Crown of Thorns

By: Carole L. Haines

I got up this morning and began the arduous task of Spring Cleaning outside in my yard. I am an overly ambitious gardener, so I have too many gardens for a woman of my age, that is for sure. But each garden is slowly becoming self-maintaining as I transform them into perennial gardens more and more each year. As I cleaned up around my porch, I found the Crown of Thorns I made for last year’s Cross, which I adorn each Holy Week as we approach the celebration of Resurrection Day.

The vines I had chosen were still pliable, so I began to twist the branches into a circle and weave them together again, like a braid. As I did this the intended circle formed itself into the shape of a heart. I sat back in wonder as I contemplated what Christ’s crown of thorns means for us in our salvation journey.

“He has no stately form or majesty that we would look at Him,
Nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in Him.
³ He was despised and abandoned by men,
A man of great pain and familiar with sickness;
And like one from whom people hide their faces,
He was despised, and we had no regard for Him.

⁴ However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore, and our pains that He carried;
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted, struck down by God, and humiliated.
⁵ But He was pierced for our offenses, He was crushed for our wrongdoings;
The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:2b-5 NASB)

That crown of thorns cut into the head of Christ, purchasing for us our freedom; just as surely as money exchanging hands between two people closing a deal. Jesus took our offenses, our wrong doings, the punishment due to us, as well as the wounds that we deserved to receive. He carried it all to purchase our freedom, salvation, forgiveness and wholeness.

In exchange we have been given the power to walk out of sin’s penalty, its power and presence. When Jesus declared from the Cross, “It is Finished!”, those were words were filled with far more meaning than the fact that his suffering was over. He was declaring that no other sacrifice need be made ever again for the sins of man. IT IS FINISHED! He has won and we are His victory, we are His prize. Thank you Jesus.

For a deeper dive into the Wounds of Christ and all He purchased for us, His followers, please click the link below for my Lenten reflections. God Bless!

 By His Wounds: Reflections on the sufferings of Christ – Kindle edition by Haines, Carole Lynne, Haines, Bruce. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.