The Choking Triumvirate

Scripture Reading: Mark 4:10-20

This parable is the most well-known of Jesus’ spiritual stories. The original disciples of Jesus didn’t get the point and this text is Jesus’ explanation of what this parable means. It has been variously titled “the parable of the sower,” “the parable of the seeds,” and “the parable of the soils.” Since Jesus didn’t give it a title I won’t argue for one over the other, but the “big idea” is about how people hear/receive the word predicts their spiritual outcome.

Some hear the word like a seed that falls among the thorns. In a sense, they receive the word, but they receive everything else equally. As every gardener knows, the weeds win if you allow them equal status with the vegetables. The weeds have to be pulled or poisoned if the fruit-bearing plants are to stand a chance of surviving.

In this parable, Jesus defines the thorns/weeds that choke out the word so we don’t have to guess. “The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things…choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.” This is the choking triumvirate.

While I have a daily habit of reading the word, I must confess that there are mornings when it is unfruitful. It isn’t because the word is lacking in spiritual sustenance. It is because I am thinking and worrying about what I need to do that day and whether or not it will be financially profitable. Those aren’t completely unreasonable things to consider, but they can become so dominant in my thoughts that I can read the word without actually hearing what it is saying.

Something that has helped me is to think of this problem this way: God’s word is God’s normal way of speaking to us. As someone cheekily put it, “If you want to hear God speak, read the Bible. If you want to hear God speak aloud, read the Bible out loud.” So, when I commit the sin of reading the Bible and not hearing what it is saying because I am worried about the things of this world, being deceived by riches, and desiring other things; I don’t think of it as having read something without focusing on what I was reading. I think of it as God speaking to me and I rudely and rebelliously refused to listen to what He was saying. I acted like I was listening (I did read the text), but if God were to ask me what He said when I finished reading the text, I wouldn’t be able to tell Him.

When that happens the word “proves unfruitful.” It is not unfruitful because it is impotent. It is unfruitful because it fell among the thorns of my heart. And so, I confess this as sin. I repent. Sometimes, when I realize this is what I have done, I go back and read it again and pray for the grace to hear what the Spirit says so that He might produce His good fruit in my life.

Don’t let the choking triumvirate win in your heart.