Behold Your King

Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. John 19:1

Step by step, Pilate continued going through the motions of his duty to prosecute and punish the man in whom he could find no fault. The Jewish religious leaders who accused Jesus of blasphemy insisted upon it. The chant was Crucify him! Crucify him! Pilate’s reluctance was overcome by political pressure. The Jews had no allegiance to Rome, but they would use every underhanded tactic to persuade this governor that his career would suffer if he did not meet their demands.

So, the next step in the punitive process was flogging. Thirty-nine lashes with an instrument of torture. It was cruel, painful, nasty and barbaric. It totally disfigured the man who had to endure it. Pilate ordered it done. Then came the crown.

And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. John 19:2-3

The crown of thorns doesn’t seem to be Pilate’s idea. It was a cruel attempt at satire by the Roman soldiers who were scourging and tormenting Jesus, just because they had been given permission to do so. They wanted to not just kill Him, but to totally humiliate Him on the way to the cross. This strikes me as senseless human evil, like we see in schoolyard bullies or locker room hazing. It has no real reason, since the soldiers probably didn’t have a religious objection to His teaching. They wouldn’t have been particularly impressed with the Jews’ bad opinion of this grace teacher. As with Pilate, Jesus posed no personal threat to the soldiers, so it isn’t as if they had a legitimate quarrel with Him. They were simply enjoying their cruelty. It was a day's entertainment. Taunt the King. Dress him up and ridicule him in his royal robe and thorny crown.

The soldiers’ gleeful torment of this person they would crucify included fashioning a crude crown from thorny branches. Spontaneous teasing, they thought. They didn’t think about or care about the heavy symbolism of the thorns. The thorns represented a curse upon the earth, pronounced in the Garden of Eden. The curse results from sin. Mankind’s sin of disobedience, which has affected every human since Adam took and ate the forbidden fruit. The thorns upon the head of our Lord were His crown of grace, indeed, as He bore our sins on the cross of judgment.

Thorn, Thorns - Literal: Any of various sharp, spiny protuberances; a prickle.
Symbolic: A person or thing that causes sharp pain, irritation, or discomfort.
Biblical: Symbolic of the Judgment of God; first on the earth, then on Israel. In the Old Testament, wherever its use is symbolic, it is the direct result of disobedience, neglect of doctrine, and the negative response of a rebellious people.

Genesis 3:17-18 “…Cursed is the ground because of you (Adam)….It will produce thorns and thistles for you…” Numbers 33:55 “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live.” Joshua 23:13 “..they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes.” Proverbs 15:19 “The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway." Proverbs 24:30-31 “I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense…thorns had come up everywhere…” Ezekiel 2:3-7 “He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’  And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or be terrified by them, though they are a rebellious people. You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.”

Thorns and thistles are the NATURAL produce of the uncultivated earth. If not systematically destroyed, they will hinder and destroy the good crops of the husbandman.

Matthew 7:16 “Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?”
Matthew 13:7 “Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.”
13:22 “The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.”
Hebrews 6:7-8 “Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.  But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.”

Principle: Humans never have to be taught carnality, laziness, rebellion. All these characteristics are natural, instinctive, EARTHLY. We must, however, be taught the Word of God. It must be systematically cultivated in our souls. If believers neglect so important a responsibility we will become overgrown with thorns before we notice, and totally incapable of producing good fruit for our Husbandman.

As Jesus was bearing our sins on the cross, He was at the same time bearing the curse of the earth (the crown of thorns) on His head. 

Of course, the joke was on the soldiers. And the grace was for them and the Jews as well as for us. They had no clue how they were being used to fulfill God’s prophecy regarding His perfect Lamb. They also did not know that their human arrogance was being manipulated by Satan, to torture and put to death God’s uniquely born Son in an attempt to prevent the fulfillment of His perfect plan of grace.

Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” John 19:4-5

When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. John 19:6-8

He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.  So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?”  Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” John 19:9-11

He who delivered Jesus over to Pilate was Caiaphas. Religious leader of the Jews (John 18:28). Pilate really did not want to execute this man, but the Jews kept applying the political pressure:

From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” John 19:12-14

15 - The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

16 - So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.

So much for Pontius Pilate’s authority.