“They put a purple robe on Him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on Him.” 
Mark 15:17

The instant a thorn pricks our skin, everything else ceases to exist.  

All we can think about is removing the tiny, jagged spike from our flesh. How is it that something so small can cause so much pain? 

Now…imagine a whole crown of thorns digging into your forehead.  A mixture of blood and sweat trickles into your eyes, blurring your vision. 

Jesus didn’t have to imagine this scenario.  

He lived it.  

Having just received the Roman scourging, Jesus’ body was a bloody mess. He could barely stand. The skin that was ripped away hung loosely from His back as He gasped for air. 

Adding insult to injury, the soldiers held a pretend coronation ceremony for this so-called “King of the Jews.”  Their goal, of course, wasn’t to honor but to humiliate. They only wanted to mock His Majesty.

If you’ve ever been made fun of or cruelly teased by others, the Son of God knows how you feel. 

But we mustn’t gloss over the thorns.    

After all, not every victim of crucifixion wore thorns on their head. But Jesus did. Why? What’s the significance of the thorns?

To answer that question, we must go back to the thorns in the Garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve rebelled and ate the forbidden fruit, God cursed creation. The Lord tells Adam, 

“Cursed is the ground because of you; it will produce thorns and thistles…by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food”  (Genesis 3:17).  

Thorns are one of the primary manifestations of the Lord’s curse against sin. We encounter literal thorns in our garden or on a hike through the woods, but also figurative ‘thorns’ in the stress and strain of the daily grind. If you’ve ever wondered why nothing comes easily at work and why everything seems to be a struggle in this sin-ravaged world, then congratulations, you’ve experienced the frustrating pain of ‘thorns.’ 

Of course, the Roman soldiers had no idea they had placed the symbol of God’s curse on Jesus’ head that fateful day. They were just trying to inflict more pain.

But aren’t you grateful that Jesus wore that evil, horrible, sinister crown of thorns?

In doing so, He took the curse of sin upon Himself, bearing our guilt and shame and satisfying His Father’s holy wrath against our rebellion. His resurrection reversed the curse, so to speak, and gave us a way to escape sin’s thorny grasp.  

The Apostle Paul puts it like this, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that we may be called the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  

Think about how stunning this exchange is. Here’s the King of kings, the Supreme Ruler over all creation, who humbly wears a crown of sin so we can wear a crown of righteousness. Amazing!

He gets a crown of suffering. We get a crown of hope.

He gets a crown of death. We get a crown of life. 

Or, as Puritan writer John Bunyan says, “He wore a crown of thorns that we might wear a crown of glory.”   

Again, I ask you- Aren’t you grateful that Jesus wore that evil, horrible, sinister crown of thorns?

Today is Good Friday. Show the world how grateful you are for the cross and for the thorns. 

Written by Jonathan Munson, Executive Director, RFTH

DIG DEEPER

Read “The Amazing Gift of Jesus” by Bryant Wright