Matthew 13:20
But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
The verse describes the stony-ground hearer in the parable of the sower, who hears the word and at once receives it with joy, springing up quickly for lack of soil only to wither when scorched. That quick joy is not itself the cause of falling, but such hearing and glad receiving are not lasting conversion or fruit-bearing unless the seed takes root. The response is governed by feeling rather than settled principle, with no root in himself so he lasts only while life is easy. When tribulation or persecution comes because of the word he is offended and falls away, unwilling to bear reproach for Christ, give up cherished sins, and endure self-denial and sacrifice. Shallow ground need not remain shallow, for deep repentance and earnest effort in Jesus' strength can break up the heart's soil so truth takes root and bears fruit.
Parable Setting and Imagery
The verse belongs to the parable of the sower, which uses the sowing and growth of seed to illustrate Jesus' teaching and the work of sowing gospel truth, where the seed falls on different kinds of soil and some hearers receive it without bearing fruit, so that results of preaching vary and lack of fruit does not remove the duty to sow widely. The seed is the word, the word of God's kingdom, the truth received in the heart, and the knowledge of Christ that restores the moral image of God in the soul. It is truth to be sown everywhere even where the soil is poor, and poor soil is no reason to stop proclaiming the word. The heart must be made receptive so the seed can keep being sown and produce a harvest, for true faith works through love and purifies the soul, and the soil of the heart is softened by Christ's teachings and love so the good seed of truth can take root. The seed is to be planted deeply through wise words and faithful labor, including work with children outside Christ, and patient early instruction plants good lessons in a prepared heart where they can remain and bear good fruit, with the good seen in one child influencing another. Christ as the great Teacher sows the world with seeds of truth to win minds from earthly things to heavenly things, and teachers are to unite with Him in sowing it, whereas the scribes and Pharisees and leaders refused instruction, turned from true knowledge, studied Scripture only to sustain traditions and enforce observances, made it express sentiments God never gave, mystified what was plain, disputed technicalities while denying essentials, and so robbed the word of power and left evil spirits to work.
The stony-ground seed sprouts quickly because it has too little soil and withers when scorched, and the verse identifies the hearer represented by that seed as one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy, readily and quickly. The parable shows that people respond differently when the truth is presented, so results vary with the different tendencies of the human heart. It helps explain why Christ's ministry had limited immediate results, since people were free to accept or reject Him and the word did not compel belief or obedience. The same parable also pictures other receptions: hearts made hard like a beaten road by evil habits and by choosing inclination over duty, leaving them without a proper sense of the truth's sacred character until they lose regard for it, hearts made hard like a beaten road by worldly business, and hearts overgrown with thorns where life's cares leave no room for heavenly things.
Good seed may be sown in hearers yet no fruit spring up because the soil of the heart was not prepared, with the gospel proclaimed yet hearts unmoved because Satan is linked with religionists. Evil angels in the form of men mingle with hearers, making suggestions, criticizing, misapplying and misinterpreting what is spoken, and the enemy comes with suggestions and insinuations so that words of life lose their force. Christ presented truth in parables as the only way He could rebuke sin without causing personal offense.
Immediate Joyful Reception
The stony-ground hearer is one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy, readily and eagerly, with ardor, zeal and enthusiasm. Hearts may be prepared beforehand to welcome the message of truth in this open way when it is presented.
Quick acceptance and joy are not themselves what cause the falling away. Hearing the word and receiving it with joy are not by themselves lasting conversion, fruit-bearing, or enough for lasting growth, for the seed must take root. Without considering what the word requires and yielding habits and life fully to its control, there is no deep root to stand when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, or when it calls for giving up cherished sin, accepting reproach, and making sacrifices. Believers need root in themselves and must learn to rely on God. When Christ and His redeeming love are presented with the truth, the seed may spring up and bear fruit to God's glory, but if the cross is left unpresented hearers may miss their opportunity to be won. The heart must be softened and subdued by the Spirit of God, with personal effort to cultivate the soil, or much of the word sown in preaching is lost.
The response is governed by feeling rather than settled, firm principle. Hope based on stirred feelings and tears, without daily self-denial and conflict, is like a plant that withers under scorching trial. Emotional or immediate acceptance is not the same as lasting conversion to Christ and standing alone.
