And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop

 

 And again He began to teach by the sea.  And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea.  Then He taught the many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:  "Listen!  Behold, a sower went out to sow.  And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.  Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.  But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.  And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.  But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced:  some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."  And He said to them, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  

But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable.  And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that 

'Seeing they may see and not perceive,

And hearing they may hear and not understand;

Lest they should turn,

And their sins be forgiven them.'"

And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable?  How then will you understand all the parables?  The sower sows the word.  And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown.  When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.  These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time.  Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble.  Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.  But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit:  some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."

 

- Mark 4:1–20 

 

Yesterday we read that the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread in the house.  But when Jesus' own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, "He is out of His mind."  And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebub," and, "By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons."  So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables:  "How can Satan cast out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.  No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man.  And then he will plunder his house.  Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation" -- because they said, "He has an unclean spirit."  Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him.  And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You."  But He answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?"  And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother."

 

  And again He began to teach by the sea.  And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea.  Then He taught the many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:  "Listen!  Behold, a sower went out to sow.  And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it.  Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.  But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away.  And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.  But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced:  some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."  And He said to them, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  As in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke, here in St. Mark's Gospel the first parable told by Jesus is the parable of the Sower.  Let us note that by now a great multitude is gathered to Him by now, and this is the context in which He begins to speak in parables.

But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable.  And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that  'Seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand;  Lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.'"  My study Bible comments that, according to St. John Chrysostom, Isaiah's prophecy does not mean God causes spiritual blindness in those who otherwise would be faithful.  This is a figure of speech, it says, common to Scripture, which reveals God as giving people up to their own devices (as in Romans 1:24-26).  Jesus is quoting from the prophecy of Isaiah (Isaiah 6:9-10).  

And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable?  How then will you understand all the parables?  The sower sows the word.  And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown.  When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.  These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time.  Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble.  Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.  But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit:  some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."  Here Jesus explains to His disciples that in the parable of the Sower, He reveals Himself as the promised Messiah, the sower who had been foretold in Isaiah 55:10-13.  My study Bible asks us to note that contrary to the belief some hold that a person is permanently saved at the moment one professes faith (a view never held by the historic Church), Jesus' teaching is clear in the parable that it's possible to receive the word in gladness, but to endure only for a time in that faith.

Looking at Christ's explanation of the parable, we read among other things what my study Bible notes, that it's possible for people to believe for a while, and then fall away (Luke 8:13).  But perhaps at this time for modern audiences and the world we live in today, it's important to examine the next category in Jesus' explanation of the parable.  That is, the ones who are sown among thorns.  These thorns may easily represent the state of our world for so many today.  As Jesus puts it, the thorns form all kinds of temptations and distractions that take us away from the course of faith, and challenge us to put so many other things first in terms of what we devote ourselves to, and where we focus.  If we note the first two places on which the seeds fall, the first belongs to those fallen by the wayside, who are easily affected by Satan and have the word taken from their hearts.  The second (stony ground) belongs to those for whom Christ's word is not deep-rooted, and so in tribulation or persecution fall away.  We should note that this was a very real threat and presence for the early Christians, as they lived in places where Christianity was persecuted or outlawed, and where simply trying to be a faithful Christian was difficult as it easily conflicted with the practices of the community and the state power which was officially aligned with pagan practices and loyalties.  There are still many places in the world where Christians suffer persecution and tribulation for their faith.  But for today for most in the West, we are beset by the things which Jesus calls thorns.  Jesus says, "Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful."  Perhaps we could say that in a world where we are all interconnected through social media, and so advertisement and consumer culture permeates so much of what pervades our lives all the time, these thorns are ever-present to us.  They constantly present themselves as things in which everyone else is participating, and so we need to keep up and participate as well.  Social media magnifies our images of ourselves and of one another, inviting constant comparison and competition.  Whether that be for "Likes" on any media platform, or followers, or any set of those whom we might call friends by the frequency and type of their association, these thorns become the "cares of this world" that are seemingly always with us wherever we turn.  What house do we live in? What do we look like?  What clothes are we wearing?  What social engagement are we going to, where have we been seen and with whom -- these things become the stuff of constant consumption on social media.  It's likely that many of us never consider how far outside the norm of historical human society it is to live in such a constant bubble of comparison and evaluation on such social terms, but this is yet another sign of Christ's perception about human life and the things which distract us from the real place we need to be in His sight.  Social media invites us easily to be precisely what Jesus criticized the most:  hypocrites who pose as one thing which is virtuous on Christian terms, but while the contradictions we live never make it to that picture on social media, we easily delude ourselves and others about what we're doing, and lose the place where our focus should be.  We also easily lose our humility, and can get caught up in our image in the sight of others instead, even unwittingly, for the pull of such life is strong upon us.  We fall victim to the hypocrisy and cowardice of the religious rulers of Christ's time, described in John's Gospel as an error produced in those "who loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:42-43).  Jesus describes the thorns as the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things, and we can concern ourselves forever with all the things we think we need, with false promises seemingly held by acquiring wealth and more "things," and with our envy of others who always seemingly have what's "more" and what's "better" than we do.  All of these things have clearly always been with us, for Jesus says them to His contemporary audience.  But with modern communications and social media, they become even more magnified for us.  Let us learn to focus on His word, and to label these things the thorny distractions that they are, for the word "deceitfulness" that Jesus uses here is important.  Such distractions turn our values upside down from where they need to be, and they take away our humility before God, making other things so much more important than our inner lives, our prayer before God, the place of the heart that knows God's love and grace and mercy.  Let us remember that we easily make anything commodified, an idol, turning even virtue into something we sell or declare to others, tempting us to repeat what pass for popular "truths" that are no such thing at all, tempting us to lie about who we are simply to avoid popular censure.  All of these things are deceitful as well, and they become one more aspect of a sense of progress that is all about what we can acquire, what wealth produces, how the cares of this world work within us and flood even our most important relationships.  Let us remain valiant in our prayer, hearing the word and accepting it, and bearing the fruit such a life can bear, if we endure in our faith and its practice, despite the thorns.