Gut Words

Gut Words

[Jesus said,] “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father.”

John 16:25 (NASB)

In one of my daughter’s college classes, her teacher shared the true meaning of good communication. To my daughter’s surprise, he didn’t launch into a discussion of gerunds and prepositional phrases. Instead he said, “Any communication that can be understood is good communication.” This is true for the Amish, too.

Many Amish people still speak the same language as their forefathers, who came to America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The dialect varies a bit from county to county in Pennsylvania and in other states, but the differences are not many and most Dutchmen can understand each other. Expressing themselves in English, however, is another matter, and the results are amazingly funny. They often use the German word order and idioms in speaking our language. Here are some ferhoodled phrases:

“Mom’s layin’ over the dough—she’s got to get her bakin’ caught after.”

“We walked the town all over and looked the windows thru—ach, such wonderful pretty things for a body to see.”

“As soon as I first see him, I fall myself in luff.”

Those phrases are cute, but could you imagine trying to carry on a conversation like that for any length of time? The disciples who first listened to Jesus talk of the Kingdom of Heaven might have experienced the same kind of confusion. Was Jesus a poor communicator because so many people walked away scratching their heads? No, just as Amish ancestors molded their own language, so did Christ. When He spoke of His death, resurrection, and the Kingdom to come, He was introducing a new dialect, a new vocabulary, so to speak. Christ spoke not just to those who were present but to all those to come who would fully embrace His message.

If you were to spend the day with an Amish person, you would begin to understand the lingo. And the more time you walk with Jesus, the more you will understand His messages to humanity. And for those who follow Him, His messages are very gut!

Dear heavenly Father, I’m so amazed that the words You spoke thousands of years ago were given for me today. Thank You for Your Spirit, who helps me understand what You have said.