Traded (A Farli Fruttare)

One of le parabole, the parables, in  Matthew 25 tells the story of a man who gave talents to his servants before going away on a trip.

This man gave five talents to one servant, two to another, and a single talent to a third. He gave each according to their ability. And once he was gone, the servants who received the five and the two talents went to work.

Now when the Bible talks about what the servant with the five talents did, the English version says he went and traded with them.

But the Italian from the Nuova Riveduta translation, uses the phrase a farli fruttare. Even if you don't fully understand this you can recognize  fruttare as a word similar to our English word fruit. The entire phrase literally means to make them yield, as a plant would yield fruit.

The Italian language is known for its colorful way of describing things and can talk about even the simplest of things with flair. This is just one of many verses that shows this.

In English we talk about trading or investing in something. And we know that we invest in something looking for it to bring us a return or, you might say, to yield or bear fruit as the Italian says, a farli fruttare.

So, the servant went to make fruitful, the talents he had received.

I think wording it this way brings the message home with a little more, shall I say passione. And it takes passion to make the most of what we have.

God plants one or more talents in each of us as seeds. This means He places them within us as an investment. And He expects a return on His investment. So it then becomes our job to work with what we've been given so that it grows and brings forth fruit unto the glory and Kingdom of God. This is a part of what is symbolized by the two servants who doubled their master's investment.

Oh, and the third servant with just the one talent? He buried it out of fear and as a result lost even the one he had. Like the saying says, use it or lose it.

Don't be like that one. Instead, go forth with passion in all God gives to you... a farli fruttare.