Chapter # 4 Paragraph # 3 Study # 5
May 12, 2020
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: There are those who are distracted from The Word by "the anxieties of The Age" who are "unfruitful".
Introduction: As we have worked our way into this primary parable regarding the mystery of the Kingdom of The God, we have seen that Jesus is revealing to His disciples what reactions from people they will get when they proclaim (sow) The Word (the seed). This revelation is for the disciples' steadfastness in their task. It is preparation for the attitudes which men will express when they hear God's wisdom in the Gospel and His offer to them of the forgiveness of sins so that they may participate in the realities of God's Kingdom, both now and in the age to come.
We have already seen that some who hear The Word will be so insensitive to its message that Satan will have no difficulty at all in preventing them from "a positive response" (Mark 10:28 as a follow-up to the initial characterization of the "disciples" in 1:18 and 20). We have also seen that some will actually "receive The Word with joy", but will afterwards "be scandalized" (Note 9:43 in respect to the meaning of "scandalized" as it relates to what happens to those involved) by the affliction and persecution that arises from their loyalty to that Word, and will reject it. Acts 14:22 pointedly addresses this issue.
Now we have come to the third "type" of person whose response to The Word is unacceptable: those who are soil that is conducive to a rapid and congestive growth of "thorns". It is my intention this evening to consider the nature of one of the types of "thorns" Jesus mentions.
- I. The Original Statement of the Parable.
- A. "Other fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop".
- B. At issue in this type of soil is its "history" of growing plants with thorns as a major characteristic.
- 1. This time of the sowing of the seed is early in the growing season.
- 2. The description of the soil is that it not only already has "thorns", but that those "thorns" "arose" and "choked the seed".
- a. This dual characterization signals a pre-sowing presence of "thorns" as well as a post-sowing, aggressive growth that outstrips the growth of the seed.
- b. In this original statement of the parable, Jesus is simply addressing a condition already known to His audience: ground that has, historically, grown "thorns" around the perimeter of the fertile field.
- II. The Interpretation Jesus Gives of the Parable.
- A. The "others" are those who are "thorny": the seed is being sown "into the thorns".
- 1. Their first "characterization" is that "they heard The Word".
- a. This is distinct from 4:15 where the "hearing" is "aorist subjunctive": it is "potential" and that "potential" is nullified by the aggressive work of "the satan" in snatching away The Word as soon as it has been sown into them.
- b. This is also different from 4:16 where those whose "hearing" is also presented as "potential" but that "potential" is initially enthusiastic. However, as soon as the 'hearing' creates outcomes in their decisions that produce serious opposition, they "are scandalized".
- c. In our text, the seed is "being sown into the thorns" and it was "heard": it actually took sprouted, took root, and grew.
- d. The Point: in every case, the "mystery of The Kingdom of The God" is "rooted" (pun intended) in the accurate proclamation of The Word, and every failure of the earth to receive the Word "unto fruit" is an unworkable "condition" that exists in the places where the seed "lands".
- 1) This is not a "small observation": it is a most critical observation.
- a) The truth of The Word is absolutely primary as to "what" is sown.
- b) The receptivity of the "soil" ("landing places") is also "predetermined" by that which characterizes it.
- 2) It is altogether a huge mistake for "so-called" "sowers" to deviate from their confidence in the potency of the seed and seek to alter the characteristics of the soil by artificial means.
- a) One of these "artificial means" is the abandonment of The Word in favor of a "more effective" seed (typically some aberrant form of "theology").
- b) Another of these "artificial means" is the subversive use of various "elements of SOAPBOX STUFF worship" (most notable in our generation is the false use of "music" as a "prelude" to proclamation with the notion that it helps "prepare the hearts of the people" when The Word puts the use of "music" at the end of "proclamation" -- compare Ephesians 5:10 to Colossians 3:16 so that The Word "prepares the hearts of the people" to worship in songs, hymns and spiritual songs). Note: Nebuchadnezzar used "music" to seduce the people into idolatry whereas The Word draws people into true worship with "music" being one of the ways people worship.
- 2. The second characterization is that they are "thorny".
- a. The NASB wrongly translates "And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns".
- 1) The Greek text actually says "And there are others who are being sown into the thorns".
- a) The "others" are the "seeds".
- b) It is these "seeds" that are being sown into the thorns.
- 2) The error in this translation is that the translators do not recognize that it is "the thorns" that are "those who are hearing"; i.e., those characterized as "thorny people".
