THE HUSBANDMAN THAT LABOURETH

This meditation concludes the trilogy of metaphors that occur in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verses 3-6. We have already thought about soldiers and their loyalty and athletes and their confor­mity. Today, we shall think about a husbandman and his ‘energy’. We have already moved from the battlefield to the sports field and now we are in the fruit field. The point being stressed here is that the husbandman must first labour before he can enjoy the rewards of the harvest.

There is a difference between the words ‘labour’ and ‘work’. When work is used, the focus is on what is done, whereas labour draws attention to how something is done. Labour indicates effort and toil to the extent of weariness. The predominant fea­ture of this husbandman is his labour, hence, the word ‘energy’ in the previous paragraph. The word ‘first’ in verse 6 relates to the principle that labour precedes reward. If the husbandman wanted to be a partaker of the fruits, there was a pre-requisite. First, he would have to endure toil and expend energy.

Perhaps many of us are seeking a Christianity without com­mitment and rewards without toil, but it isn’t possible. It’s true that we are saved by grace and, as Augustus Toplady’s hymn states, ‘Not the labour of my hands can fulfil thy law’s demands’. But, if we want to hear the ‘well done’ of yesterday’s reading, there’s no short cut. It’s not just in the dictionary that responsi­bility comes before reward. It’s what the apostle is teaching in verse 6.

Let us close our recent meditations by asking, why did Paul use three metaphors to describe the servant of God? In verse 1, Paul urges Timothy to ‘be strong’ and, in verse 3, to ‘endure hardness’. He wanted Timothy to be different to Phygellus and Hermogenes, 1. 15, who had turned away from him. To motivate him, Paul indicates that there are rewards to be gained but these are conditional. The soldier will be rewarded for his loyalty, the athlete for his conformity and the husbandman for his energy. The soldier is rewarded for devotion, the athlete for discipline and the husbandman for diligence. We too will be rewarded, if we are focused, faithful and fervent.