3. Crown of Thorns
Eunjin Chang • March 17, 2025
John 19:2-7
And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, 3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. 4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. 5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! 6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. 7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
Jesus was crowned with thorns because he was the Son of God.
In the Old Testament, the thorns represent curses. When Adam sinned against God, God cursed the land, and the land gave out thorns and thistles. God ordered Adam to sweat and work to earn a living and ultimately return to dust at the end of his life. Thorns and thistles identify the curse on the land. Yet, when Jesus was being tried, he was crowned with thorns.
The Bible tells us that Jesus was crowned with thorns, and the soldiers hit his head with reeds. The temple where the thorn was laid and beaten has many essential blood vessels. A few years ago, I hit my head on a metal plate while working in my garage. When it happened, I felt an intense rush of blood flow to the top of my head, and immediately, I felt cooling on my head. When it happened, my eyes were covered with blood, and the blood was coming out as if I had turned on the water faucet to the maximum. It took about an hour or so for the blood to stop flowing after I had put some pressure on it, but my entire body was drenched with blood. It was quite a scene as my wife was screaming uncontrollably, seeing blood all over the floor and on my body.
When Jesus was crowned with thorns on his head, and the Roman soldiers beat the thorns onto his temple, the blood vessels popped, and the blood poured down all over his body and to the floor. Why did this happen? Other thieves and robbers who were crucified were not crowned with thorns. The Roman soldiers did this to mock him, as we find out that they made him wear a robe and gave him a reed to hold in his hand while proclaiming, “Hail king of the Jews.”
The blood that Jesus shed when the thorns cut into his temple was shed for the curses that were on the head of every descendant of Adam. The fruit of good and evil was the curse of knowledge. Adam knew all things before the fall, as God shared all things with Adam. He lacked nothing, yet the curse fell upon his head when he disobeyed God. His thinking and decision-making became unclear as his knowledge became corrupted. He had no way of truly knowing the consequences of his actions, as God was not the guarantor of his life. He rebelled against God, and that set a chain of events that led to Adam being in charge of the cursed world.
The curse did not end at Adam’s temple but continued onto the land and all things above, on, and underneath the land. As the thorns and thistles gave root onto the land, the animals and other things began to live under the curse. Adam and his descendants must constantly compete with animals and nature to survive in the cursed world. The animals began attacking mankind, and mankind had to defend itself from all elements of the world. While this was happening, Adam gave birth to a son, Cain.
The birth of Cain was a foreign concept to Adam and Eve, as Adam and Eve were created as adults. Cain was born as an infant and needed care and attention. Adam and Eve had great hopes for Cain as God told them that a descendant of Eve would crush the head of the serpent and, hopefully, they could return to Eden one day. However, they soon discover their hopes were based on incorrect knowledge and were cursed. Cain killed his brother Abel, and their dream of someday returning to Eden was shattered as the land records the first murder.
Since the murder of Abel, the curse continues until today. It will continue until Jesus returns. The curse that Adam was under led to death. Adam is not here; he was cursed and died under the curse. All who have ever lived on earth and will live until Jesus returns are under the curse.
Jesus had to wear the crown of thorns and bleed because that blood, which is more precious than the blood of Abel beyond any measure, was the blood of God. God came to this world in a body so that He could pave the way for mankind to reverse not only the curse of death under sin but to give life everlasting. Adam had a choice to take the fruit of life, but instead, he chose the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. This selection was the reason for all curses to exist. When Jesus came and took upon the curse, the thorns on his temple caused him to bleed out to pay off the curse.
Jesus did this voluntarily on behalf of all mankind.
The Roman soldiers did not know what they were doing when they placed the crown of thorns on Jesus. They did not know that crucifying Jesus paved the way to the salvation of all mankind. Jesus prayed to God, saying, “They do not know what they are doing.” Their acts were the results of the cursed knowledge. Jesus took the curse, placed it upon his head, and took the shame and all the cursed effects into his own body and bled.
Therefore, when we rely on the blood that Jesus shed for us while wearing the crown of thorns, we are no longer under any curse. As Jesus said, “it is finished” at the cross. The cruses paid off in full, and those who desired to be under the blood of Jesus were saved entirely from all curses.
