John 19

The Crown Of Thorns

And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on his head. John 19:2.

Do you remember how we spoke about the victor's crown, and how we learned that, in the old days, garlands of pine leaves were given to the victors in the Greek games? The idea was borrowed by the Romans, but as they were a conquering people they gave their crowns chiefly to the victors in battle. Sometimes the Emperor wore a laurel wreath to show how great a conqueror he was, and so the Roman soldiers crowned Jesus with a wreath not of laurels, but of thorns to insult Him and to mark the defeat of the King of the Jews.

A great many people have wondered of what this thorn-crown was made. Some think it was formed of twigs of a tree which the Arabs call the nubk tree. This tree has thorns about two and a half inches long, which are very sharp and curve backwards. The branches are easily bent and could very readily be plaited into a garland such as the soldiers made. Possibly there were trees of this kind in Herod's garden, or in a waste piece of ground not far away. The soldiers hastily gathered some twigs and wove them into a crown.

Now I don't think these soldiers really meant to hurt Jesus. Their crowning Him with the thorn- wreath was just a sort of rude joke. They wanted to find something that would mark their contempt, and the thorns lay handy. Laurel leaves were a sign of glory, but thorns were a sign of all that was useless and contemptible. And I don't suppose they stopped for a minute to consider how the thorns would hurt.

I want you to remember this, boys and girls, when you are tempted to make rough jokes at the expense of others, when you are tempted to laugh at the weak and the defenseless. You may mean it only in fun, but there are thorns in your fun, and the thorns may make cruel wounds in the heart of another. Be merry; let your laughter ring out; it will make the world a brighter place. But see to it that there are no sharp points in your laughter, that you are not making merry at the expense of another's pain.

1. Thorns have often been looked upon as an emblem of sin. When Adam was turned out of Eden he had to labor hard to obtain his daily bread from the ground, and part of his sentence was that the earth would bring forth thorns and thistles. Some people look upon these thorns as a symbol of the sin with which Adam had to contend. Sin is like a weed, you know. We have to keep carefully rooting it out of our heart garden so that the flowers of righteousness may blossom and bear fruit. And in the same way many have thought that the thorns which our Savior wore represented the sins of the world.

Whether that be the case or not, we must never forget that it was your sins and mine that Jesus bore on Calvary, and that all He suffered there was for your sake and mine. We hear these beautiful stories so often that we are apt to look upon them just as beautiful stories, and we lose a great deal of the meaning of them. I want you to remember always that Jesus wore the thorn-crown for you and for me.

I came across a beautiful story the other day. It tells of how Jesus, when a child, made a fair garden. And in the garden He grew roses to make a garland for His hair. Three times a day He watered them and He tended them with loving care. At length the roses blossomed and the Christ-child invited the other children to share His joy. But the children tore the roses from every stem and left the garden stripped and bare. Then they asked Him how He would weave Himself a crown when the roses were all dead. But the Christ-child replied that they had forgotten that they had left the thorns for Him. So

They plaited Him a crown of thorns,

And laid it rudely on His head;

A garland for His forehead made,

For roses, drops of blood instead.

Yes, Jesus wore the thorn-crown that you and I might wear the crown of glory.

2. But as we found that we could wear the king's crown and the priest's crown and the victor's crown, so we can wear the crown of thorns, if we will. For Jesus offers each of us this crown and asks us to wear it for His sake. It is not a crown of sin that we could never bear, so He has borne it for us but it is a crown of brave, patient endurance.

To keep a smile on our lips when things are going against us, to do our daily work and drudgery without grumbling, to tackle difficulties and overcome them, to bear disappointment bravely, to keep our temper when it is sorely tried, to speak the truth when a little white lie would mean escape from punishment that is wearing the crown of thorns. And we can all wear it, even the little ones can begin to wear it by not crying when they cut their finger or bump themselves.

And remember that a crown of thorns bravely borne will turn into a crown of glory.

There is a beautiful legend which tells of how a monk of old found the crown of thorns which Jesus wore and placed it on the altar in his church on Good Friday. And on Easter Morning he went to the chapel to remove the relic which he felt was out of keeping with the joy of the day. But when he opened the door he found the whole place filled with a wondrous perfume. The early morning sunlight streaming through an eastern window fell on the altar where lay, not the crown of thorns, but a crown of flowers; for the thorns had blossomed into flowers, rare and sweet and lovely.

So troubles bravely borne will blossom into flowers of rarest beauty and perfume; so our crown of thorns, bravely worn for Christ's sake, will some day become a crown of glory. (The texts of the other sermons in this series are Exodus 39:30 2 Kings 11:12, 1 Corinthians 9:25.)

It was a thorn,

And it stood forlorn

In the burning sunrise land:

A blighted thorn

And at even and morn

Thus it sighed to the desert sand:

“Every flower,

By its beauty's power,

With a crown of glory is crowned;

No crown have I;

For a crown I sigh,

For a crown that I have not found.”

Sad thorn, why grieve?

Thou a crown shalt weave,

But not for a maiden to wear;

That crown shall shine

When all crowns save thine

With the glory they gave are gone.

For thorn, my thorn,

Thy crown shall be worn

By the King of Sorrows alone.

(Owen Meredith.)