The gospel can make a strong, appealing first impression that does not last, since unfavorable surroundings, worldly cares and temptations can lead hearers back to indifference, while others carry the teachings into daily life and begin a holier life. Pointed words spoken in the temple cut hearers to the heart as seed of truth sown in the mind, though the effect was not seen at once, and the seed was to spring up and bear fruit to God's glory for the saving of many souls. After the crucifixion and resurrection the lessons would be revived in the hearts of many attentive listeners, who would repeat the instruction for future generations to the close of time. Even where words are heard eagerly yet understood only dimly, seeds of life can lodge in the heart and later spring up to bear blessed fruit. First reverence and awe can develop into perfect faith, until the gospel seed yields an abundant harvest.
Nicodemus received and considered the truth and watched the life and works with great interest, yet for three years showed little apparent fruit and did not publicly acknowledge Him. He was not an enemy, and the evidence of the resurrection of Lazarus eventually convinced him of Messiahship. Even in the most careless, where teaching seems to have little effect, some lessons of divine truth linger in memory. The word may lie for a time in a cold, worldly, selfish heart, then, as God's Spirit works and waters it, take root and finally bear fruit, often springing up after many days to God's glory. The results of sowing are not for human workers to determine; they are to do their work and leave the outcome with God.
Rootlessness and Its Causes
The stony-ground hearer has no root in himself and endures only for a while, receiving the word of God's kingdom at once and with joy yet lasting only while life is easy. When trouble, tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, he is offended, falls away and turns away. He has mistaken the gospel for escape from suffering rather than deliverance from sin, so he cannot bear reproach for Christ nor accept the call to give up cherished sins, make radical changes, and practice self-denial and sacrifice.
The response is superficial, like seed springing up quickly in shallow soil, with selfishness remaining beneath good desires and the heart never humbled by a sense of sin and guilt. Truth is taken up at once but not applied to heart and conscience, while self stays alive in its unsanctified elements and is not crucified, so there is no depth of spiritual experience. The truth remains on the surface with feeling but without genuine conversion, no deep sorrow for sin, no real change of heart, and no lasting work of grace. Supposed conversion of this kind cannot stand the stress of trial and temptation, and under difficulty the test of God's Word exposes faithlessness, envy, jealousy and evil surmising. Such lack of pure-toned piety leaves weaklings in the Lord's army, where willing conversion to the truth would make giants bringing forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness.
The truth has not renewed the heart through God's Spirit, for the response is governed by feeling, ardor, zeal and enthusiasm rather than settled, firm principle. Its principles are not taken into the life to exert a lasting influence, there is no yielding to the Holy Spirit, the old nature is not broken upon Christ, and God is not truly known through studying His character and communing with Him. Some may hear gladly and experience temporary freedom from evil through grace, yet without remaining in Christ's love, surrendering to God daily, receiving the Spirit's indwelling, and keeping a continuing connection with God, they are overcome when evil returns. When trial, temptation, sacrifice or persecution tests them their zeal fades and they fall away, and when truth exposes defects and faults they may refuse correction and yield it up rather than submit to its sanctifying work.
Trying to serve both self and Christ makes a person half-hearted, weak in purpose and changeable in desire, lacking wholehearted commitment and steadfastness to stand when tested. A partial, half-hearted reception leaves the heart open to thorns that choke and destroy the good seed, whereas receiving Christ's words in faith and letting them become part of life brings fruit.
They have not considered what the word requires nor yielded their habits and lives fully to its control, so they lack deep roots and need to learn to rely on God and gain root in themselves. Basing hope on stirred feelings and tears without daily self-denial and conflict leaves them like plants that wither under scorching trial. Their Christianity is superficial and has not transformed the character, producing no fruit, with a daily walk no better or higher than the worldling and no progressive development of Christian practice springing from Christian principle as evidence of inward spiritual life. They know the theory of truth but the heart is not melted, subdued and converted, showing much love with the mouth while the heart follows covetousness, working under the enemy's training like Herod, Demas and Alexander. While the path runs smoothly and agrees with their own ideas they float along satisfied, but when tribulation and persecution arise for truth's sake, when obstacles or trials come and personal habits or selfishness are rebuked, or the word calls them to give up cherished sin, accept reproach or make sacrifices, they are offended, turn away and fall, and it would have been better never to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and turn traitor to its principles.
A heart ruled by self-exaltation and self-righteousness is barren, hopeless and profitless soil where heavenly truth cannot take root, instead producing harsh condemnation and bitterness that defile others and crush hope and courage. This is seen in cherished superiority that supposes others at fault, in strong words of reproof and condemnation hard as nether millstones, in roots of bitterness against goodness of heart in true Christians whereby many are defiled, in evil thoughts and suspicion of the purest, making a man an offender for a word, with exalted self claiming all faith, honor and love. Likewise the mind is the soil that must be prepared for the heavenly seeds of truth so God can leave His impress and heavenly thoughts upon the intellect, but when filled with fictitious reading and storybooks its thoughts are captivated and directed into a wrong channel, the field is preoccupied and the channel obstructed, leaving no prepared soil. Such a mind is unprepared for God's impressions and misses the themes for thought and meditation upon eternal realities found in the Word, and the more powerful its capabilities the greater the evil when perverted in this way.
