• Benny Nalkara, CMI

Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy (2:3-6) contains three metaphors which the apostle Paul employs to exhort Timothy and the members of his community to continue to remain faithful to the apostolic teaching. The first is a military metaphor, the second is an athletic metaphor and the third one is an agricultural metaphor. The agricultural metaphor would appeal to Timothy’s frame of reference and of course the Ephesian Christian community, which was entrusted to him, because their society was an agricultural one. This metaphor emphasizes the certainty of some reward for the hard work involved.
Farming is an essential occupation but it has no spectacular appeal or exciting glamour. Farmers work 365 days a year, regardless of the weather. Farming takes time. Patience is a required virtue for a farmer. The smart farmer knows when the moment is ready. The farmer is the one who knows soul of the soil, how to look at the soil, and maybe runs some tests to make sure the soil is ready to grow crops. The Bible uses a number of striking agricultural images when speaking about God’s people and God’s relationship with them.
We find that the agricultural metaphors and images were used by Jesus all throughout his ministry and preaching. He used the images of the sower and the seed, the vine and branches, the weeds, the good and bad tree, the fig tree, the wheat grain and many more to communicate the ideas like faithfulness, fruitfulness, hard work, toil etc. They are a good reminder for what is required from us every day of our own lives. Jesus used the image of the agricultural cycle to describe the mysterious unfolding of the kingdom of God. The harvest is also an image that Jesus used to speak about missionary discipleship. The day-to-day chores, tasks, and the attention required to the smallest details made agriculture an unforgettably rich metaphor for Jesus and His teachings.
Paul also used the agricultural metaphor to explain the nature of the growth of the Word of God and the Church. He uses an agricultural metaphor for the Church in 1 Corinthians 3, calling it “God’s field” (v. 9). He compares the planting of the gospel to sowing a seed and emphasizes that while different individuals may be involved in the process (e.g., planting and watering the seed), it is God who ultimately gives the growth. In the Pastoral letters we come across many agricultural images used by Paul like, “we labour and strive (1 Tim.4:10), they who labour in the word (1 Tim. 4:17), the labourer is worthy of his hire (1 Tim.5:18), a root of all kinds of evil (1 Tim.6:10), rebuke them sharply (literally cutting away as with a sharp pruning knife), (Tit.1:13), and not live unproductive lives (Tit.3:14).
Paul’s metaphor of the farmer in 2 Timothy 2 sets forth two qualities needed by the Christian leader. He must be willing to engage in difficult and exhausting toil in fulfilment of his assignment. He must also be sure to nurture his own spiritual life from the results of his toil. Paul makes the hard work of the farmer central in his picture. The participle kopionta (“hardworking”) denotes toiling to the point of weariness and exhaustion. Anyone having any acquaintance with farming knows that if there is to be fruit there must first be hard, exhausting toil. This image gives emphasis to the fact that Christian life is definitely a hard work. A farmer must be prepared to work at any hour. In harvest time we can see farmers at work in their fields so long as the last streak of light is left; they know no hours. Neither must the Christian.
Because of his persistent toil, the farmer ‘ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.’ The use of the conjunction ‘ought’ (dei) indicates that his partaking of the fruit is a moral necessity. Paul here connects the faithfulness of the farmer to the fruitfulness of the labour. It is not the lazy farmer, but the farmer who toils, who must be the first to receive the share of the fruits of the harvest. Often the farmer must be content, first, to work, and, then, to wait.
The farmer is upheld by the hope of the harvest. Each submits to the discipline and the toil for the sake of the glory which shall be. The Christian struggle is not without a goal and he/she can be certain that after the effort of the Christian life, there comes the joy of fruitfulness. The farmer is entirely dependent on an unseen power- the power of God. His faithfulness must include not only the faithfulness in his own wok but also the faithfulness to God who gives the fruit of his hard work.
The lessons of hard work, cheerfulness, hopefulness, and patience, the confident expectation all are to be diligently fostered by every Christian minister in his own heart and mind. In the present Indian scenario, where the farmer is denied of his right of the harvest, the Pauline metaphor has got an extra socio-economic-political nuance too. The toiling farmers are to be taken seriously by the Church and the state!