THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THORNS
VARIOUS PASSAGES
#thorns
INTRODUCTION
Every week when I mow my yard I come around a particular large bush that was planted around my propane tank I just get shredded on whatever arm and leg that happens to be on the inside as I try to mow around it. The bush has thorns. The rose bushes that I have planted in the front of my house that survived from last year all have thorns on them. The main character’s name in a fictional series I am reading right now is named “Thorn.” I have thorns on the brain.
I want you to have thorns on the brain.
THORNS
Thorns are a stiff, sharp-pointed projection from the stem or other part of a plant. When I think of thorns, I think of them all down the stalk of a plant. When we think of thorns we think of other words like sharp, spiky, prickles, barbs, bristles, spine… and other pointy-type words.
Believe it or not, thorns appear very early in the Bible. Thorns are specifically used by God to illustrate, among some other truths, how the world changed because of sin. God outlines some of these changes in Genesis 3.
READ GENESIS 3:14-19 (ESV)
The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
YHWH God outlines some of the impact that sin makes on the serpent, women, men, and all of Creation. We see right away in Genesis 3 that everything God created was and is impacted by the presence of sin. If you aren’t sure what the word “sin” means, “sin” is anything opposite of what God wants for us and against His divine design. Sin is missing the mark. Sin is failing to be whole and holy as defined by God. Interestingly, Genesis 3:18 points out that one of the results of sin is that plants will have thorns. I personally feel like thorns did not exist before Adam and Eve sinned because God specifically mentions them as a result of sin.
What does that mean? Every time I get too close on the mower when I circle the bush in my yard and get scraped and draw blood, is a result of sin. I might also sin every so often in what comes out of my mouth as the thorns rake down my arms, but that is probably a different sermon.
Interestingly, in Exodus 3, as God speaks to Moses from a bush on Mount Sinai, the specific Hebrew word that is used for the bush that is on fire but is not consumed… is thorn bush. That is a minor use of the word “thorn” in the Bible as clearly Moses is just describing the kind of bush from which the Almighty God of the Universe spoke to him. It is still interesting.
THORNS
The words thorn and thorns is used 53 times in the Bible. 38x in the Old Testament and 15x in the New Testament.
The next major use of “thorns” in the Bible in my opinion comes in the Book of Numbers in the Old Testament and shares with us something very significant.
READ NUMBERS 33:50-56 (ESV)
And the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, 51 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places. 53 And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. 54 You shall inherit the land by lot according to your clans. To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance. Wherever the lot falls for anyone, that shall be his. According to the tribes of your fathers you shall inherit. 55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. 56 And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.”
The commands that the Lord gives the people of Israel is expressed in some very intense verbs: “drive out” (verse 52), “destroy” (verse 52), “demolish” (verse 53), “take possession” (verse 53), “settle” (verse 53), and “inherit” (verse 54). None of these words are passive as God describes the blessing of the land He has given to the descendants of Abraham. The intense command is followed by an even more intense… intenser… more intenser… warning.
The warning in verses 55-56 includes the words “barb” and “thorn.” Now, those are not people’s names, but rather a reference to the spiky type plants we have already been discussing. If the people of God disobeyed the Lord, the people who remain would be like “barbs” in their eyes and “thorns” in their sides. I can hardly imagine what it would be like to have a barb or thorn in my eye. I am going to just say “no thank you” to that.
Please notice that in Genesis 3 the thorn was the direct result of sin.
Please notice that in Numbers 33, the thorn was used as a metaphor for how life would go if the people of Israel left idol worshipping folks among them and did not follow God. This same metaphor is also repeated by Joshua in Joshua 23 when he says the same truth to the next generation of Israelites. Basically, thorns are an actual result of sin and become a symbol of sin.
THORNS
Did you know that the dendrocnide moroides, commonly known in Australia as the stinging tree, stinging bush, or gympie-gympie, found in rainforest areas of Malaysia and Australia is notorious for its extremely painful and long-lasting sting and is considered to be the worst thorn in the world.
I also did some digging and found out that aside from cactussesses one of the largest prickly plants in the world is the thorny acacia tree. This hardy tree has branches studded with menacing, needle-sharp spikes that hide among the leaves and hurt those mowing nearby at 1.5 inches long.