Surface hearers listen every day to the living oracles without purposing to give the word entrance, passing by precious treasures of truth as of no consequence and gathering chaff instead. They become excited lovers of talk who say perverse things with a tattling wicked tongue and sow evil seed in minds that bears its harvest to the injury of souls, instead of doing the appropriate action God requires in each opportunity of life and promoting His honor and glory.
Falling Away Under Trial
When trouble, tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, the hearer who at once received it with joy is offended and falls away and turns away, for having no root in himself he endures only for a while. He lasts only while life is easy, having mistaken the gospel for escape from suffering rather than deliverance from sin. His quick acceptance and joy are not themselves what cause the falling away, but he has not considered what the word requires nor yielded his habits and life fully to its control. His response is governed by feeling rather than settled principle, and the truth has not renewed the heart through the Spirit of God. He cannot bear reproach for Christ or accept the call to give up cherished sin, make radical changes, and practice self-denial and sacrifice.
When trial, temptation, sacrifice or persecution tests him his zeal fades, and when the truth exposes defects and faults he refuses correction and gives it up rather than be sanctified by it. When a teaching needed for purification of the soul offends pride he abandons Christ rather than endure the test. This gives the reason for the condition of the churches, whose natural and cultivated tendencies to wrong have not been changed by grace and who do not constantly follow true Christian principles. They continually lose the interest they once felt in the truth and return to sinful practices, and may continue to profess Christianity while not honoring the truth of God and not going on from grace to grace. For a time they are neither cold nor hot, but finally become hardened to all good impressions, growing careless, worldly and inattentive, hearing the truth without receiving it.
Their Christianity is superficial and has not transformed the character, with a daily walk no better or higher than the worldling and no progressive development of Christian practice springing from principle as evidence of spiritual life within. They know the theory of the truth but the heart is not melted, subdued and converted, showing much love with the mouth while the heart follows covetousness, working under the training of the enemy like Herod, Demas and Alexander. While the path runs smoothly and agrees with their own ideas they float along satisfied, but when obstacles, trials, or rebuke of personal habits and selfishness come they are offended and fall. The word may also fail to take lasting root because Satan takes it away, while worldly cares and riches and the spirit of the world choke it so it does not spring up and bear fruit, and attractive scenes pleasing the carnal heart draw the mind from truth. The seed of truth needs continued care, or opposition may snatch it away and it may wither for lack of moisture.
Hearts may remain unmoved with no fruit springing up because the soil was not prepared and Satan is linked with religionists. Evil angels in the form of men mingle with the hearers, making suggestions, criticizing, misapplying and misinterpreting what is spoken, and the enemy comes with suggestions and insinuations so that the words of life lose their force. For such turncoats it would have been better never to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and turn traitor to its principles. The instruction is life-and-death warning bearing on the future destiny of those for whom Christ gave His life and on who shall stand acquitted without spot or stain before the judgment seat of Christ, to be read and heeded for self-protection against being blinded by human sophistries and mocking burlesque of sacred things. Those who are saved must form characters without fault in the sight of a pure and holy God by doing their God-given work and cooperating with Christ, wearing His yoke and learning His meekness and lowliness, receiving daily experience in the meaning of the divine beatitudes with angelic ministry, because at the great day every man will be judged according to the deeds done in this life.
Preparing Soil and Sowing
The different outcomes in the parable turn on the condition of the hearer's heart, and hardness that keeps the seed from rooting comes from resisting the Spirit and neglecting the word, so the state of the soil rests on personal choice. Shallow reception need not remain shallow, for deep repentance and earnest effort in Jesus' strength can break up the soil and overcome evil tendencies. The heart is a garden that must be broken up by repentance and by conviction of sin awakening the need for healing, and it must be worked by God's Spirit, refined, disciplined, softened and subdued, before truth can take root and bear fruit to God's glory. Just as a garden must be prepared for natural seed, the heart must be prepared and cultivated for spiritual seed and cannot be expected to yield a harvest at once from raw ground.
