The Pastor and the Audience: Two Ways to Hear the Bible
Editor’s Note: The following blog uses principles from Brandon J. O’Brien’s new book, Reading the Bible in Three Dimensions. For more information on the three layers to reading the Bible he proposes, as well as how to navigate varying readings of the Bible among congregations, see the full book.
READING THE BIBLE IN THREE DIMENSIONS
For the last several years, I’ve led a lot of groups of different sorts—students, pastors, and congregations, both in the U.S. and abroad—through the same workshop. We make our way through 2 Samuel 11 (the story of “David and Bathsheba”) in three interactive movements. By making observations and asking questions, we explore three dimensions that influence what we understand the chapter to mean:
● What’s in the story,
● What’s behind the story, and
● What’s in front of the story.
The experience is never exactly the same, of course. But a few things are consistent. Participants are routinely surprised that they see details in the story that they’ve never noticed before. They express that knowing more about the social and cultural dynamics behind the story makes it come alive. And they leave convinced that they bring a whole lot of assumptions and experiences with them, which sit in front of the text, when they read.
Which is to say that a number of details and dynamics that were invisible at the beginning of the workshop are obvious by the end. People often tell me that the Bible feels more relevant and real to them by the end of the exercise.
IN FRONT OF THE STORY
The experience of engaging with groups in this way has been illuminating for me, too. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that what sits in front of any given passage of Scripture for me is often very different from what sits in front of the text for the participants in this workshop, or the people in the pews when I preach. Even if we share a lot in common culturally—maybe we’re all white or all American or all middle class—a congregant’s gut-level reactions to the Bible often differ significantly from mine.
Mark Allan Powell quantifies this experience in his excellent little book, What Do They Hear? Powell conducted an experiment that began with dividing people into two groups. One was made up of clergy. The second was made up of lay people, who didn’t have leadership roles in the church.
He asked both groups to read the story from Mark 7:1-8, in which Jesus and his disciples eat dinner without going through the ceremonial handwashing ritual. The Pharisees and teachers of the law ask Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”
Powell then asked both groups one simple, open-ended question: “What does this story mean to you?”
Among the clergy, two patterns emerged. First, about 80% of pastors associated with Jesus in the story. They answered the question, “What does this story mean to you?” in terms of how they ought to behave in order to imitate Jesus. They interpreted the passage as a command to instruct their people in particular ways. Two responses illustrate the point:
“The folks in my church always say, ‘We’ve never done it that way before.’ Jesus wants me to tell them, ‘Human traditions are less important than God’s commandments.’”
“We need to preach the Word, even if people would rather just hear homey stories and take part in religious rituals. What they need may not be what they want. They need to hear us preach the Word of God.”
These reactions may strike you as totally reasonable and appropriate. They strike me that way. But they become very interesting when compared with the responses from lay people.
Among the lay people, different patterns emerge: The majority of lay people associated with the disciples—or even the Pharisees—in the story. They interpret the passage as either a comfort or a rebuke to themselves. Two responses illustrate the point:
“It comforts me to know that I don’t always have to get everything right to please Jesus.”
“I’m embarrassed to admit that I have a lot in common with the Pharisees. I worship with my lips but don’t always mean it. I guess I’m a hypocrite too.”
There’s one more interesting pattern worth mentioning: lay people were much more likely than clergy to identify with the Pharisees. Fewer than 10% of the clergy identified with the Pharisees, while almost 50% of lay people identified with the Pharisees.
However, lay people were likely to compare their own pastors to the Pharisees:
“Pastors and other church leaders are always criticizing everyday Christians for one thing or another. I hear Jesus saying, ‘Leave them alone. They’re doing the best they can.’”
two SIDES TO THE STORY
One question I encourage people to ask to help them identify what sits in front of the text when they read is, “In what ways am I like or unlike the characters in this story?” Powell’s research is a different way of answering the same question. And the mismatch between how pastors and their congregants answer that question are pretty enormous. A pastor may read Mark 7 and intuitively, without giving it a second thought, conclude, “What my people need to hear is a confronting message that challenges them to let go of silly traditions and follow Jesus.” At the same time, the members of that pastor’s congregation may read the same passage and intuitively, without giving it a second thought, conclude, “What we really need to hear is a comforting message that reminds us that Jesus loves us even when we fail to keep all the rules our pastor wants us to keep!”
Powell summarizes the idea this way:
“Preachers need to realize that the people in the pews may be hearing the story from a different perspective than they do. What this means for you is that a sermon that seeks to build on what you take to be a self-evident connection with the text is likely to fail—the assumed connection may not be self-evident for many parishioners.”
Those of us who preach and teach need to be reminded that just as the people we teach and preach bring to the Bible all sorts of assumptions and experiences that sit in front of the text and shape what they see when they read—so do we! We read through lenses, too. In some cases those lenses illuminate. Other times they obscure. At the very least, we should assume our lenses are different enough from the lenses our congregants wear to be consequential. Being aware of the differences can make us more effective and empathetic communicators.
That’s why I wish I could run this workshop every time I preach. Wrestling through a text together helps me understand the people in the room better. The questions they ask, the concerns they voice, and the characters they resonate with help me understand what sits in front of the text for them. Reading together also helps me understand the Bible better. I invariably come away from the experience with a new insight. Reading together also helps me understand myself better. It points out my limitations and blindspots and reminds me how much I need both the Scriptures and the community to continue to grow in faith.
About the Author
Brandon J. O'Brien (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is Director of Content Development and Distribution for Redeemer City to City, an organization that supports church planting in global cities.
Brandon is author and co-author of several books, including the best-selling Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, with E. Randolph Richards (InterVarsity Press, 2012). He lives with his wife, Amy, and two children in Chicago.