Topic: Crown of Thorns (John 19)

In John 19, Jesus is in the midst of His darkest and most painful hour on the earth. Having stood trial for nothing he did wrong. The Jews delivered Him to Pilate to be condemned. Pilate asked him questions about truth, about the kingdom He talks about continually and His kingship. Pilate could find nothing wrong with Him, but having his hands tied with the Jews, He consented to having Jesus flogged (John 19:1-3). Flogging was a form of torture to weaken the individual to the point of death right before the crucifixion. Why did they place that crown of thorns?

When we read Genesis 3, it tells of the fall of man. When God created man, they were made in His image and had a relationship with him unlike anything I could describe. Adam and Eve experienced an intimate relationship with their creator. God let them have dominion or power over everything, he gave them but one restriction. They could not partake of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden. After Eve was tempted by the serpent, she and her husband fell to the temptation. This brought sin into the perfect creation that God had made. God’s righteousness could not tolerate the sin of Adam and Eve. But God is in the business of forgiveness. How does this have anything to do with the cross and the crown of thorns? After the sin of Adam and Eve, God declared judgment on them for their failing. And it’s interesting what occurs. After the fall of man God cursed the ground because of what Adam and Eve had done in falling out of relationship with Him (Genesis 3:17-18).

In those thorns is the message of the gospel. The thorns that we brought into existence because of sin, Jesus takes away because of love. God is in the business of forgiveness. Genesis 3 is not only about the fall, but about God’s redemptive work of forgiveness. You see that in the thorns that Jesus wore on his head. You see it in the tunics of skin that God gave to Adam and Eve to clothe them from their nakedness. You can also see it in the fact that God allowed them to physically die. If they wouldn’t have physically died, they would have lived forever without God, without forgiveness. What a message of hope we can see in the small things.

Jesus takes our thorns on His own head and offers us forgiveness.

Jesus gave the world a gift. His self-sacrifice came about so that we wouldn’t have to experience the punishment that sin deserves. And through His resurrection, we have hope to experience that love eternally.

What should your response be? Thank Jesus for wearing your crown of thorns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MwxC9AvwQc

See you Sunday,

Dr. Scott Kallem