- b. These "thorny people" are characterized in three ways, one of which is that they are afflicted by "the anxieties of the age".
- 1) There may well be a very subtle message behind Jesus' use of "thorns".
- a) "Thorns" is a word that is used in eleven texts in the New Testament
- i. Six of these eleven are found in the words of this parable in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
- ii. Two of these eleven are found in Jesus' words about whether anyone seeks useful fruit (grapes -- Matthew 7:16, or figs -- Luke 6:44) from a thorn bush.
- iii. Two others of these eleven are references to the mockery of a crown of thorns placed upon Jesus by His tormentors after His trial.
- iv. The final use of these eleven is found in Hebrews 6:8 where "earth" that yields "thorns" and thistles is "worthless and is close to being cursed" and ends up with all its 'growth' being burned (this is contrasted to "things that accompany salvation" even though the author writes of those who participate in salvation that "they" might possibly be "worthless earth".
- b) The use of the "thorns" in respect to the "crown" plaited by the soldiers and placed upon the head of Jesus (so that they might torment Him by driving the thorns into His scalp by hitting him with a rod (Matthew 27:30) and by mocking His identity as Israel's King) makes the "thorns" a torturous mockery...indicating the scoffing unbelief and hatefulness of His creation/creatures (this may well indicate the interpretation of the seed being "choked" as an indication that a major issue in fruitlessness is the painful mockery of those to whom The Word is proclaimed, but hate it.
- 2) The "anxieties of the age".
- a) Interestingly, Matthew's record refers to "The Anxiety of The Age" (13:22) as though there is "one" "anxiety" that, then, spreads out into multiple anxieties.
- b) Jesus' word here is only used in six texts of the New Testament and, for the most part, is left unexplained as though everyone would understand it.
- i. But, in the only "positive" use of the word translated "anxiety" (2 Corinthians 11:28), Paul gives it "content" (that "content" is the interplay between the realities of "love for", in this case, "another", and the "potential disasters" that lie in wait if certain "values", "beliefs", and "choices" are not "in place" so that those disasters come upon the "beloved").
- ii. Paul lived, daily, under the awareness of how critically important "love", "faith", "choices", and "actions" are in terms of how "life" unfolds for those involved and he "worried" about those to whom he had ministered The Word as to whether, like the Galatians (in particular) and many others, they would put aside their early love/truth/choices/actions" regarding The Word because of the pressures of "life".
- c) In our text/context, the "anxieties" were "thorns" that drew people away from "faith".
- d) These anxieties are "of the age".
- i. Mark uses the word translated "the world" in 4 texts (3:29; 4:19; 10:30; and 11:14).
- (i) In 3:29 it is used to communicate "never" in the declaration that forgiveness would "never" be given. In this text, the "never" concept is in a phrase that is literally "unto the age". It means that "the age" will never see the forgiveness for those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
- (ii) In 4:19 (our current text) it is used to indicate that "The Age" is characterized by a production of certain "needs" that are defined in terms of whether, or not, a person's "life" will run according to his/her wishes.
- (iii) In 10:30 it refers to "an Age to come which will be characterized as "the time when eternal life is to be fully experienced".
- (iv) In 11:14 it refers to the same concept of 3:29.
- ii. Mark's use strongly implies that "this age" is in direct conflict with "the age to come" in terms of "needs" and "loyalties".
- iii. Thus, the "anxieties of the age" simply means that people will have "wants/needs/wishes" in "this age" that do not reflect any real confidence in the promised age to come, and, thus, people will be drawn away from the values and truths regarding that coming age because of their commitments to the values and lies regarding the present age.
- iv. This is the first of three elements of this age that "choke" The Word.
- (i) The verb translated "choke" is rare in the New Testament (used only five times -- Matthew 13:22, Mark 4:7, 19; and Luke 8:14 and 8:42, four of which are uses relating to this parable).
- (ii) The only text that gives us a graphic picture of the meaning is Luke 8:42 where "the crowd was choking Him". The meaning is not "choking" so much as "pressing upon Him". If that "pressing" happens to be around the neck, "choking" is a legitimate translation, but that is not the case in this text.
- (iii) This "choking" is simply trying to get to Jesus by shoving and pushing so that the disciples have a great difficulty in making a path for Him to move forward.
- e) Thus, the first "aggressive pressing upon" has to do with the way "anxieties" are used to deflect "The Word" from its proper place at the center of man's considerations.
