Crowned with thorns

When Jesus was charged with a death-worthy crime in court, the soldiers braided thorns in a makeshift crown and placed it on his head9,2). They put a purple robe on him and made fun of him by saying, "Greetings, King of the Jews!" While slapping him in the face and kicking him.

The soldiers did it to amuse themselves, but the Gospels include this story as a significant part of Jesus' trial. I suspect they are weaving this story in because it has an ironic truth - Jesus is the King, but His reign would be preceded by rejection, ridicule, and suffering. He has a crown of thorns because he is the ruler of a world that is full of pain, and as the king of this depraved world, he demonstrated his right to rule by suffering pain himself. He was crowned with thorns (only through great pain) (he was given authority).

Meaning also for us

The Crown of Thorns is also important to our lives - it's not just part of a movie scene where we are overwhelmed with the suffering that Jesus went through to be our Savior. Jesus said that if we want to follow him, we have to take our cross daily - and he could just as easily have said that we have to wear a crown of thorns. We are connected to Jesus in the crucible of suffering.

The crown of thorns has meaning for Jesus and it has meaning for every person who follows Jesus. Like it that 1. The Book of Moses describes how Adam and Eve rejected God and made the decision to experience for themselves what is bad and what is good.  

There is nothing wrong with knowing the difference between good and evil - but it is wrong to suffer evil because it is the path of thorns, the path of suffering. Since Jesus came to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God, it is no surprise that humanity, still alienated from God, rejected it and expressed it with thorns and death.

Jesus accepted this rejection - he accepted the crown of thorns - as part of the bitter cup to suffer what people suffer, so that he could open the door for us to escape with him this world of tears. In this world, governments place thorns on the heads of citizens. In this world, Jesus suffered all that they wanted to do to him so that he could redeem us all from this world of godlessness and thorns.

The world to come will be ruled by the man who has overcome the thorny way - and those who have given him their loyalty will take their place in the government of this new creation.

We all experience our crowns of thorns. We all have to bear our cross. We all live in this fallen world and share in its pain and worry. But the crown of thorns and the cross of death have found their correspondence in Jesus, who asks us: “Come to me, all of you who are troublesome and burdened; I want to refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am meek and humble in heart; so you will find rest for your selenium. For my yoke is gentle and my burden is light ”(Matthew 11,28-29).

by Joseph Tkach


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