“Silent witness: a crown of thorns”
Mark 15:17
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
Dating back some twelve hundred years, the United Kingdom is one of the oldest kingdoms in the world. And since that time, as many as sixty-one monarchs have reigned on its throne, from King Egbert, to Richard III, to Henry VIII, to Queen Victoria, and now to Queen Elizabeth II.
And along with its long and rich history have come quite a number of crowns. For example, there’s the Diamond Diadem of King George IV, complete with 1,333 diamonds, not to mention a four carat yellow diamond thrown in for good measure, and two strings of pearls. The queen wears it whenever she opens Parliament.
In November of 1947, on the day she married Prince Philip, she wore Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara. Twenty-five years later, her daughter, Princess Anne, also wore it for her wedding. And just this past July, Princess Beatrice wore it too.
And there’s the queen’s favorite, what’s called, The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland. And it’s called that because it was a gift from...the girls of Great Britain and Ireland. This year, it’ll be a hundred and twenty-eight years old!
But of all the royal tiaras, diadems, and crowns, the most important of all is the one called St. Edward’s Crown. Resplendent with 345 aquamarines, 12 rubies, 7 amethysts, and 6 sapphires, and weighing close to five pounds, it’s the centerpiece of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. Throughout her reign, Queen Elizabeth has only worn it once, for her coronation back in 1953.
Crowns symbolize power and wealth and sovereignty. They’re something only a king or queen would wear.
And in our text for today, we hear about a crown. But this one wasn’t made of silver or gold or precious gems. It was made of thorns.
Listen to the words of Mark chapter 15: “And the soldiers led Him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed Him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on Him. And they began to salute Him, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’” And they were striking His head with a reed and spitting on Him and kneeling down in homage to Him. And when they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the purple cloak and put His own clothes on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him” (Mark 15:16-20).
When the four gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, recorded all that men did to Jesus, they restrained themselves. They didn’t offer lengthy, detailed descriptions of His suffering and death. Instead, they were clear and simple, to the point, matter of fact.
But while they didn’t focus so much on what men did to Him, they did spend time on what men said to Him. They used words like “scorn,” “mockery,” and “disdain.”
It was now early Friday morning in Jerusalem, and the Jews were finished with Jesus. They had their kangaroo court with their trumped-up charges and their parade of false witnesses. High priest Annas took his turn with Jesus, and so did Caiaphas. And their verdict was clear--this Man was a blasphemer who deserved to die. So they took Him, still bound, to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, the only one who could legally put Him to death.
But as Pilate sat in judgment before Him, he didn’t know what to do with Him. Even after examining Him and the charges they filed against Him, he said, “This Man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then when the crowd still wasn’t satisfied, he sent Him to Herod. But Herod didn’t know what to do with Him either.
Finally, (hoping only to save his own neck), he gave the people what they wanted. Washing his hands in a bowl, he said, “Let Him be crucified.”
It didn’t take long for word to get around. “The Prisoner is here,” they said. And no ordinary prisoner. This was the King of the Jews!
Can you picture the scene? Matthew writes: “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before Him.”
Imagine, for a moment, just how those soldiers felt that day. Not only did the Jews hate the Romans, the Romans hated the Jews. And this Man was on trial for claiming to be their king. “So where’s His army?” they thought. “Where are His horses and His weapons of war? Didn’t He just ride a donkey into His capital city just a few days before?”
To them, Jesus was nothing more than a deluded lunatic, a village idiot. So if that’s the way He wanted it, let’s play the comedy out. First, He must have a crown. All kings wear crowns. So they found some thorny brambles nearby, mature enough to bear thorns, yet nimble enough to bend, then wound them together into a crown of mockery, and pressed them down hard onto His head.
And what’s a king without a robe? Another took a purple cape and threw it over His shoulders.
And one more thing--a king must have a scepter. Every king has a scepter. So they shoved a stick into His hand.
And if all that wasn’t enough, each soldier then took his turn to honor “The King of the Jews.” And bowing down low to the ground, they cried, “Hail, O King of the Jews!” And to be sure He understood just how much they loved Him and respected Him, they hit Him, spit on Him, and slapped Him in the face.
