Page 16 - Holyland Magazing - Catholic Edition 2016

the purpose of the soldiers who braided the
cruel crown for Christ.
Since man’s fall in the Garden of Eden, thorns
of all kinds have come up from the ground,
which was cursed by God in response to
Adam and Eve’s disobedient and sinful
choice to disregard the divine prohibition
not to eat from the tree in the midst of the
garden. Thorns are also used as a symbol
by God in the chastening of Israel, as Isaiah
declares, “Upon the land of my people shall
The jujube tree. Photos: Shutterstock
come up thorns and briers” (32:13); and as
Hosea prophesied that “the thorn and the
thistle shall come up on their altars” (10:8).
In Genesis 3:17-18, the Lord said to Adam,
"Because you have heeded the voice of your
wife, and have eaten from the tree of which
I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat
of it': "cursed is the ground for your sake; in
toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Messiah-King (Revelation 19). Secondly,
Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth
for you.”
Max Lucado, in his book, He Chose
The Nails, reminds us that throughout
Scripture thorns symbolize, not sin, but the
consequence of sin. He says, “brambles on
the earth are the product of sin in the heart.”
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So, what is the significance of the thorny
crown cruelly placed on the head of Christ?
Carolyn Adams Roth writes, “While a crown
of thorns would be exceedingly painful, the
crown of thorns was more about mockery
than it was about pain. Here was the “King
of the Jews” being beaten, spit upon, and
insulted by presumably low-level Roman
soldiers. The crown of thorns was the
finalizing of their mockery, taking a symbol of mockery, the crown of thorns was, in fact, an
royalty and majesty, a crown, and turning it
into something painful and degrading.”
For Christians, the crown of thorns is a
reminder of two things. First, that Jesus
was, and is, indeed a king. One day, the
entire universe will bow to Jesus as the
“King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation
19:16). What the Roman soldiers meant as
a scathing mockery, was in fact a picture of
Christ’s two roles, first of suffering servant
(Isaiah 53), and second of conquering
the crown of thorns reminds us that Jesus
was willing to endure the incredible pain,
deplorable ridicule, and intense shame of
sin, all on our account.
Charles Swindoll, in his book, Jesus: The
Greatest Life of All, writes, “The Roman
soldiers unknowingly took an object of the
curse and fashioned it into a crown for the very
One who would deliver us from that curse.
Galatians 3:13 states that “Christ redeemed
us from the curse of the law by becoming
a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is
everyone who is hanged on a tree.” Jesus
Christ, in His perfect atoning sacrifice, has
delivered us from the curse of sin, of which
a thorn is a symbol. While intended to be a
excellent symbol of who Jesus is and what
He actually came to accomplish.”
The crown of thorns, and the humiliation that
went with it, are now a part of history, and
Jesus has now received His true crown of
which He is most worthy. “But we see Him
who for a little while was made lower than
the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with
glory and honor because of the suffering of
death, so that by the grace of God He might
taste death for everyone" (Hebrews 2:9).
References:
The Plants of the Bible London; Edinburgh; New
York: T. Nelson and Sons. (Balfour, J. H. (1885).
Jesus: The Greatest Life of All by Charles Swindoll
and Logos Bible Software.
Carolyn Adams Roth, God as a Gardener Blog 2014-
2015
Max Lucado, He Chose the Nails. Thomas Nelson
Reprint edition (January 2, 2012)