When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day… The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?… Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”….To Adam he said
“Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 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”. (Genesis 3:6-19).
February 14th is Valentine’s Day, a day when we celebrate love and friendship. It’s a wonderful coincidence that, this year, Valentine’s Day falls on Ash Wednesday. “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” the pastor says as he places a cross in ash on your forehead at the service that evening. How is Ash Wednesday connected (and in a wonderful way) with Valentine’s Day? Great question! You’re obviously in rare form!
Ash Wednesday begins our season of Lent, a time for reflecting on how we have fallen short of God’s expectation that we be holy, as He is holy. It is a season of repentance, which is often reflected in the Bible by the putting on of ashes. The Lenten season is a time of preparation for Holy Week- the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper with the disciples, a week culminating in Christ’s suffering and death on the cross and His triumphant resurrection on Easter morning! All of this as God’s good plan of redemption for mankind, to undo the curse of the fall, to make atonement for sin going all the way back to Adam and Eve and the first sin in the Garden. It’s all about love- the love of an almighty and holy God for sinful people.
Cyril of Jerusalem makes an interesting observation. Writing near the end of the fourth century, he remarks that in mocking Jesus the soldiers echoed prophecy. He writes, “When they clothed him in purple, it was in mockery, yet ironically it was a fulfillment of prophecy, for he indeed was a king. Even though they did it in a spirit of derision, still they did it, and his regal dignity was by that symbolically heralded. So, likewise, though it was with thorns they crowned him, it was still a crown (Sermon on the Paralytic 12).
I’ve lately been thinking about the crown of thorns the soldiers placed so cruelly on Jesus’ head. True, it was a ‘crown’, and true, it was to mock him as the king of the Jews. But I see here another image as well. In His incarnation, Jesus stepped into our world, Born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, as Paul says in Galatians 4. He was born under the law so that He could fulfil it in every sense, be obedient to God’s law as Adam was not, in order to earn the righteousness that He offers to us in the forgiveness of our sins. He takes our sins into Himself and puts them to death as He suffers and dies in our place.
But the crown of thorns tells a story all its own. One of the indications of the curse that befalls creation as a result of Adam’s sin is that the ground will now bring forth thorns and thistles. The incarnate Son of God, as He lives life as we do, experiences the creation in its fallen state. He grows tired and weary. He is hungry and thirsty. He weeps and laughs and bleeds with the rest of us. And perhaps the thorns encircling his head are also symbolic of His bearing for us the curse of the fall.
Paul writes that even the creation is longing for the Last Day. He says, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-21). Christ’s death and resurrection are the beginning of the restoration of all creation.
The curse of the fall encircles His brow as he hangs, dying, on the cross. The cumulative sins of mankind which have resulted (and which will result) from the fall are borne in His body as He hangs on the tree. By His death and resurrection, the Word of God which was active in creation gives Himself as the atoning sacrifice to undo creation’s curse, to destroy the power of sin and death and the devil. In His blood and by the power of His resurrection, both we and creation are restored by faith now, and ultimately on the Last Day.
As we enter this season of Lent, as we confess ourselves fallen sinners and receive the ashen cross on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday, let us consider the burden Christ has carried for us, perhaps symbolized by the crown of thorns. And, let us also rejoice that our Savior is the true King of kings, who died and who is alive, whose victory is our victory!
God bless you as you contemplate the depth of your sin and the powerful love and mighty deeds of Jesus, your Savior.
- Pastor