We're a podcast community here on Things Unseen, and this week we've been reflecting on how we hear the preaching of God's Word.

In particular, we've been thinking about how Jesus' parable of the farmer and his seed in

the soils help us to think about how we hear.

And the parable also analyzes how we do that in four different ways.

Some seed fell on the path, some on soil with a rocky substratum.

And then says Jesus, some seed fell in thorny soil. The thorns grew up and choked

it so that it yielded no grain, nothing to show at harvest time. This is a really interesting

parable, because among other things, it makes us ask questions that the parable itself doesn't

quite answer.

And here's one. Are we supposed to envisage the farmer sowing his seed on ground where

thorns were already evident? Or is it only afterwards that those thorns have sprouted up?

Perhaps when the farmer sows his seed it's inevitable that some of it falls on ground

where there are thorns, and that those thorns will choke its growth. And Jesus and

his disciples do something similar when they preach his word. The gospel is to be preached to

everyone, not just to the elect or to people who look as though they might be elect.

That's part of what we mean when we speak about the free offer of the gospel.

It's offered to all.

Its effects are very varied indeed, of course.

But what Jesus is saying here is that the seed is sometimes sown in thorny soil, and it sprouts.

That is to say the gospel has an effect on someone's life, but then something destructive happens.

This time is not that the roots hit a rocky substratum and wither and die immediately.

Rather, Jesus says over time, the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desire

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