Rosary: The Crowning with Thorns
The Third Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary
The Third Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary: The Crowning with Thorns
Feast Day: Good Friday in Holy Week
Matthew 27:27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around Him. 28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him, 29 and after twisting some thorns into a Crown, they put it on His Head. They put a reed in His right Hand and knelt before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 They spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the Head. 31 After mocking Him, they stripped Him of the robe and put His own clothes on Him. Then they led Him away to crucify Him.
This third Sorrowful Mystery of the Rosary highlights the Crowning with Thorns. At this point in His Passion, Our Lord has endured the agony in the garden where He shed drops of blood like sweat. He was then arrested and beaten, chained and spit upon. He’s been slapped and punched repeatedly. He had just finished being scourged at the pillar where He was mauled by a flagellum which tore at His Flesh and caused horrific wounds on Him. This still is not enough. Mankind still is not satiated in our bloodlust to wound and harm Our Lord. Our sins have done this to Him.
Just five days earlier, we had welcomed Jesus as the Messiah-King who was entering into Jerusalem. We welcomed Him with Hosannas and palm branches. Now after torturing Him this far in the Passion, we need to mock Him and cause Him more pain. So we fashion a Crown of Thorns for Him and crush it into His Head. We make sure we force the thorns deep into His Head, all the way down to His skull.
Mark 15:16 Then the soldiers led Him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort. 17 And they clothed Him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on Him. 18 And they began saluting Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 They struck His Head with a reed, spat upon Him, and knelt down in homage to Him. 20 After mocking Him, they stripped Him of the purple cloak and put His own clothes on Him. Then they led Him out to crucify Him.
Not only is this act of crowning Him with thorns a way of causing Him physical pain, but it is also a way to mock Him and attempt to embarrass and shame Him. He rightly deserves the most beautiful crown that mankind can create for Him. We give Him a mockery in a crown of pain. Instead of giving Him the best crown and scepter to acknowledge His Kingship, we insult His royalty. We put a reed in His right Hand rather than a scepter.
John 19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on His Head, and they dressed Him in a purple robe. 3 They kept coming up to Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking Him on the Face. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing Him out to you to let you know that I find no case against Him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing the Crown of Thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the Man!” 6 When the chief priests and the police saw Him, they shouted, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him; I find no case against Him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law He ought to die because He has claimed to be the Son of God.”
Here is the Man! (Ecce Homo!) We have disfigured Our King to the point that He is almost unrecognizable. His Body is beaten, whipped, bleeding and gored. He has been cruelly mocked with a crown of thorns rather than a crown of gold and jewels. He is then paraded in front of the crowd for even more mockery. This is still not enough as we shout in one voice to CRUCIFY HIM!
Christ endures all our fury and hatred, all our enmity and rage towards Him in silence. He endures all this pain we are giving Him so that He can reconcile us to God.
Genesis 22:9 And they came to the place which God had shewn him, where he built an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it: and when he had bound Isaac his son, he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood. 10 And he put forth his hand and took the sword, to sacrifice his son. 11 And behold an angel of the Lord from heaven called to him, saying: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am. 12 And he said to him: Lay not thy hand upon the boy, neither do thou any thing to him: now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake. 13 Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his back a ram amongst the briers sticking fast by the horns, which he took and offered for a holocaust instead of his son. 14 And he called the name of that place, “The Lord seeth”. Whereupon even to this day it is said: In the mountain the Lord will see.
The Crown of Thorns was foreshadowed in the Old Testament when Abraham is commanded to offer up his only son to God. The mountain that they are standing on for this sacrifice is the same mountain where the Temple in Jerusalem is built. The hill of Calvary is right next to this mount and Our Lord will be offered up as the Lamb of God on the wood of the Cross. As Abraham has Isaac on the wood for an offering, an angel stops him. God then provides a lamb for the sacrifice. If you notice, the lamb is caught in the thorns around its head.
Genesis 3:14 And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.15 I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.
16 To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee.
17 And to Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work; with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life.
18 Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth.19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.
Christ endured the curses that mankind received from God for our disobedience. While He had no sin and did not deserve these curses, yet still He and His mother endured them. Genesis 3:15 is known as a promise of the salvation God would bring for man. Our Lady is the woman of Genesis 3:15 and there is perfect enmity between Our Lady and Satan. She shall crush his head. Yet she has to endure the suffering of the Passion with the sword that pierced her heart as prophesied by Simeon at the Presentation (see the Fourth Joyful mystery below). Jesus also endures our curses. He endures being hung on a tree (Galatians 3:13-14) and He also endures the curse of Adam. Thorns and thistles are placed on His Head in the sweat of His Face.
Links to the other Mysteries of the Rosary
JOYFUL MYSTERIES
Fifth Joyful Mystery - The Finding of Jesus in the Temple (coming soon)
SORROWFUL MYSTERIES
Third Sorrowful Mystery - The Crowning with Thorns
Fourth Sorrowful Mystery - The Carrying of the Cross (coming soon)
Fifth Sorrowful Mystery - The Crucifixion of Jesus (coming soon)
GLORIOUS MYSTERIES
First Glorious Mystery - The Resurrection (coming soon)
Second Glorious Mystery - The Ascension of Christ (coming soon)
Third Glorious Mystery - The Descent of the Holy Ghost (coming soon)
LUMINOUS MYSTERIES
Second Luminous Mystery - The Wedding at Cana (coming soon)
Third Luminous Mystery - The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God (coming soon)
Fourth Luminous Mystery - The Transfiguration (coming soon)
Fifth Luminous Mystery - The Institution of the Eucharist (coming soon)