And these are they in like manner who are sown upon the rocky places, who when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy,
Mark 4:16 is the Lord's own explanation of the second soil in the parable of the sower. It is the seed that lands on rocky ground and shoots up at once. Can someone welcome God's message with real gladness and still stay unchanged?
Before looking at any single soil, it helps to see the frame the Lord sets.
In the strict interpretation of the parable we must all recognise that the Lord is the Sower, and the seed is the word of God. So the Sower was perfect, the sowing was faultless, and the seed good. Yet, because of the character of the soil, three cases out of four give no lasting result.
This hearer is not hostile. He looks like the best case, not the worst — and that is what makes him worth a close look.
In the next class of hearers, the stony ground illustrates the opposition of the flesh. And for this purpose it is pictured, not at its worst, but at its best. This is not the natural man's rejection of the Word. It is his reception of it. Yet there is no more real fruit than in the first case. The seed grows fast, because the rocky bed acts like a warm garden bed, so it springs up with plenty of promise. But the very thing that helps this ready growth prevents it lasting.
The wayside hearer could blame his circumstances, since traffic had beaten his path hard.
Here it was the nature of the ground itself. The prophet — or rather, God through him — speaks of a "heart of stone" (Ezekiel 36:26); and this, beyond question, is exactly what is pictured here. Yet there is earth as well, a shallow responsiveness that promises a great deal at the start. But there has been no deep conviction and no true repentance. The feelings are engaged, but not the conscience. Such a person may be warm and enthusiastic, and may learn the truth quickly, but he has not counted the cost.
The word "immediately" is the warning sign. So what should the word do first in a person?
The Lord explains that these hearers receive the word with gladness, but there is no work of God in their souls. It is not a good sign when someone receives the word with joy without any previous trouble of soul. If God is working with a soul, He deals with the conscience, awakening a sense of sins and guilt. So the first effect of the word is not joy but trouble. That leads to self-judgment and repentance towards God.
Joy itself is not the problem. The order is.
Scripture says of true converts that they "received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit" (1 Thessalonians 1:6). That affliction came before their gladness. It came because the word convicted them and woke them up to their sin. The stony ground hearer skips the affliction, because he is unaware of his real need. He lands himself in only a surface gladness, which fades under testing — and he fades with it.
Some avoid pressing repentance for fear of clouding the freeness of grace. One writer treats that shortcut as its own danger.
Suppose someone takes the joy of Christianity, but has never judged his life and state as God sees it. That is really to slight and ignore Him altogether, and to make much of self. Speed in receiving the blessing is anything but the sign of a divine work. So repentance is all-important. Many have lost sight of it, out of a desire to guard the freeness of grace... But this remedy is at least as dangerous as the disease it was meant to cure.
This verse also shapes how we judge other people's responses, even the ones that move us.
I may see tears. I may hear groans and cries. I may even see a fairly long profession of accepting Christ, and think that a person is born again. But my thoughts are — let me repeat — not Scripture... We may be deceived into counting these promising "cases of blessing." Then we discover with bitterness the "afterward" of Mark 4:16-17, and that they had no root in themselves... The reality of new birth is proved by whether it lasts... Appearances may fool us; they never fool God.
- Sower — The Lord sows, and the seed is the word of God. The sowing is faultless, so any failure lies in the ground, not in the message.
- Rock — Under a thin layer of soil lies a heart of stone. The same shallowness that makes growth fast makes it short.
- Immediately — Quick gladness with no earlier trouble of soul is not a good sign. Where God works, He reaches the conscience first.
- Order — Real converts receive the word in affliction, and then with joy. This hearer skips the affliction and keeps only a surface gladness.
- Afterward — Tears and professions may convince us, but they prove nothing. Appearances fool us; they never fool God.
and they have no root in themselves, but are for a time then, tribulation arising, or persecution on account of the word, immediately they are offended.
The parable of the sower gives four kinds of hearers. The second looks the most promising, because this hearer takes the word at once, with joy. Verse 17 explains why that welcome collapses. There is no root, so the first pressure that comes because of the word ends the whole thing.
The picture is not a field littered with stones. The ground itself shows what kind of hearer this is.
If what we have already looked at is indifference, this is shallowness. In the first hearer you get carelessness, recklessness and a lack of feeling. Here you get no root, no depth, shallowness and emptiness. That is what the stony ground hearer is. What the Lord means here by stony ground is not soil with stones scattered about in it, as you have often seen as you pass through the country. It is a hard surface or bed of rock, with only a thin coating of earth over it.
The problem is not the joy itself. The problem is where that joy stopped.
Here we have the flesh, or nature, doing its best and proving how weak it is. The work went no deeper than the feelings. It never reached the conscience and convicted it before God. To take the joy of Christianity without ever judging your life and state as God sees it is to slight Him and ignore Him altogether, and to make much of self. Being quick to receive the blessing is anything but the sign of a work of God. So repentance is all-important. It has been too much forgotten, because people wanted to guard the freeness of grace and free the gospel from legal burdens.
If instant joy is the wrong sign, what is the right one? God works in a set order.
It is not a good sign when a soul receives the word with joy, having never been troubled about itself before. If God is working with a soul, He deals with the conscience and wakes up a sense of sins and guilt. So the first effect of the word is not joy but trouble. This leads to self-judgment and repentance towards God. After self-judgment the darkness passes and the light of God enters the dark heart. The light stirs the soul, and when it has done its work, the love of God meets that soul and gives it confidence.
The verse gives this hearer a time limit. That limit is the diagnosis.
The seed grows fast, because the bed of rock acts like a natural hot-bed under it, so it springs up quickly with plenty of promise. But the very thing that makes it grow so readily is what stops it lasting. The seed cannot root itself in the rock, and the sun withers it up. So there is no root in the man himself. Christ is not his real and great necessity. So when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, he falls away at once. This is the religion of the flesh, of sentiment, of unreality, and this is where it ends. It lacks the sign and seal of a work that is truly divine — permanence. It "endures for a while." "I perceived that whatever God does endures forever."
Nothing exposes this hearer while life stays comfortable. The trouble comes because of the word.
All is well with those who receive the word with joy but have no root, as long as they live at ease in the world. Their fruit looks as fair and promising as any fruit in the church. But then loss in the world and persecution come, because they profess Christ. When trials, afflictions and the cross meet them on their path, they fall away. These are the scorching sun that withers the seed and all its fruit.
The same heat does two opposite things, depending on what it falls upon.
Trial comes in many forms. It either proves that faith is real and strengthens the faith that is there. Or it exposes the hollowness of mere profession, as with the stony-ground hearer.
The failure lies underground, so we cannot judge who has really believed.
I may see tears, I may hear groans and cries. I may even see someone profess to accept Christ for a long time, and think that he is born again. But my thoughts are not Scripture. We may count these promising cases as "cases of blessing." Then we find out, with bitterness, the "afterward" of Mark 4:16-17: they had no root in themselves. Continuing is what proves that new birth is real. Appearances may deceive us, but they never deceive God.
- Rock. The soil is a hard shelf of rock under a thin skin of earth — the hearer's trouble is depth, not the seed.
- Root. The word reached the feelings but never the conscience. There was joy, but no judgment of self before God.
- Order. Where God works, the word first brings trouble, then self-judgment. Only then come the light and love that give confidence.
- Sun. All looks fine while life is easy. Loss and persecution for the word are the heat that scorches.
- Time. "Endures for a while" is the verdict. What lasts is the seal of God's work. Trial either strengthens real faith or exposes an empty profession.