“Twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head.” Matthew 27:29 NAS
“A crown of thorns became a crown that testifies of your salvation.”
My thoughts today are about “a cross and crown.”
Today is Good Friday, a day unlike any other before or since. Heaven’s royalty was subjected to earth’s worst cruelty. On this day, Jesus of Nazareth, the Sovereign of Heaven’s Kingdom and Son of God, died for the sins of all the world. On His head was a crown, but not one as you might suppose. He wore a crown of cruel thorns not a gold, bejeweled crown a Sovereign would wear – thorns twisted together by the hands of mocking soldiers who saw nothing more than a common criminal to die for his crimes, only another day’s work in a troublesome province of Rome’s conquest.
Some years ago when I was ministering in England, my friend and pastor there, took me to tour the Tower of London where the British Crown Jewels are kept. The priceless Crown Jewels are displayed in a collection of jewels of spectacular beauty and incomparable value, worn by the monarchs and royal families of Great Britain across centuries.
In shocking contrast, the crown of thorns Jesus wore was not priceless but common, not of beauty but pain, not given with recognition and honor but in rejection and ridicule. Anyone familiar with this part of Texas knows about mesquite thorns, an inch or more long, hard as a nail, and sharp as a needle. They can puncture a tire or shoe, and never break. The thorns of Palestine were much like that. And that cruel crown was painfully forced into Jesus’ scalp where the nerves and blood vessels are close to the skin, resulting in much pain and profuse bleeding.
From where did those thorns come? Thorns came from sin, Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden. To them, God said, “The ground is cursed for your sake . . thorns it shall bring forth for you.” Genesis 3:17-18. Solomon wrote, “Evil lives are like paths covered with thorns.” Proverbs 22:5 NCV. Appropriately, that crown of thorns represented the fruit of your sins, and mine. But Jesus wore that crown of shame and pain that would have been yours, and mine.
In the great exchange of redemption, Jesus wore your crown that spoke of sin and judgment to give you his crown “the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge shall give to all who have loved His appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:8.
But Easter – His resurrection – promises a greater day will yet dawn when God shall have “crowned (our Lord) with glory and honor.” Psalm 8:5. The crown of thorns that spoke of your sin has been exchanged for a crown of glory that testifies of your salvation. Read Psalm 21:3-6 NLT. No wonder they call this Friday good!
My prayer for you today is that you reflect on the awful and awesome price Jesus paid.