Jonah Albrecht

Lent 4

March 30th, 2025

Matthew 27:27-29

On the Road to Easter: Jesus is Crowned with Thorns

27Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. 28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

INJ Who was crowned with the curse of our sin so that He could crown us with eternal life, DFR:

You’ve seen the symbol before.  It’s used to advertise the theatrical arts.  It shows two masks, one with a smiling face, the other is wearing a frown.  Together they form the common logo for the acting industry.

The symbol has a history all its own.  It dates back to the days of Greek drama.  At that time, the mask was more than a facial covering, it was anywhere from five to six feet tall.  The entire actor or actress would hide behind it to recite his or her lines.  Those who hid behind a mask had a special name.  They were called Hypocratos — from which we get our English word: hypocrite.  A hypocrite is one who hides his real identity behind a mask of something else.

Our text today deals with hypocrisy.  During the course of his trial before Pilate, some Roman soldiers bowed down before Jesus and pretended to worship Him.  They even said, “Hail, King of the Jews.”  A king must have a crown, they thought — so they twisted together a crown of thorns and placed it upon His head. Then the shameful mockery and hypocrisy began.  As we continue our journey On the Road to Easter, we remember that Jesus was cruelly mocked and Crowned with Thorns.

Good Friday wasn’t the first time that Jesus was offered a crown, or even viewed as a kingly figure. One of the first questions after He was born was, “where is He that is born king of the Jews?” And two other times He was offered a crown. Satan offered Him a crown over all the world if Jesus would only bow down and worship Him. Later, a group of people tried to forcefully impress on Jesus a crown after He fed them miraculously.

Today is different from all those other times. Not only is this crown twisted, full of thorns and scorn; but this crown isn’t being forced upon Jesus, He is allowing them to crown Him. As we’ll see, He is crowned because of our sin.

Pontius Pilate was directly responsible for what the soldiers mockingly coronating Jesus. He was the one who decided that Jesus should be beaten and then released. That was Roman policy. Either the prisoner would be executed, or they would be beaten severely.

Pilate figured that the bloodthirsty crowd would be satisfied if they saw the body of Jesus all tattered and beaten. Therefore, he handed Jesus over to the Roman soldiers and let them have their way with Him. Jesus was cruelly and shamefully treated. Worse than the 39 lashes from the Roman scourge, was the terrible mockery that followed.

Remember that the phony charge that “stuck” to Jesus was, This man claims to be the King of the Jews. And so, the Romans took it upon themselves to make Jesus look like a king. They found an old robe to drape over His shoulders and a loose reed to stick in His hand as a scepter. Finally, a twisted crown of thorns was deemed sufficient to be pounded in His head as a crown. Then they saluted Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!  They smote Him, spit on Him, and finally bowed down and worshipped Him. They gave Him all the homage and reverence of a king – mockingly of course, but truthfully, they were planning to kill Him.

That’s exactly what hypocrisy does.  It pretends to pay loving reverence to God, but really couldn’t care less.  That is the number one problem that Jesus encountered during His ministry.  Read Matthew 23 sometime.  Jesus issues one scathing indictment after the next against the religious leaders of His day: “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and deceit!…Outwardly you appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”  Before God that is how hypocrisy appears.

Have you ever heard someone say, “I would think about becoming a Christian if there weren’t so many hypocrites in the church,”? It is one of the most common accusations against the church, but also one that might have the most merit. As Christians, we claim to be Christlike in all that we do, but is that really the case on a day-to-day basis? Are we Christlike in dealing with one another? Are we always ready to place the feelings and needs of our neighbor ahead of our own? When we come to worship, do we merely mouth the words while our minds whirl with a hundred other things that interest us more? Only you can answer those questions for yourself. But when, not if, we find this sin in our lives, we should recall the terrible scene of our text — and fall to our knees in humble repentance.

The crowning of thorns came as a result of sin, and it really fits perfectly with Jesus’ role as our Savior. Did you notice anything that stands out about the crown more than any other part of the Roman’s wardrobe for Jesus? The crown of thorns identifies Jesus with His work. Think about it: those other pieces of His attire were probably stashed around the palace somewhere. The worn-out robe was probably left hanging in a closet; the scepter was any old stick they could find. But the crown of thorns had to be made. Human fingers had to twist it into shape. This had to be picked from a thorn bush outside and be fashioned on the spot.

Think back to the 3rd chapter of Genesis.  Do you remember the consequences of sin?  God told Adam and Eve that the ground was cursed for their sake.  The ground would thereafter be burdened by thorns and thistles.  Thorns, a curse that sin brought, became a crown for Jesus to wear.  It was fitting — Jesus left His heavenly throne to bear the curse of our sin.

By all outward appearances, this Man who was beaten to a pulp, mocked and shamed looked guilty. Any traveler passing through Jerusalem would only need to take one look at Him and think, “This guy definitely deserves what is coming to Him.” Imagine if the wise men came to Jerusalem that morning. They would take a glance at Jesus and think, “We made a mistake. This isn’t the king we were looking for.” It might not be the Savior King that you expected either. For some it might even be offensive to think that their Savior would have to endure such terrible suffering and shame. But this is the raw reality of our sin and guilt and it is only going to get worse for Jesus. By all outward appearances Jesus was a criminal. The church condemned Him. Pilate had Him beaten. The crowd was screaming for His blood. In every way, He looked guilty as charged.

But anyone involved with this case knew better. The church had to hire witnesses to perjure themselves on the stand. Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent. It was God who really did the accusing and charging. God superimposed on Jesus the very sins of those who were beating Him and mocking Him. All mankind’s sin were stuck to Jesus the same way the crown of thorns was stuck into His head.

Imagine for a moment if all of your sins were exposed for the world to see. God takes every guilty moment of your life, whether you remember it or not and hangs it high in the air so that whoever passes by will know exactly what you have done. It is a pretty shameful and terrifying thought, isn’t it?

The good news is this: Every single sin and shameful act has already been posted for the world to see, but they weren’t listed under your name. It was under the name of Him who bore the crown of thorns in your place. They were charged to the one whose love did not back away from shameful mockery, great physical abuse, or even the eternity of hell. When you look upon the cross and see your Savior adorned in such mockery, you will see His love in action. You will see your sins being drained from your record and being paid for in full.

What was meant as a mock coronation was ironically the Gospel truth.  Jesus wore the crown because He is a King — One who left His heavenly throne to be crowned with the curse of sin so that He might bear its burden in our place.

Jesus may have looked like a victim in Pilate’s courtyard, but He was, in fact, the Victor. He was doing exactly what He came to do. The King of kings was crowned with thorns so that we could be crowned with eternal life. A few minutes ago, we sang one of the most beautiful lines in Lenten hymnody:  See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down; Did e’er such love and sorry meet?  Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

When Abraham Lincoln died, a long line of people stopped before his casket to pay their final respects.  Among the mourners were a black lady and her child.  She lifted her boy high enough to see the famous president and said, “Take a long a look at that man — he died for you.”  Take a long look at Jesus, the thorn-crowned King.  He bore the curse of every sin we’ve ever committed; He took upon Himself the guilt of every hypocritical act we’ve ever done — He traded places with us, taking the crown of thorns from us, and replacing it with a crown of eternal glory.  Once we understand that, there isn’t any room for hypocrisy in our lives.  God grant us the grace to be genuine in our witness to Him who died for us.  Amen.