Self-denial: Interpreting Language

There's more to language than simply the surface meaning of words. Language is laden with unconscious meaning that comes from sources such as family upbringing and experiences, gender and personality, etc.  For understanding hidden and unconscious meaning in a language, the hearer must care about the speaker and about the "world" they speak out of.

I've been thinking lately about the way of love which God exemplified and demonstrated in Jesus. The thought came to me that if I want to love and accept those I have contact with, I must be willing to listen to their words in the context of the world from which they speak. This applies, not only to a person from a different language from mine but to persons who speak my native tongue.

The book of John has approximately 27 stories of personal encounters that Jesus had with very different people. As far as I know, Jesus and each of them spoke the same language of that day and location. But because each person was uniquely formed by their "world" (upbringing, life experience, status, gender, vocation, personality, etc), Jesus listened and spoke differently to each of them. He heard "their language", understanding what they were trying to say and then He responded in "their language". I believe His love and compassion motivated Him to make the effort to truly understand "their language" in order to relate well with them.

In these times of polarization in society at many levels, I'm realizing my need to make the effort to listen with love and care to really "hear" what the person is saying rather than take their words literally and insisting on interpreting them through "my language". This is part of self-giving love, the self-denial to which we who follow Jesus are called for the sake of love.