The portion of them on the rock illustrates those who accept the message, bubbling over with joy when they first hear it, but it takes no real root. They believe for awhile, but in the time of testing they fall away.

Which one of these three do you think proved himself a real neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers' hands?"

Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this home, for he too is a real descendant of Abraham.