Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 149 · May 29
Choked With Cares
“And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.”
We can talk about the first two kinds of soil without it costing us anything. On the path the seed was trodden down and the birds ate it, and on the rock it sprang up and withered. The third kind is harder to talk about, because nothing in it seems to go wrong. We heard the word, we agreed with it, and we got on with our week.
Luke is exact about how it happens: "which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection." The thorns grow up right alongside the seed: "the thorns sprang up with it." Both grow in the same soil and drink the same rain, and both seem to be doing well. Mark names the thorns: "the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in." Luke's verdict is almost gentle. The plant lives, but it never brings anything to ripeness. The story ends on the good ground, which does bear fruit, and the word for how it does so is patience: they "in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience."
Lord, we have heard Your word and gone forth, and the going forth has been our whole trouble. There is no scandal in us. We are busy, we have enough money and enough comfort, and yet there is little fruit on the branch. Choke what is choking us, before we mistake a full week for a full life. Give us honest and good hearts that keep Your word, and with patience grow in us the fruit that only You can bring to ripeness. Amen.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 149 is Near to the Broken (Psalm 34:18).