Mar 4:7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

The power of ideas and information comes from placing it in the right environment. This parable is a discussion of the problems with different environments.

It isn't until this verse that we get to the purpose of the seed: to produce fruit, that is, more seeds. In other words, our purpose is taking raw material from the environment and transforming it into more information. All that information is already hidden in the environment, the problem is always one of decoding it and transforming it into information that can be duplicated and passed on.

In the first part of this parable, the problem was the hardness of the ground, which made it slow to take in the seed and so the seed could be taken away entirely by the "birds of heaven."

In the second part, the problem was the lack of earth of the ground. The problem is with the lack of root and the heat of the sun.

Here, the growing conditions for the seed are fine, but it has competition from other seeds, other ideas. Though the seed may progress further than on the wayside or on rocks, it still doesn't come to fruition.

It is interesting that Christ doesn't see the word triumphing in competition with other, competing ideas. The plant arising from the good seed doesn't conquer the weeds. The weeds conquer it. What is going on? Why does Christ phrase it this way?

"Thorns" is from akantha (akantha), which means "thorn," "prickle," or "any thorny or prickly plant." Christ only uses it twice, in this parable and in the verse about knowing a tree by its fruits (Mat 7:16, Luk 6:44).

"Yielded" is from didômi (didomi), which means "to give," "to grant," "to hand over," and "to describe." It is the word usually translated as "give" in the Gospels.

"Fruit" is from karpos (karpos), which means "fruit," "the fruits of the earth," "seed," "offspring," "returns for profit," and "reward."