Lucas 8

Lucas 8

MacDonald - The rock-hearers heard the word too, but they did not let the word break them. They remained unrepentant. No encouragement (moisture) was given to the seed, so it withered away and died. (Borrow Believer's Bible Commentary) Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy - What a tragic description "receive the word with joy". They are emotional about hearing the good news, which is clearly a good thing, but only if it continues. Sadly the joy is only transient and soon falters. At first glance these look like genuine believers, but with time they prove they are not genuine and fall away. Remember that joy is not the distinguishing feature of true salvation. I have been fooled by this because their emotional reaction (including a flood of tears of apparent contrition) certainly suggested they were real but as the days and weeks went by, they clearly demonstrated they had never truly been born again. These have been some of the most painful and soul searching times in my own life -- I thought "Could I have done better? Should I have tried to disciple them sooner?, etc, etc." Jesus' parable teaches us the "soil" of their heart was simply too shallow to continue to keep the plant alive, so to speak. Conversely, we need to be aware that absence of an emotional reaction (joy, etc), does not mean someone's conversion is not authentic.