Matthew 13:22

“And he who was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, and the care of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.”

The third type of person was the one who was like thorn-covered ground. He hears the word, but the care of the world and the deceitfulness of, or delight in, riches choke the word. He thus grows as one who is unfruitful. Both cares and anxieties on the one hand, and desire for wealth, or delight in it, on the other, have kept many people from responding to the Kingly Rule of Heaven.

In the Old Testament a firm warning was given about sowing among thorns. In Jeremiah 4:3 the Lord says, ‘Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns'. This would certainly therefore have alerted the listening people to the fact that something was happening that should not have done so. Compare also Jeremiah 12:13, ‘they have sown wheat and have reaped thorns'. See also Genesis 3:18; Proverbs 24:30; Isaiah 5:6; Isaiah 27:4. It would therefore have been clear to all that what was sown among thorns was something to be very much concerned about.

The aptness of these three types of soil cannot be doubted. Jesus would have come across many people of each of the three types, the ones who never really received the word, and from whose hearts Satan quickly expunged it (Matthew 12:43), the ones who seized on it because they had the wrong ideas about it, but soon tossed it away (no cross for them - compare Matthew 9:20), and the ones who allowed it to be choked by anxiety or wealth (Matthew 6:19).