Interestingly, there is a parable in Judges 9 in which the evil leader in the parable is a bramble bush which leads the trees away from honoring God and leads the trees into ruin. The speaker of the parable, the son of Gideon, uses brambles, thorns, and prickly bushes to make a point about an evil ruler.
The next major passage that uses thorns echoes passages like 2 Samuel 23 which says thorns are like worthless men “that are thrown away” and Proverbs 15:19 which calls laziness a “hedge of thorns.” The overall use of thorns in the Bible is when something is no good, terrible, lazy, worthless, and even evil; again, it is a symbol of sin.
Micah 7 is no different. The Prophet Micah uses thorns to talk about those who wait to shed blood, hands that do evil, and people who ask and take bribes. Again, thorns are used to help us understand how terrible these actions and way of living is… how serious the sin is in the lives of people who act in this way.
READ MICAH 7:2-4 (ESV)
“The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net. 3 Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together. 4 The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand.”
THORNS
You might be wondering what the purpose of a thorn might be?
Thorns hurt. That’s pretty much it. Roses have thorns to protect their beautiful flowers. Acacia trees have long barbs to keep animals like giraffes from eating all the leaves. Cacti have spines to keep animals from eating them and getting at the water inside. People have thorns so we don’t talk to them. The purpose of a thorn is to hurt.
We see that very purpose in a parable that Jesus teaches in Matthew 13.
READ MATTHEW 13:1-9 (ESV)
“That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about Him, so that He got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And He told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.”
The Parable of the Sower is a dynamic parable with great meaning, but we are not so much interested in the overall parable today, but rather how thorns are used in His parable. In Jesus’ spiritual lesson, the thorns represent (verse 22) the values of the world opposite of God and the desire for riches. The thorns make the seed unfruitful. The evil chokes out the purpose of God for a person. Jesus uses thorns as a direct metaphor in His parable teaching us about the Gospel.
TRANSITION
That leads us to the point of today.
I want to read some passages from the Gospels that parallel each other and I want you to notice what is present.
READ MATTHEW 27:27-31 (ESV)
“Then 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!” 30 And they spit on Him and took the reed and struck Him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked Him, they stripped Him of the robe and put His own clothes on Him and led Him away to crucify Him.”
READ MARK 15:17-19 (ESV)
“And they clothed Him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on Him. 18 And they began to salute Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking His head with a reed and spitting on Him and kneeling down in homage to Him.”
READ JOHN 19:1-6 (ESV)
“Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged Him. 2 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head and arrayed Him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck Him with their hands. 4 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.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!” 6 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.”
THORNS: TWO TRUTHS AND A MEANING
We should notice two truths that lead us to profound meaning. We should notice two truths as we read about the soldiers putting a crown of thorns on the head of Jesus and then beating those thorns more into His skull.
First, the truth is that Jesus was innocent. Jesus is about to die the death of a criminal and yet the judge declared Him not guilty. In Matthew 27:4 Jesus is declared “innocent” by the man who betrayed Him and in Matthew 27:24 “innocent” by the man who judged His trial and in Luke 23:47 “innocent” by the soldier who watched Him die. Jesus was completely innocent of any criminal, societal, religious, civil, or moral breaking of law.
Second, because the way that thorns are used in the entire Bible: from Genesis, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, 2 Samuel, Proverbs, Micah, and even the teaching of Jesus Himself; the thorn is a symbol of sinfulness. A briar or barb is a metaphor for the pain and anguish of living opposite of God’s desire for us. The pressing of the crown of thorns on the head of Jesus was a way of physically stating that He is taking on sin. Because He had no sin of His own, the sin He is taking on is the sin of others. All others. Everyone else’s sin. My waywardness. Your missing the mark. He took it all on Himself and yet He was innocent.
The Bible tells us…
READ ISAIAH 53:4-5 (ESV)
“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.”
READ ROMANS 3:23-25a
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 Whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.”
READ 2 CORINTHIANS 5:21 (ESV)
“For our sake He made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
READ GALATIANS 3:13 (ESV)
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”
The profound meaning we find in looking at thorns is that the crown of thorns that was thrust upon Jesus’ head was a deliberate symbol of Him taking on our sin. Innocent Jesus Christ took on our sin onto Himself and paid for it. It’s all right there in the thorns.
