Good Ground, Good Fruit (Buona Terra, Buon Frutto)

As we continue our journey through the Italian New Testament, we have finished the book of Matteo, Matthew; and have already crossed over into Marco, Mark. But before we look into our first scriptures in Marco, let me just mention a previous lesson from Matteo 25. It was about the talents a man gave to his servants and it talked about different forms of the word fruit in Italian: including fruttare, as well as the phrase farli fruttare. (Briefly,  farli fruttare means to yield, or you could say "to make fruitful.")

And here in Marco 4:8 a form of the word fruit is used again, (this time, in both the English and Italian translations this time).

It's the parable of the sower and the seed and therefore speaks of the ground or the earth, la terra.

There are many lessons in this familiar parable, but the basis of it is something Italians tend to be very aware of. Not just that you have to sow seed to get a harvest, but also that you can't just sow it any old place… At least not if you want to have a good harvest and bring forth much fruit.

As He Said, Come Aveva Detto

I didn't think of it at the time, but the basis for this topic really came some years back, on a day I was texting with a friend.

It was just after 6 pm on New Year's Eve of 2013. And I was thinking that in Italy (6 hours ahead of my time zone), they had already crossed over into 2014. And since I tend to get a little excited over things like this, I decided to share it with someone. So I sent the following text to my friend:

And her reply was, (how nice of her to play along)…

Hm, I said to myself. Ditto? Italian? I'd never thought about it, but it did seem like a word that came from this language. So I did some research and found that ditto does indeed have Italian roots. It meant something like, having been said. Today in Italian it's represented by the word, detto. And we see it used here in Matthew 28:6 in the phrase, come aveva detto.

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.

You Made Them Equal to Us (Tu Li Hai Trattati Come Noi)

Matthew 20:1-16 tells una parabola, a parable, of a landowner who hired different men to work in his fields throughout the day. It ends with the teaching that the last (ultimi) will be first (primi), and the first last.

It's a truth that I've accepted because the Word of God says it, but I confess I didn't fully understand it. At least not until I read it as part of my daily Bible reading… in Italian! It's amazing how much of your understanding opens up just by reading in Italian day by day. And this time, it wasn't because of the words used in the Italian version. It was just because my understanding of the language is growing and I'm able to see more while reading in Italian because I don't have to work as hard to understand what the Italian is saying. I can just focus more on what God's word is saying and receiving insight and revelation from Him.

In this story, some workers are hired at the very beginning of the day and others at different times throughout the day, even at the eleventh hour, l'undicesima ora. Yet at the end of the day, they were all paid the same.

This bothered the workers who started at the beginning because they felt they should have been paid more than those who worked fewer hours. But the landowner reminded them that they received what he agreed to pay them. And also that it was his right to do whatever he wanted with what was his. Did his goodness bother them because there was something impure in their own hearts?

My Yoke is Easy (Il mio giogo è dolce)

I remember a time when I'd become very weary of all that was going on in my life and greatly in need of God's rest, as it talks about in Matthew 11:28. We all get to this place at times; several times even. But let's be real. What Matthew 11:30 says it takes to get that rest, accepting that Christ's yoke is easy... just doesn't come easy. When you think of a yoke or a burden, it's something that you know you must bear, but is still difficult to endure. Yoke, easy. Burdens, light. These are pairs of words that don't seem to go together. And if you read the verse in the Italian, it takes this even further. In the Italian Bible, the word used for easy is dolce; which as many know means "sweet."

Can this really be true? Can a bitter trial we experience actually be sweet? Well getting back to the time when I was truly burdened, I felt like it was more than I could bear. Having already walked with Christ for some years, my prayer life had become pretty strong. But under the weight of my trial I found myself going to God in prayer even more. And as I did, something pretty amazing began to happen. I was spending a lot less of that time agonizing over my circumstances and a lot more in delightful fellowship with God. Right in the middle of my troubles!

I remember that this was also a lonely period in my life when no one really seemed to have time for me. There were days when I would literally stare at the phone hoping it would ring, and I'd have someone to talk to. But the truth was, part of my trial was learning how to walk alone, when necessary. And it was really the fact that I didn't have anyone to turn to as I went through this trial, that pushed me to spend more time in the presence of God.

And even though I didn't know anything about the Italian Bible at the time, looking back now I can truly say, that was when I had my first taste. Taste of what you might ask? My first taste of Christ's yoke being dolce, sweet.

All These Things Will be Added (Vi Saranno Sopraggiunte)

I once saw an episode of a TV show where a man looked up one day and realized he was almost broke. Now usually that's the type of thing that  causes someone to panic. But this man didn't. And when asked repeatedly why he didn't; he gave pretty much the same answer each time. Something will come up, he'd say. Or, something will turn up.

The man wasn't worried because he knew that financially and career wise, he'd built on a good solid foundation. And he was confident that some opportunity would arise for him before things got too out of hand. And sure enough. By the time the show was over… out of the blue, something "came up."

The man's finances got back on track and he was able to continue having all the different things he needed.

In a similar way, Jesus teaches in Matthew 6 that we should not worry when there are unfulfilled needs in our lives. As it says in Matthew 6:33, if we are faithful in carrying out the things of God and we seek to walk in His righteousness; the things we're in need of will be supplied.

That's the way the English Bible puts it. It says, all these things will be added to us. But the word used in the Italian gives us another way of looking at this.

You Shall Call His Name (Tu gli Porrai nome…)

I must confess. When growing up, I wasn't too crazy about my first name, Marcie. It wasn't the most common name and it seemed like most people I interacted with had a hard time saying it (at least at first). And forget about anyone spelling it right.

I use to imagine myself with a few other names I thought were more fitting. It wasn't a huge issue for me. I just would have preferred being called something else. That is until as a young Christian, I found out what my name meant… Warrior!

How awesome, I thought. All of a sudden, I liked my name; was proud of it. Even to this day when it seems like life is knocking me  around just a bit too much, I try to remember the name I've been given and remind myself that I can't get stuck being timid and fearful. I have to act more like my name. I have to put up a better fight.

Now I don't think that my parents intentionally picked a name for me that meant warrior. But over and over again in the Bible, we definitely see this happen. And with the opening chapter of the New Testament, we see God setting the stage for Christ's life and work on earth by telling Joseph what His name was to be before He was born.

"You shall call His name Jesus" (Matthew 1:21). That's powerful in and of itself.

But what made this stand out even more to me was the phrase used in the Italian language Bible, "gli porrai nome Gesù." The literal translation of this is more like, you shall put  or set upon him the name Jesus.

The Italian language is known for being a very expressive and colorful language that often describes things differently than many others. This is one of the reasons I've come to love reading the Bible in Italian. After being both a student and teacher of God's Word for more than 20 years, phrases and wording like this allow me to see the Scriptures in a whole new light. The phrase "tu gli porrai nome…" is a perfect example of this.

To say that a name is  placed or set upon a newborn child implies so much more than just something to identify him by. It's more like assigning a role, a calling or  even a destiny to someone. It reflects what or who he is to be.

The name set upon King David meant Beloved of God and we know that God thought of David as a man after his own heart. Before the birth of David's son who was to be the next king, God said his name was to be Solomon which means peace. And during King Solomon's reign, he indeed had a great time of peace.