Justin Appel

Dear Friends,

Today, in the Epistle reading from 2 Timothy, Saint Paul discusses three images of the Christian life, drawn from our daily experience. These images create surprisingly rich comparisons for us, and we may contemplate them profitably. We, Saint Paul says, are supposed to live like soldiers, athletes, and farmers.

How might we envision our spiritual lives in terms of these vocations?

The soldier, first and foremost, is an individual who lives in submission to authority, and in fact, who lives according to a code of obedience. While the notion of obedience might seem unattractive to us 21st-century Americans, it certainly has deep roots in the Christian liturgical tradition, which even goes so far as to refer to God as our ‘Master’. The soldier’s life serves as a model for our own because our attention should be similarly absorbed in following Christ, not dissuaded or distracted by anything secondary. Material gain no longer is one’s primary objective. Also, the soldier analogy evokes strong images of training and combat that feed directly into Christians’ experience of prayer, fasting, sacraments, and formation in the liturgy.

This kind of military rigor also applies to the life of the athlete, who must train – if they are serious – with a focused routine, with thoughtful preparation, nutrition, injury prevention, and rest. Also unique to the athlete’s work is the necessity of following the rules of the game. That is to say, as Christians, we do not manufacture our own rules for life. Rather, the Scriptures, the teachings of the Church, liturgical texts, Ecumenical Councils – all of these things teach us how to live as followers of Christ.

The farmer’s hard work surely follows in that similar vein. However, the concept of ‘sweat equity’ may be the most instructive parallel to the spiritual life. Just like the farmer, we all have a personal stake in the cultivation of something. God doesn’t force us to develop our spiritual lives: to till, plant, water, and nurture our souls. Even as the farmer has responsibility for the wheat grown on a piece of land, we too are accountable for the spiritual fruit our souls produce.

Saint Paul’s analogies challenge us, certainly, but they also focus our vision on the goal of the spiritual life, a life which is practical and counter-cultural, as Bishop Smith reminded us last Sunday:

‘If we have died with him, we believe that we shall also live with him;
If we endure, we shall also reign with him…’

Blessings,
Justin