John 19:2

‘And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head and clothed him in a purple cloak, and they came to him repeatedly and said, “Hail, King of the Jews”, and they struck him with their hands.'

Horseplay with condemned prisoners was a recognised pastime. It relieved the boredom of custodial duties. Here it was related to the charge brought against Him in typical military humour. There were many thorny plants in Palestine and one was used here. The thorns were probably intended to mimic the rays of light coming from the ‘radiant crowns' which are shown as worn by rulers on contemporary coins. The fact that they might be painful did not concern the soldiers. The purple robe was intended to indicate royalty and was probably an officer's cloak. Then they alternatively treated Him as a mock king and a buffoon. They were on the whole brutal men and behaved brutally. If they were auxiliaries, as they probably were, they were drawn from non-Jewish inhabitants of the land and would have had no liking for Jewish claimants. They were on duty. They were bored. They egged each other on. And here was a diversion, a Jewish pretender.

They did not realise that the crown of thorns was also symbolic of something else. That Jesus was taking on His own head the curse of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:18). He was bearing the sins of the world committed right from the beginning. This was why Adam and Eve could be forgiven and clothed in the coats of skins, representing animals which had been slain. It was because this One would bear the crown of thorns and be slain in their stead.

Again we are reminded that the One before Whom angels worshipped, (angels who must have been watching amazed in the face of this unbelievable scene), became the plaything of man.