally here. There is no essential difference. For example, baby Moses was found in a basket by Pharaoh’s daughter (Exodus 2:1-10). Fact. One story. There isn’t a concurrent narrative of Moses being adopted as seven-year-old from an overseas adoption agency that is found elsewhere in Exodus, or in another Old Testament book altogether.
How do we hear (or read) the same story differently? I think this is better question. Perhaps it is the one my friend truly meant to ask.
Let me answer this way. More than once, I have shared the following before I preach. “Let your mind roam when you hear the sermon. Cocreate with me. Coauthor.”
I certainly do this when I hear a sermon. Shouldn’t everyone?
Anyone who thinks I’m suggesting a free-for-all where you can think whatever you want to and it will all be swell, breathe. This is not what I mean.
Just think about how you think when you hear a sermon. You may be a couple minutes into it. You’re right with everything the pastor says. Boom. On point. No variances. And then you hear something that catches you, stirs you. No, you do not go off into an all-out daydream, but you start to think. You start to apply. You start to connect. You start to make meaning. A part of your brain is still with the pastor, but something else is happening, too.
This is why I think the same message can be heard by two or more people so very differently. We catch what we catch. We slide what we have to slide in the moment for any number of reasons.
Does this mean only one message is right? No. It means the Holy Spirit is at work between your ears and around your heart. The message you take home is the message you needed to hear.
Now can messages be misinterpreted? Can someone misunderstand what is being said? Yes. I think this is far less the case though.
Let me begin to close with the Holy Spirit just mentioned because this is good. So very good. What makes the journey of faith so exciting is engaging the Tower of Babel or the story of Moses as a baby in a basket again and again through the years. Those who have been faithful scripture readers and sermon listeners know what I am about to say. Time changes how the text is received. Different seasons in our lives bring out different meanings to the same text. If we could hear the same sermon twice at two different times in our lives, we would likely hear slightly different—or maybe even radically different—messages each time. Why? Because God is constantly talking with you. His message to you at age 25 is different from the message He sends you at age 65.
What I just said can be argued successfully. Sometimes we need to hear (and receive) the same message years apart. But do this. Let God speak to you each time you read the same text. Certainly, let God speak to you privately each time you hear a sermon. Listen to how others receive the same message (and this is where it gets exciting), but know God has something specific to share with who you are and where you are in the moment.
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