"the lure of wealth chokes the word"

Note our Lord does not say here the possession of wealth but the lure of wealth.  A lure is something which entices and draws something away from where it ought to be.  We think of a fish being drawn out of its hole by a fishing lure, swimming away after that which will be its destruction.

Wealth is not simply material wealth.  Wealth can be prosperity of many kinds.  Even the poor can be drawn away by the lure of excessive interest in the prosperity of influence over others, power, position, prestige, social standing, physical prowess and intellectual capability.  None of these things, like material wealth, are in and of themselves evil.  It is when they lure us away, become a source of continual enticement for us - as a theme throughout life, or perhaps for just a season or even a day - that they choke the word in our lives and it yields nothing.

When we feel ourselves being pulled away in some new direction or interest, when we feel all our energies being spent largely in the single pursuit of something which has become all-consuming, we must step back and assess how it is affecting our relationship with the Word and its growth in our lives.

"Take my yoke upon you," says Christ. (Matthew 11.29)  A yoke is something which is placed on oxen to control and direct them to pull a load.  It precludes the possibility of the oxen wandering away after something else.  The lure of wealth and the yoke of Christ are incompatible.  Jesus has left the choice up to us although he has told us what to choose.  Wealth of any kind except the wealth of Christ is a dangerously powerful lure.  Since it is in the nature of man to pursue, it is far better to focus on taking the yoke of Christ on oneself each day and thereby ignoring the lure rather than try to discipline oneself to ignore the lure and then turn to Christ.  Take my yolk upon you and the lure of wealth will not choke the Word in your life.