The Crown of Thorns

“We see in Jesus the Monarch of the realms of misery, the Chief among ten thousand sufferers. Never say, “I am a great sufferer.” What are our griefs compared with His?”

- C.H. Spurgeon, The Crown of Thorns

“And the soldiers led Him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band. And they clothed Him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about His head, And began to salute Him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote Him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon Him, and bowing their knees worshipped Him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from Him, and put His own clothes on Him…” — Mark 15:16-20

“Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto Him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped Him, and put on Him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand: and they bowed the knee before Him, and mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked Him, they took the robe off from Him, and put His own raiment on Him…” — Matt. 27:27-31

“Though myriads of holy angels adored Him, though they would have gladly left their high estate in Heaven to smite His foes and set Him free, He voluntarily subjected Himself to all the ignominy that I have described – and much more which is utterly indescribable – for who knows what things were said and done in that rough guard-room which holy pens could not record, or what foul jests were made, and what obscene remarks were uttered, which were even more shocking to Christ than the filthy spit which ran down His blessed cheeks in that time of shameful mockery? Ah, my Brothers and Sisters, you cannot imagine how low your Lord stooped on your account!”

- C.H. Spurgeon, Mocked of the Soldiers

“For dogs have compassed Me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed Me…” — Ps. 22:16

“Behold, today, the Lily among thorns, Purity, itself, in the midst of opposing sin! See here the Sacrifice caught in the thicket, and held fast there, as a victim in our place to fulfill the ancient type of the ram held by the bushes which Abraham slew instead of Isaac!”

- C.H. Spurgeon, The Crown of Thorns

“The crown of thorns is believed to consist of a crown made from a thorny plant such as the “Syrian Christ Thorn” which has sharp closely spaced thorns. This was the crown that was “platted” and put upon the LORD’s head just after He had been scourged (Matt. 27:29, Mk. 15:17, Jn. 19:2). With the platting together of multiple plants, the crown could easily consist of hundreds of thorns based on the few cm. distance between thorns in a typically observed plant.”

- Dr. Preethi David Morris

“Through repeated beatings and blows to the head, there would be activation of the two major nerves that enervate all of the face and head: the trigeminal nerve, which traverses the face, eyes, nose, mouth, and jaws, and the greater occipital branch which supplies the back of the head. When the trigeminal nerve is irritated significantly, this may trigger a condition known as trigeminal neuralgia, which causes a severe and stabbing pain that is triggered by light touch, light, light wind, talking, eating, etc. The pain is described as unparalleled: spasms of stabbing, lancinating, explosive, and like an electric shock (Zakrzewska (1997)). Trigeminal nerve pain is described by the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) as the most excruciating pain known to humanity."

- Dr. Preethi David Morris

"Additionally, the wounds inflicted by the thorns would have caused substantial blood loss. According to Gospel accounts the angry mob of people, the whole band of Roman soldiers, took the reed from Christ and repeatedly smote His head. With each blow, it may be estimated that roughly 10 or more thorns could penetrate the scalp before being broken by the pressure with each blow applied--perhaps multiple blows at a time, and one after another (Matt. 27:30, Mk. 15:19, Jn. 19:3).”

- Dr. Preethi David Morris

“He who sees Jesus crowned with thorns will loathe to look on self, except it be through tears of contrition. This thorn at the breast will make men sing, but not with notes of self-congratulation – the notes will be those of a dove moaning for her mate.”

- C.H. Spurgeon, The Crown of Thorns

“Where I see the great Substitute for sinners put to such shame, scorn and ridicule, my heart says to itself, ‘See what sin deserves?’ There is nothing in the world that more richly deserves to be despised, abhorred, condemned, than sin! If we look at it aright, we shall see that it is the most abominable thing, the most shameful thing in the whole universe. Of all the things that ever were, this is the thing which most of all deserves to be loathed and spurned. It is not a thing of God’s creating, remember – it is an abortion – a phantom of the night which plucked a host of angels from their thrones in Heaven, drove our first parents out of Paradise and brought upon us unnumbered miseries.”

- C.H. Spurgeon, Mocked of the Soldiers

“They had scourged Him till probably there was no part of His body which was not bleeding beneath their blows – except His head – and now that head must be made to suffer, too. Alas, our whole head was sick and our whole heart faint – and so He must be made, in His chastisement, like unto us in our transgression. There was no part of our humanity without sin – and there must be no part of His humanity without suffering. If we had escaped, in some measure, from iniquity, so might He have escaped from pain. But as we had worn the foul garment of transgression and it covered us from head to foot, even so must He wear the garments of shame and derision from the crown of His head, even to the sole of His feet”

– C.H. Spurgeon, The Crown of Thorns

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” — Romans 5:6-8

“O head so full of bruises! Brow that its lifeblood loses! Oh great humility. Upon His face are falling Indignities most galling! He bears them all for me.”