“And he who was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.”
The second example is the man in whom the seed was sown who was like the thin covering of soil over a limestone rock formation. Just as that soil received the seed, which sprang up quickly because it was in surface soil, and died as quickly, so it is with this man. He hears the word of the Kingly Rule of God and receives it with delight. He is looking forward with anticipation to the Messianic Banquet. But the word itself has not taken root. Thus it persists for a time until obstacles arise. But as soon as there is trouble and persecution (Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:17), he backs down. This was not what he had bargained for at all. He had wanted a grand party, not problems. For that was what it all was to him, a bargain which would lead him into luxury and pleasure. So ‘he stumbles.' That is, he finds it unacceptable and turns away from it as quickly as he had embraced it. He does not want something that will disturb the pattern of his life.
To suggest that there was no persecution or tribulation before it was suffered by the early church is clearly folly. In a society like that of the Jews, where feelings were strong, the introduction of new ideas, especially ideas as revolutionary as those of Jesus would inevitably produce a reaction. The Pharisees were more prominent in that regard because they saw themselves in their own way as ‘defenders of the faith' but many a household would have reacted against Jesus' ideas, and many a strict Jewish father would frown on any response to Jesus from his ‘children', and it is not surprising that we therefore have constant reference to such persecution and tribulation (Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 5:43-44; Matthew 10:16-25; Matthew 10:35-36).