He must have been a pathetic sight.
For just a moment, can you remember who Jesus is? He’s the Son of Man, born in human flesh just as we are. Every bit of Him was just like us.
But not only is He the Son of Man. He’s also the Son of God.
Before He came to earth, He was honored and adored by thousands upon thousands of angels, cherubim and seraphim, by every power and principality, and obeyed by every one. In the words of Charles Spurgeon, He’s “earth’s prince and heaven’s darling.” There never has been, nor will there ever be, anyone like Him.
And think about it! One glance from those swollen eyes would have destroyed Rome’s entire army. One word from those bruised lips would have shaken Pilate’s palace from roof to foundation. One wave of His hand would’ve launched the spit of his accusers right back in their faces. An arch of His brow would've paralyed the hands that twisted that crown of thorns.
But as one author wrote, “The giver of light was left in the chill of a sinner’s night.”
In his book of Acts, Luke tells a story about the apostle Paul. He writes that just as soon as Roman soldiers arrested him, they stretched him out on a rack and were about to beat him. Until suddenly, he cried out, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?” Then the Bible says that those who were about to flog him drew back immediately. Even the commander was afraid, because he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.
If only these soldiers had known who Jesus was, and how He could have called down legions of angels to protect Him. But they had no idea who He was. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
You may not know or remember all the things you’ve said and done against Jesus. Still, He endured the most bitter and ignorant abuse from the Romans and the Jews. And He did it all for you.
Strangely enough, when the soldiers shouted, “Hail, King of the Jews!” they were right in more ways than they knew, for Jesus was the King of the Jews. He was what the Old Testament had promised all along. He was the reason God chose and blessed the nation of Israel. That’s what old Simeon once sang in his song: “Now let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your Word, for mine eyes have seen Your salvation...a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to Your people Israel.”
But when Jesus came to be their king, they turned Him away. He came for them. He came to fulfill their law and to be their Savior. But as John wrote in his gospel: “He came to that which was His own, but His own received Him not.”
And stranger still, even though the soldiers spoke in jest, they confessed what He had come to proclaim all along. He said, “The kingdom of heaven is near.” He said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” And He said, “He who is least is really the greatest in the kingdom of God.”
When they brought Him to trial, the charge against Him was that He claimed to be a king. And Pilate’s desperate question was, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a King. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world.”
Maybe the Jews never fully realized that Jesus was their King. Maybe Pilate and his soldiers never understood it either.
But if they didn’t realize it then, they most certainly realize it now, for the Bible declares: “At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Dating back to about five hundred years after the time of Christ, from the northwest corner of India, the game of chess is one of the oldest board games known to man. And if you’ve ever played the game, you know that of all the pieces on the chessboard, like the rook, the pawn, the queen and the bishop, the king is the most important one of all.
For even though the queen is so powerful, able to move any number of spaces in any direction, a player can lose the queen, and still win the game. But once the king is captured, it’s checkmate, and the game is over.
So the object of every calculated move is to protect the king at all costs. You can forfeit pawns, as well as bishops, knights, and castles. You can even sacrifice the queen to protect his majesty, the king. But the strategy of the game is to hide the king behind his row of subjects, to protect him in his castle. All must fall before he does.
But the King of the world, Jesus, is a very different kind of king, for even though He knew full well the coming scourge, mockery, cross, wrath, abandonment, blood, and shame, He didn’t hide somewhere safely away from the battlefield. He didn’t use His people as pawns. Instead, this King moved to protect His subjects. He stepped in front of His people. Alone, He went forth to conquer. And through the most vicious and horrible death ever known to man, He took our sin on Himself. He gave Himself to the cross.
A little over three hundred years ago, hymn writer Isaac Watts put it like this: “See from His head, His hands, His feet/Sorrow and Love flow mingled down!/Did e’er such Love and Sorrow meet?/Or Thorns compose so rich a crown?”
We give You thanks, dear Father, for the grace we’ve known, and the mercy You’ve shown. Help us at all times, and in every way, to find refuge at the cross, for Jesus’ sake. Amen