If ever He entertained such thoughts, He never gave in to them. Not once. Stop and think about this. Not once did Christ use His supernatural powers for personal comfort. With one word He could have transformed the hard earth into a soft bed, but He didn't. With a wave of His hand He could have boomeranged the spit of His accusers back into their faces, but He didn't. With a mere arch of His brow, He could have paralyzed the hand of the soldier as He braided the crown of thorns. But He didn't. Remarkable. But was this the most remarkable part of his coming to earth? Many would argue not.
Many, perhaps most, would point beyond the surrender of timelessness and boundlessness to the surrender of sinlessness. It's easy to see why.
Isn't this the message of the crown of thorns?
Using thorny branches, they made a crown, put it on His head, and put a stick in His right hand. Then the soldiers bowed before Jesus and made fun of Him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' — Matthew 27:29 NCV
An unnamed Roman soldier took branches — mature enough to bear thorns, nimble enough to bend — and wove them into a crown of mockery for Jesus... a crown of thorns.
Throughout the Bible, thorns symbolize not sin but the consequence of sin. Remember Eden? After Adam and Eve sinned, God cursed the land:
Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. — Genesis 3:17–18
Brambles on the earth are the product of sin in the heart.
This truth is echoed in God's words to Moses. He urged the Israelites to purge the land of godless people. Disobedience would result in difficulties.
But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides.
— Numbers 33:55
Rebellion results in thorns.
Evil people's lives are like paths covered with thorns and traps.
— Proverbs 22:5 NCV
Jesus even compared the lives of evil people to a thornbush. In speaking of false prophets, He said,
By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? — Matthew 7:16
The fruit of sin is thorns — spiny, prickly, cutting thorns. What exactly is the fruit of sin? Step into the briar patch of humanity and feel a few thistles. Shame. Fear. Disgrace. Discouragement. Anxiety. Haven't our hearts been caught in these brambles?
The heart of Jesus, however, had not. He had never been cut by the thorns of sin. What we face daily, He never knew. Anxiety? He never worried! Guilt? He was never guilty! Fear? He never left the presence of God!
Jesus never knew the fruits of sin until He became sin for us.
And when He did, all the emotions of sin tumbled in on him like shadows in a forest. He felt anxious, guilty, and alone. Can't you hear the emotion in His prayer?
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? — Matthew 27:46
These are not the words of a saint. This is the cry of a sinner. This prayer is one of the most remarkable parts of His coming. But I can think of something even greater.
Want to know the coolest thing about the coming?
Not that the One who played marbles with the stars gave it up to play marbles with marbles. Or that the One who hung the galaxies gave it up to hang doorjambs to the displeasure of a cranky client who wanted everything yesterday but couldn't pay for anything until tomorrow. Not that He refused to defend Himself when blamed for every sin of every man and woman since Adam. Or that He stood silent as a million guilty verdicts echoed in the tribunal of Heaven and the Giver of Light was left in the chill of a sinner's night.
Not even that after three days in a dark hole He stepped into the Easter sunrise with a smile and a swagger and a question for lowly Lucifer — "Is that your best punch?"
That was cool, incredibly cool. But want to know the coolest thing about the One who gave up the crown of Heaven for a crown of thorns?
He did it for you. Just for you.
God willingly chose to enter time and be imprisoned in flesh.
The fruit of sin is thorns — spiny, prickly, cutting thorns.
The heart of Jesus had never been cut by the thorns of sin. Jesus gave up the crown of Heaven for a crown of thorns.
Memory Verses
Write out the words of Colossians 1:13–14.
The Heart of Jesus
People brought Him the sick. Jesus touched and healed people with every conceivable disease. He did not shrink from the outcasts and the unlovely. Blind eyes, shriveled limbs, pocked cheeks, decaying skin, twitching muscles, deaf ears... He had seen it all. But the outward ailments were only part of it. Jesus also knew what lay in the hearts of people. He could see it in their eyes — liars, cheaters, backstabbers, murderers, bigots, adulterers, gossips. He could heal their bodies, but He longed for the chance to heal their sin-sick souls. It was for this reason that He came to earth — for every selfish, angry, competitive, self-righteous, manipulative, cheating, stingy, ungrateful person who would come to Him for forgiveness.
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