Then the soldiers led Him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison. 17 And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His [head], 18 and began to salute Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 Then they struck Him on the head with a reed and spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him. 20 And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.

– Mark 15:16-20 (NKJV)

The soldier mock Jesus and cloth him in the royal color of purple and fashion a crown of thorns to go on his head. They were mocking him, but the symbols they offered of a royal robe and crown were more true than they could ever know. We want to take a moment and examine that crown they placed on Jesus.

Thornes come into the world as a curse after sin has entered the world (Genesis 3:18). I’m sure the soldiers didn’t think about any sort of symbolism at all when they placed the crown on Jesus’ head. I imagine they thought this was only another cruel thing they could do to him to mock him. Thorns hurt, that was the point. I don’t know that any were aware that this was the symbol for the curse and this is why Jesus was going to the cross to begin with.

When it comes to the crucifixion story I can’t help but marvel at all the small details that were there from the beginning to show that this act was both cruel on the part of those crucifying Jesus, but also somehow sovereignly appointed. There are too many coincidences in the story for it to have been an accident.

What these cruel soldiers intended for evil, God would turn around and use for good (Genesis 50:20). If God can do this with the crucifixion of Jesus, perhaps it is true that in our own lives the sorrows will give way to rejoicing once we see how even the evils committed against us turned out for our good (Romans 8:28).

Father, We love you and want to grow in knowledge of you and your word. We are grateful that you can take even the evil things that have been done and turn them on their head for the purpose of good. We thank you that Jesus bore our curse on his head not just figuratively, but literally he suffered for our sins so that we might be restored to a right relationship with you. Give us discernment as we apply your word to our lives. In Jesus Name, Amen.