<p>8:7 <i>And other fell amidst the thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it</i>- This of itself didn't mean that growth was impossible. The Lord's next parable makes that clear- the good sees brings forth fruit, clearly alluding to the 'good ground' of the sower parable,<i> despite</i>&nbsp;being surrounded by &quot;tares&quot;, weeds, within which category are thorns (Mt. 13:26). The point of the later parable would therefore be to make the point that fruit can be brought forth&nbsp;<i>despite</i>&nbsp;a spiritual environment in which we have to grow and fruit next to thorns. &quot;Thorns&quot; were defined by the Lord as&nbsp;<i>people</i>- those who do not bring forth good fruit, even though they may claim to be true believers (Mt. 7:16). Heb. 6:8 likewise speaks of 'thorns' as people (&quot;He that bears thorns... is rejected&quot;). The later interpretation in Mt. 13:22 is that the thorns are the deceitfulness of riches and the cares of &quot;this world&quot;- and yet these abstract things operate upon the believer through persons, through people devoted to them. For we all 'are' the principles which we live by; and our example and influence upon others is more significant than we realize. Those people in the first instance were Jewish people in first century Palestinian society who strangled the growth of the seed in the hearts of people by their attitudes and the pressure of their example. We note that &quot;this world&quot; in the first instance referred to the&nbsp;<i>aion</i>&nbsp;around Jesus- which was the Jewish world. Especially in John's Gospel the phrase carries that meaning in most occurrences.&nbsp;</p><p>The next parable in Matthew explains that both good and bad seed 'spring / grow up'; the point is that the good seed continues to bear fruit despite this. They intertwined with the roots of the crop beneath the ground, and later kept light from reaching the plants. Again the suggestion is that there was a specific group of people the Jewish religious leadership who were damaging the growth of seed which had begun to grow in response to the preaching of John. And yet the interpretation is that the thorns represent the worry of the world, and wealth (Mt. 13:22). We can understand these things in the context of the Jews loving wealth and the whole system of Judaism, the Jewish &lsquo;world&rsquo;, making them worry about appearances to the point that the real seed of the word grows no more. The same can be seen in legalistic forms of Christianity today, where appearance to others becomes all important and thereby real spirituality goes out of the window.</p><p><i>&quot;</i>Choked&quot; is again language more relevant to persons. The same word is found in the Lord's description of the man who initially accepted forgiveness from God and then went and 'choked' or 'took by the throat' his brother (Mt. 18:28). That man who was initially forgiven and then finally condemned speaks in the primary context of those who responded to John's message of forgiveness, but ended up condemned because of their aggression towards their brother- the Christians. Again, those who choked the response of others to the word are the members of Jewish society. The parable of the sower can be interpreted as fulfilling every time we hear the word sown in us. Thus some seed is &quot;choked with cares&quot; (Lk. 8:14)- exactly the same words used about Martha being &quot;cumbered&quot; with her domestic duties so that she didn't hear the Lord's word at that time (Lk. 10:40). We bring various attitudes of mind- stony, receptive, cumbered etc.- to the word each time we hear it. And it is our attitude to it which determines our response to it.</p>