God’s Word for You
Mark 15:16-18 The crown of thorns
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Wednesday, March 13, 2024
16 And the soldiers led him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole battalion. 17 They put a purple robe on him, and they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. 18 They also began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
There were two robes. Mark doesn’t mention that Jesus also stood before Herod on this day, and it was there that Herod had a “bright” or shining robe put on Jesus, in which he sent Jesus back to the governor. That was not the robe that the Roman soldiers placed upon the Lord. The soldiers used a purple cloak or mantle, the kind of thing one of their officers might wear. Whether it was red or violet is of no concern to us, since these colors were made with the same process and the shade depended on the manufacture more than anything else. The meaning of the purple or violet robe was to mock Jesus as if he were royal, just as it might be a compliment in another context (Esther 8:15). The white robe was equally not a compliment or judgment, for although the Christian heart and mind might say, Ah! White is the color of innocence!, Herod had nothing like that in mind.
In addition to the robe, the Romans grabbed some prickly or thorny plants common to the region and twisted a ring of this around the head of the Lord. This looked a little like the spiked crown of the Emperors of the time, but mostly the point was just that it would have hurt a lot.
They also saluted or cheered him, “Hail!” Instead of their usual, “Hail, Caesar!” they naturally said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” For the Romans, this could easily have been more than an insult to Jesus, but also an insult to the Jews in general.
Jesus did not protest or object to the treatment he got from these wicked Gentiles. Nor did he protest the slurs they shouted at him, or their laughter, or blasphemy, or any of the other things. It was time to bear the punishment for our sins, not a time to teach, rebuke, correct, or train them in righteousness. So even if they also mocked the Jews as they were mocking him, he let it go. The Father will judge them all when the time comes. “Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be!” (Revelation 1:7).
This crown of thorns was the only crown he wore on earth. Every spike that was thrust into his scalp gave him pain, just as every single sin we commit gives him nothing but pain. Every wound, every bruise that was inflicted on him in this way was no more, and even less, than the wounds and bruises our sins inflict.
What earthly crown would ever have been enough for Jesus? Solid gold would be too impure. Pure diamond would be too cheap. A crown of stars around his head would not be enough. But what he received, the humiliation, pain and blood, he received for me.
What royal train would have been enough for Jesus our Savior? The most elegant robe, the most beautiful cloth, would have been no more than sackcloth to the Maker of All. But what he received, in mockery and in jest, he received for me.
What praise and adoration would be enough for Jesus, the Savior of the World? No music, no poetry or verse would do him justice, no epigram or psalm, no matter how skillfully wrought, would stand next to the language of the Father’s all-holy praise. But what he received, the rough language of a heathen salute to ridicule him and to insult him, he received for me.
What congregation would be righteous and holy and dignified enough to sing his praise and speak in joy for all his perfect deeds? No saints who understood the title would think themselves worthy to stand in such a choir, no matter if they were holy Enoch, righteous Abraham, translated Elijah, Isaiah the mighty seer, gentle John, or Paul the indefatigable. Nor even the holiest of women now in Paradise: Mary and Eve, Tabitha or Sarah, nor even my mother, my daughters, or my wife. But the congregation and the choir he received in this way was not like the one that sang Hosanna on the Sunday past, but was a wicked band of pagan soldiers who sneered and mocked and hit him, scourged him, beat him, and killed him—the wounds he received for all our sins.
Our eyes and hearts are heavy as we grieve to hear about this happening to our Lord. But we see him in our mind’s eye, bloody, battered, bruised, crowned with thorns; his face swollen, distorted and misshapen from the beating. And we whisper in faith what they shouted in unbelief:
Hail, King of the Jews. Glory to your Holy Name, O Jesus.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.