Mark 15:17-18: And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and began to salute Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
I have read this line many times about the events leading up the the crucifixion of Jesus. The crown of thorns has always been a piece of the puzzle to which I had never paid much attention. It was merely a prop that you needed for a passion play on Easter Sunday.
It is wild how something so small as one line in the Bible can have so much impact when you allow God to open your eyes. I now have a new appreciation for the pain inflicted upon my Savior by that one line. The crown of thorns has new meaning for me.
While in the Dominican Republic, our male squad leader organized a one night camping trip for all the men on the squad. It was just a night to hike up into the mountains and spend some time together to pray. While there, we discovered that a tree grows in the DR that is covered with spines that are roughly 1-2 inches long.
Once we arrived at our campsite, I was setting my tent up under one of these trees (they were everywhere and if you wanted shade, your options were severely limited). The next morning, I began taking down my tent. I stood up quickly after disassembling my tent poles and my head slammed into a branch of the spiky tree. I felt up to my head and quickly realized that two thorns were firmly planted in my head. I pulled one out with no problem, but the other broke off in my head.
For the next four days, I lived with the pain of a thorn deep in my head. Karen, our resident nurse, tried to remove the thorn, but it was too deep. Finally, on the fourth day, we were able to dig out the thorn. Once we saw what had been in my head, it was obvious that the thorn had only stopped going deeper when it hit bone.
I can not begin to tell you about the pain and aggravation caused by one thorn in my head. Over time, I kept thinking about what Jesus must have felt with hundreds of those thorns in His head. I began to think about the pain and sacrifice that our Lord endured for our salvation. The crown of thorns is a side note in the story. However, having experienced one single thorn embedded in my head, I now realize that to Jesus that one line from the Bible was not a side note. Each thorn caused extreme pain.
I know that at any moment Jesus could have called down legions of angels to stop the crucifixion, but chose not to do so. He knew that the only way I could be saved was to endure the pain. I sit here today in great thanksgiving for His love and sacrifice. I now know an infinitesimally small amount of the pain He endured for me. I can promise I will never read Mark 15 the same way again.