TRANSITION
I also could not help but notice that all three Gospels call what was forced upon Jesus’ head a “crown” of thorns. Why use that word “crown?” Matthew, Mark, and John all use the word “crown.” Crowns have deep and varied meanings, depending on culture and context. As I looked at all the various meanings, I actually thought that all of them applied to Jesus.
THORNS: A CROWN OF THORNS / INVITATION
A crown can mean “authority and kingship.” The most common meaning across history and across cultures is that a crown symbolized rulership, kingship, or queenship. It marked who had the right to govern and indicated divine appointment or favor. That is absolutely true for Jesus. The “crown of thorns” makes Him the King of Kings for the sinners. The “crown of thorns” makes Him the Ruler of those who profess faith in Him.
Question: Is He your king?
Question: If He’s NOT your king, would you make Him your King today?
A crown can also mean “victory and achievement.” In ancient Greece and Rome, victors of athletic games like the Olympics and gyro eating contests received wreath crowns, often of olive, laurel, or ivy. These types of crowns were for honor, glory, and excellence. This is absolutely true for Jesus. The “crown of thorns” marks Him as the victor over sin and death. The “crown of thorns” shows that in the race for the human soul, Jesus crosses the finish line first.
Question: Are you still fighting for your soul?
Question: Have you let Jesus win your soul from God-absent existence to eternal life with Him?
A crown often means “divine favor or a sacred role” in some cultures as some crowns denoted priestly or sacred status. Even in the Old Testament, the High Priest in Israel wore a gold plate inscribed “Holy to the Lord” (Exodus 28:36-38) fastened on their head. This is absolutely true for Jesus. The “crown of thorns” shows us that Jesus is the Great High Priest in Hebrews. It is a statement of Jesus’ role as the sacrifice for our sins and even the One doing the sacrificing.
Question: Do you believe that Jesus sacrificed Himself for you?
Question: Have you made your faith in Jesus known by being immersed into Him?
A crown in some cultures around the world has meant “life, fertility, and honor.” Some crowns made of plants (laurel, oak, olive) often symbolized life, victory, peace, or fertility. For example, brides in some cultures wore wreath crowns representing purity and blessing and a look forward to life to come. This is absolutely true for Jesus. The “crown of thorns” shows us that life, honor, victory, and peace come through Jesus Christ. He offers us not just life, but eternal life and eternal blessing and eternal purity.
Question: Do you believe that by confessing Jesus you will have life in His Name?
Question: Do you live that life that Jesus paid for?
SUMMARY
As Jesus was heading to the cross, the Roman soldiers attempted to make fun of Jesus. They hit Him. They spit on Him. They dressed Him up and beat Him mercilessly. In the midst of all of the flogging and beatings and mocking, the Romans placed a “crown of thorns” on the head of Jesus. Jesus would say later (Luke 23:34) that they did not know what they were doing. They did not realize that by shoving the painful thorns on the head of Jesus of Nazareth, they were closing a circle of meaning that began in the Garden of Eden.
The Gospel According to Thorns means that Jesus took on Himself all that was broken in humanity and in the world and paid for sin. That’s it. That is the Gospel. That is what the crown of thorns means. The cross is a symbol of salvation. Hammer and nails can be a symbol of salvation. An empty tomb can be a symbol of salvation. So too… is the crown of thorns a symbol of the salvation paid for us by Jesus Christ the Son of God.
INVITATION
Question: Do you believe that Jesus sacrificed Himself for you?
Question: Is He your king?
Question: Are you still fighting for your soul?
Question: If He’s NOT your king, would you make Him your King today?
Question: Do you believe that by confessing Jesus you will have life in His Name?
Question: Have you let Jesus win your soul from God-absent existence to eternal life with Him?
Question: Have you made your faith in Jesus known by being immersed into Him?
Question: Do you live that life that Jesus paid for?
PRAYER
ANNOUNCEMENT
As you depart today, if you would like, please pick up a small stalk with thorns on it as you exit as a reminder of the Gospel.