For a Christian to be healthy, we must sleep or rest in Jesus. Just like sleep is essential to the health of our physical body, sleep or rest in Jesus is essential to our spiritual walk with Jesus. When Jesus came to the world, he came to do the works of the Father, and he completed them on the cross, when he said, It is finished. The very reliance of the blood of Jesus that he shed for us on the cross gives us the rest that our spirit needs. To sleep or rest in Jesus means to cease all our agendas. Many Christians fall into a trap that once you become a Christian, you must do so many things and not do so many things. Being a disciple becomes a matter of checking off a list of dos and don’ts. However, this is far from rest that Jesus gave us when he said, It is finished, on the cross. The rest comes to us when we die in Jesus. When we follow Jesus as a disciple, Jesus is inviting us to pick up our own cross, deny ourselves, and follow him. Where did Jesus end up? On the cross, and he died for the sins of the world. When apostle Paul stated that he had been crucified with Christ and he no longer lives, he was stating the mere nature of a disciple of Jesus. When Jesus invites us to die with him on the cross, it is not to destroy us or end us. Human nature is to struggle to survive and to have another breath. But to follow Jesus is to deny that very nature. How can it be done? It is impossible with human effort or will, as it is contrary to the very nature of humanity. When one becomes a disciple of Jesus, everyone has one or a few things that they cannot surrender to God. It may be finances, children, or even their own life. However, Jesus invites all of his disciples to give up that one thing that everyone has. Every Christian faces this question at some point in their walk with Jesus. They have eaten and drunk the flesh and blood of Jesus. They have tasted the goodness of the Lord and His mercies. They delight in worship and even give up many things for the Lord and His body. But that one thing, no matter how minor it seems, Jesus asks the question, “Can you give up that one thing for me?” Which is the question of death. The death of our old self. To Abraham, it was to offer Isaac on an altar. To Jacob, it was to deny his ability to cheat, steal, and lie. To the Apostles, it was to give up their life for the sake of the gospel. So many of our ancestors of faith have demonstrated giving up that one thing that matters the most to them for the sake of Jesus. Why would they do that? The most important question of all is, how were they able to do that for Jesus? The answer is simple: daily eat and drink Jesus’ body and blood; daily excrete out what the Holy Spirit is telling us; daily rest in Jesus. This daily trust and obedience provides us with a sense of security and guidance in our walk with Jesus. The death of oneself does not come from human effort nor willpower. It comes from trusting in Jesus even till death. It can only be done when one is deeply involved with Jesus and Jesus’ DNA becomes their DNA. Without questioning, they hear the voice of Jesus, respond, and lay down their lives and their most essential things for Jesus. It is a daily walk with Jesus and having a moment-by-moment relationship with Jesus. Jesus said My sheep hear my voice and follow me. It is interesting to note that when Jesus calls his sheep, it is among other sheep that are not of Jesus’. Jesus calls his sheep to take them through the valley of the shadow of death. Jesus’ sheep hear his voice and follow initially. Then, when the sheep sees Jesus walking away from the green pasture and onto the valley of the shadow of death, the sheep begins to wonder if the voice it hears is Jesus’ or not. But as Jesus continues to call the sheep, the sheep respond by trusting in Jesus’ voice, recognizing it as their own. But as the sheep nears the valley of the shadow of death, the sheep gets close to Jesus, embracing his breath, scent, and sweat. Following him closely, as he fears he might be lost if he does not hear the voice of his true shepherd. Ultimately, the valley of the shadow of death separates the true sheep of Jesus from other sheep. Jesus calls all of his disciples to carry the cross, deny oneself, and follow Jesus daily. Which ultimately leads to death. Death is not to end our essence but to deliver us from ourselves, our old ways of living, and to redefine our DNA to become like Jesus; ultimately leading us to the resurrection of Jesus, as he has said, I am the resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus is not something that we find when the last day comes; the resurrection that Jesus gives us is the very nature of all of his disciples that must go through to become faithful followers of Jesus. Many modern Christians are what we might call 'zombie Christians'. This is not a metaphor, but a reality. When Jesus calls us to die with him, many reject this calling, believing it to be from Satan. They know deep down that it is the call of Jesus, but they prefer to be deceived in their hearts as it seems logical, reasonable, and satisfies their current values. However, when a Christian rejects the call of Jesus, the life of Jesus leaves that Christian, and that person becomes a 'zombie Christian'. A 'zombie Christian' is a person who knows about Jesus but does not follow Jesus because they have denied the call of Jesus to be his disciple. There are many 'zombie Christians'. Many become like Pharisees, and they are satisfied with knowing about the Scriptures, rather than obeying them. They begin to lose the joy, rest, and light of Jesus in their lives and begin to replace it with religious activities and the endless pursuit of knowledge about Christian life. When the Father speaks, He speaks once, and the Holy Spirit continuously reminds us to obey what the Father has said. However, once you become a zombie Christian, it is difficult to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, nor the voice of the Father. The Holy Spirit continuously prays to the Father with groaning that cannot be uttered because the Holy Spirit is in agony over the disobedient Christian. Just like the Prodigal Son, the Father waits for the son to return. An interesting observation can be made regarding the story of the Prodigal Son, that the father did not go after looking for the son, nor did the older brother. The reason the father did not go after the prodigal son was that the son made the choice, and the father respected the son's choice. But an interesting thing is that the older brother did not go after his brother, even though he could have. The older brother did not know the heart of the father, and when the prodigal son returned, the older son’s response reveals his true intentions. The Father waits for the zombie Christian to return. To return means to realize that their effort and ways of living caused much turmoil and must abide under the ruling of the Father. The Father gives another chance to zombie Christians. But when the second chance comes, the sacrifice that a zombie Christian makes seems greater than the first time. As that person has drifted away from the proper way of living and been replaced by religious activities that have no life. Every disciple of Jesus knows that one thing that Jesus asks us to give up. It is not to destroy us but to trust in the Lord. Just like when Peter asked Jesus to walk on water, Jesus is telling us to walk on water like Peter did. When we die in Jesus, it is the very spirit of Jesus that resurrects us. When we experience death and resurrection through Jesus, that is when we truly find the peace and rest that Jesus desires for us to have, not through religious activities, disciplines, and training. When we realize that our death does not lead to destruction, as the one inviting us to death is Jesus, who is life and resurrection, we trust in Jesus and follow through our death, and we wait on Jesus to resurrect us in his power and spirit. That is when we are truly free from the world and its bondages, and nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus. We become one with Jesus as we suffer with him, and we glory with him. We can become truly victorious in all aspects of our lives, not with our power or abilities, but by what Jesus has done for us in himself. A true crown of glory awaits those who follow Jesus even to death.
