Selections from The Cross He Bore, Chapter 9John 19:5
“Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns...” (KJV)
* * *
There he stood, his face bruised, swollen and bleeding, and that thorny crown upon his head. He was so alone, ‘friendless, forsaken, betrayed by all.’That crown symbolized what sinful man thinks of Christ. He was not to be taken seriously. He was only fit for a stage-play!
* * *
What cries greeted the Saviour in those few eventful days! Hosanna! Hosanna!...Crucify! Crucify! They could not bear the light of the world; they felt more at ease in the darkness of deception and hypocrisy....The Holy One of Israel exposed them, unmasked them, condemned then and they turned against him with vicious hatred and a consuming desire to destroy him. They would give no glory to this Jesus, no honour, nothing but shame and contempt. The crown of thorns pleased them well. That is the response of the heart of fallen man to the Lord’s Christ.
* * *
If we are to receive the crown of life, Christ must receive the crown of thorns. He cannot be our Saviour any other way....It is in his diadem of thorns that he stoops low in humiliation and shame and sorrow to seek and to save sinners. It is only by the sharp thorn of his suffering that the poisonous thorn of our sin is drawn. In other words, apart from the cross God cannot forgive sin.
~ Frederick S. Leahy
More thoughts from Chapter 9