Hearts hardened like stony ground need softening so truth can take root, and personal, Christlike ministry showing Christ's love can soften them where logic and argument cannot. Prayer meetings, quiet religious influence, regular worship, growing confidence, and weakened prejudice can prepare hearts to receive truth, while needless controversy agitates and harms. A softened heart gives opportunity to plant the seeds of truth and to direct the sufferer to God's promises and to Jesus. Cultivation of this kind calls for diligent, persevering labor in preparing soil, sowing seed, and culturing the crop, uprooting the evil growths that choke the good grain and removing hindrances at their roots. Stony hearts are like hardened, unplowed soil never under plow or harrow, needing much more labor from those who watch for souls, with the soil broken up, subdued, and worked to bring out properties favorable to growth, for growth requires intelligent, harmonious cooperation of the divine and the human, and surface work and haphazard half-effort will show in the harvest garnered.
New believers are to be taught the foundations of Christian life, to make Christ's life and character their own, bear burdens, deny natural inclinations, serve and endure hardship, trust Christ's love, and care for the lost. The soil must be prepared and the seed planted point by point, with truths of eternal interest impressed, fastened in the mind, and made graspable by shorter preaching, teaching, Bible readings, and plain answers to questions, because long sermons of which hearers retain only a few points allow those points to lose force while other things choke them. Hearing with joy is not by itself fruit-bearing, but when Christ and His redeeming love and the cross are presented with the truth the seed may spring up and bear fruit to God's glory, whereas leaving the cross unpresented may cause hearers to miss being won, and without softening, subduing, and personal cultivation much of the word sown in preaching is lost. The seed is the truth Christ and His servants are to sow everywhere even where soil is poor, and poor soil is no reason to stop proclaiming the word.
Varied results do not remove the duty to sow widely, since the seed falls on different soils and some hearers receive without bearing fruit. Sowing is to be done with care, anxiety, self-denial, and continued sacrifice for others with the mind of Christ, leaving the seed with trust in God to quicken it to life, for it may lie dormant until grace convicts and awakens it to spring up and bear fruit to God's glory, requiring unselfish, earnest, persevering labor as co-workers with Christ and angels without weariness in well-doing. The word may lie for a time in a cold, worldly, selfish heart and then, as God's Spirit works and waters it, take root and finally bear fruit, so workers are to do their work and leave outcomes with God rather than determine results themselves. The soil-heart picture belongs especially to children and youth, whose minds are soil to be cultivated and sown with Bible truth from earliest years through careful cultivation and correct habits so the Sower's good seed can be received.
A child's mind is especially impressionable, and good seed sown in good soil can remain, bear fruit unto eternal life, and by the good seen in one child influence another, while patient early instruction plants good lessons in a prepared heart. An uncultivated field and an untrained mind are alike open to evil sowing, and unless parents keep watchful guard with unceasing care the enemy sows tares in youthful minds that spring up to evil fruit, so the soil of the mind must be kept fit by rejecting trashy, exciting tales and turning to sensible reading that leads to Bible story, history, and argument and quickens desire to study Scripture. God lays this preparing work on parents as their own life duty not to be neglected or trusted to others, by bringing children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and making the Word the standard rather than worldly fashion, with mothers making this education life's highest aim, keeping habits and dress simple to have ample time to make children happy and lead them to cheerful, willing obedience instead of sending them away to school when young, trusting God and continuing without discouragement until children grow into Christian men and women whose happiness and usefulness depend on early training, for faithful labor reaps in due time. Neglect of this stewardship leaves weeds and unfruitfulness, while hands-on cultivation itself teaches the lesson of Christ's death in the seed cast into the ground and the resurrection in the blade springing up, and guards youth from tares, skepticism hidden in science and philosophy, fanciful stories, and human-mixed interpretations that yield infidelity and depravity, turning them instead to direct contact with nature, Bible story, history, and argument.
Christ as the great Teacher sows the world with seeds of truth to win minds from earthly to heavenly things, and the seed is the knowledge of Christ that restores the moral image of God in the soul, which teachers are to unite with Him in sowing. Sowing includes sharing the message with those who have not heard, where one hearing may be deeply convicted, and presenting books and periodicals containing precious truths of highest value, with thorough instruction at large gatherings in the best methods of presenting them so readers are blessed and means raised. By contrast the scribes, Pharisees, and leaders refused instruction, turned from the fountain of true knowledge, studied Scripture only to sustain traditions and enforce man-made observances, made it express sentiments God never gave, made indistinct by mystical construction what God made plain, disputed technicalities while practically denying essentials, and so robbed the word of power and left evil spirits to work their will.