Those thorns represent the pain and suffering that Jesus endured as the sacrifice for our sins. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” Jesus lived a life filled with love and compassion for men, women, and children. However, even after He had performed miracles and clearly demonstrated His love for mankind, He was rejected, falsely accused, beaten and put to death.You see, Jesus came to earth to die for you and me. Like a rose, His sacrifice is painful and beautiful all at the same time.
The whips that scored His back, the crown of thorns that pierced His brow, the nails that pinned Him painfully to the cross, reminds us of the ugliness of sin and the terrible price that hatred, pride, murder, theft, greed, and so on exacts on each of us. And that ugliness touches every human soul. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
So God, in His overwhelming, astonishing, love for us, gave His only Son to take our punishment upon Himself. Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested, tortured, mocked, and then executed in the most horrific way possible...a slow, painful death on a Roman cross. This was a sacrifice so painful that a new word came into human language to describe it: excruciating, which literally means the pain of the cross.
And that death was accompanied by loneliness, despair, anguish, heartache, betrayal, and a multitude of other emotions that we all experience at some point in our lives. But Jesus’ astonishing sacrifice on the cross reveals how great is His love for us, how completely He understands us, and how fully He feels your sin and shame, your pain and hurt, your disappointment, discouragement, and distress.
He understands it all … and longs to forgive you, to free you, and to restore your joy! You can live free because He died for you. “For God so loved you that He gave His one and only Son.”
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