Soul Snack 9/75 ... A Crowned Head

His crown of thorns was ample visible testimony to the truth that Jesus was ruled by pain.

It piercing His scalp, drew His blood and tortured His temples, yet He never removed it. This man crowned by pain did not seek to remove the thorns. It would be for another to release Him from their searing pain.

Still today, surrounding the heads of so many are crowns of thorns, puncturing their very vessel of life.

These crowns can be so positioned on people by those who rule them. The prevalent pain of accusation, anger and abuse lands like darts. The ill will received, and the rensuing despair - the humiliation, and the resulting indignity, all emotions that the Lord knew well from the cross.

The pain of such a crown delivers death to the body and misery to the soul. Yet, paradoxically the same pain brings life to the spirit.

... that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit (1 Peter 3:18b)

This is life that no earthly pain can remove. This is a body worth the piercing because it engages the Eternal.

A head surrounded by impermanent thorns on earth mirrors the 2000 year old bowed head first crowned in thorns. Soon it will be released by He who now lives, exchanged for a permanent crown of glory.

... and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away (1 Peter 5:4)