Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus inside the praetorium and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped off his clothes and threw a scarlet military cloak about him. Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat upon him and took the reed and kept striking him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him off to crucify him. Mt 27:27-31
I have long thought of this blog. How to explain? How to describe? When considering how to decorate these prayer jars, the thought of the crown of thorns came to me. Aesthetically, there is movement and simplicity in this symbol. Intellectually, there is great symbolism. Spiritually, deepest of all, there is a touchstone with this man of sorrows through his crown.
Thorns are found in the Bible as early as the opening chapters of Genesis.
Cursed is the ground because of you!
In toil you shall eat its yield
all the days of your life.
Thorns and thistles it shall bear for you... (3:17-18)
A symbol of cursing, thorns are undesirable from the beginning. They are the opposite of the fruitfulness that God the Creator intended for earth. If you have ever found yourself walking through briers or working with thorny blackberry bushes, you know how they cling to you, tear at your flesh, and entangle themselves in your clothing. They are something to be avoided.
As I have always told my kids, God can make great good come from even evil. At our son's senior recital, Mark, along with his mentor, Rob Strusinski, offered a beautiful rendition of Britten's Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac. The haunting lyrics include the young Isaac asking his old father where the sheep is for the burnt offering? In Genesis 22, Abraham assures his son that God will provide an offering. This father is willing to offer his beloved son because he believes that is what God is asking of him. But God sends an angel to stay his hand. A thicket of thorns is used to catch and hold a ram that is used in place of Isaac as a sacrifice.
Fifteen hundred years later, God the Father offered his beloved son, Jesus, to us and for us. The thorns placed on his head are meant as a mockery. To the cohort of Romans, a crown was either for a king or was a reward to a soldier who had saved the lives of his brother soldiers. In Matthew, a soldier weaved a crown of thorns in mockery, but, oh, what symbolism he unknowingly gave us to be contemplated through the ages. For truly, this beloved son is an offering, a savior and a king.
This crown that Christ bore reminds me that he knows our suffering, he has carried our sorrows. There are so many who are in need of prayer. A friend going through chemo, a niece with horrible migraines, a loved one battling depression. Each bearing her own burden. But not alone. Jesus not only wears these thorns, he twists them into redemption, into saving and wears them as a crown to remind us we are never alone and he knows our sorrows.
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