The Enthronement of Thorns Text: Mark 15:16-20
Introduction: The Inverted Coronation
We come now to one of the central scenes in the entire drama of redemption. And we must understand that what we are witnessing is not simply a tragic case of prisoner abuse. This is not mere barracks brutality. This is a coronation. It is an enthronement ceremony, a satanic liturgy designed by hell to mock the King of Heaven. But as is always the case when men in their rebellion attempt to ridicule the purposes of God, they find themselves unwittingly playing the part of court heralds, announcing the very truths they seek to deny. Every act of scorn is a backhanded prophecy. Every jeer is an unintentional doxology. The soldiers of Rome, instruments of the most powerful empire on earth, thought they were having a bit of cruel sport with a Galilean peasant. What they were actually doing was officiating at the installation of the King of kings.
The world understands kingship in terms of power, pomp, and purple. It thinks in terms of legions, and palaces, and crowns of gold. God's kingdom, however, is an inverted kingdom. Its power is in weakness, its glory is in humility, and its throne is a cross. The scene in the Praetorium is therefore a clash of two kingdoms, two definitions of authority, two understandings of glory. The soldiers, in their ignorance, are acting out a parody of an imperial coronation. But God, in His sovereignty, is pulling back the curtain to show us what true royalty looks like. This is not just the humiliation of Jesus; it is the enthronement of Christ. And it is a declaration of war against every proud human institution that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.
The world says, "Might makes right." God says, "My weakness is made perfect in strength." The world says, "Protect yourself at all costs." God says, "He who loses his life for my sake will find it." The world says, "Bow down to Caesar." God says, "At the name of Jesus every knee should bow." Here, in the filth and brutality of the governor's palace, we see this conflict in its rawest form. Let us pay close attention, because the world still offers us its crowns of gold, and it still despises the crown of thorns.
The Text
So the soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole Roman cohort. And they dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; and they began to greet Him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him; and kneeling, they were bowing down before Him. And after they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him.
(Mark 15:16-20 LSB)
The Royal Court (v. 16)
The scene begins with a change of venue and an assembly of the mockers.
"So the soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole Roman cohort." (Mark 15:16)
Jesus is led from the presence of Pilate into the Praetorium, the official residence of the Roman governor. This is the seat of imperial power in Jerusalem. It is the nerve center of the occupation, a symbol of Caesar's dominion over the people of God. It is here, in the very heart of worldly authority, that the world's king is going to be mocked by the true King. This is not accidental. God is staging this drama in the enemy's headquarters.
And notice who is summoned: "the whole Roman cohort." A cohort was a significant military unit, numbering up to 600 men. Not just a few bored guards, but the entire garrison is called together for this spectacle. This is not a private affair. It is an official, corporate act of rebellion. The representatives of Caesar's might, the men who enforced the Pax Romana with sword and spear, are gathered to pass their judgment on the Prince of Peace. They are a microcosm of the world's kingdoms, assembled in their might to defy the King whom God has appointed. They are a living embodiment of the second Psalm: "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed."
The Royal Regalia (v. 17-18)
Next, the soldiers outfit their victim with the symbols of royalty, twisted into instruments of ridicule.
"And they dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; and they began to greet Him, 'Hail, King of the Jews!'" (Mark 15:17-18 LSB)
They put on Him a purple robe. Purple was the color of royalty, an expensive dye reserved for emperors and kings. It was a statement of status and power. By draping this over Jesus' bloody, scourged back, they are sneering at His claim to kingship. "You, a king? Here is your royal robe." But their mockery is blind. They are clothing Him in the color of His office. He is indeed a King, and this purple points to the royal blood He is about to shed to purchase His kingdom.
Then they twist a crown of thorns. This is the centerpiece of their scorn. Kings wear crowns of gold and jewels. This "king," they sneer, will have a crown befitting His station. So they weave together a garland from the thorny plants growing nearby and grind it into His scalp. This is an act of profound, satanic genius. What did God say to Adam after the fall? "Cursed is the ground because of you; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you" (Genesis 3:17-18). The thorns are the very symbol of the curse, the sign of a creation groaning under the weight of sin. And here, these pagan soldiers, with no knowledge of Genesis, take the emblem of the curse and place it on the head of the One who has come to become a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). They are crowning Him with our sin. They are crowning Him with our rebellion. They meant it for mockery, but God meant it for atonement. He is the King who wears the curse so that we might wear the crown of righteousness.
Their actions are followed by a mock salutation: "Hail, King of the Jews!" This is a parody of the loyal greeting given to Caesar: "Ave, Caesar!" They are saying, "Here is the pathetic king of a pathetic people." But again, their mouths are being used by God. They are speaking the truth. He is the King of the Jews. He is the long-awaited Messiah, the son of David. Their scornful address is, in fact, a true confession.
The Homage of Hell (v. 19)
The parody of worship continues with acts of physical violence and feigned reverence.
"And they kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting on Him; and kneeling, they were bowing down before Him." (Mark 15:19 LSB)
They give him a reed, likely as a mock scepter, another symbol of royal authority. But they don't let Him hold it. They take it from Him and use it to beat Him on the head, driving the thorns of His crown deeper into His skull. The scepter of this King is an instrument of His own suffering. His authority is established not by inflicting pain, but by bearing it.
They spat on Him. In the ancient world, this was an act of ultimate contempt and defilement. It was to treat someone as less than human, as utter filth. The prophet Isaiah foretold this very thing: "I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting" (Isaiah 50:6). The face of God incarnate, the face that will one day judge the living and the dead, is covered in the filth of sinful men.
And then, in the most perverse act of all, they knelt before Him. They bowed down in mock worship. This is the liturgy of hell. It is the posture of reverence used to express the deepest hatred. They are acting out the very thing Satan desires: worship that is a lie, submission that is rebellion. But what they do in mockery, the entire cosmos will one day do in truth. For God has highly exalted Him, "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth" (Philippians 2:10). These soldiers are the unwilling first-fruits of that universal submission. They are the first to kneel before King Jesus, albeit with hate in their hearts.
The King Led to His Throne (v. 20)
The ceremony concludes, and the King is led to His place of execution, which is, in reality, His place of enthronement.
"And after they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him." (Mark 15:20 LSB)
Their sport is over. They strip Him of the mock regalia and put His own simple clothes back on Him. The play is finished. But the reality is just beginning. "And they led Him out to crucify Him." They lead Him out of the Praetorium, out of the city, to the place of the skull. They think they are leading a criminal to his death. But they are leading the High Priest to the altar. They are leading the Lamb of God to the sacrifice. They are leading the King to His throne.
Crucifixion was the Roman instrument of power, terror, and shame. It was designed to say, "This is what happens when you defy Caesar." But God takes this ultimate symbol of worldly power and shame and transforms it into the ultimate symbol of divine power and glory. The cross is the throne from which Christ rules the world. It is from the cross that He disarms the principalities and powers, making a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2:15). The soldiers lead Him out to crucify Him, but God is leading Him out to save the world.
Conclusion: Whose King?
This scene forces a question upon every one of us. What do we do with this King? There is no neutrality here. You either stand with the soldiers, or you bow the knee in truth. The world, to this day, continues the mockery of the Praetorium. It offers Jesus a feigned respect, as long as He stays within the stained-glass windows. It will call Him a great moral teacher, but not a King. It will put on a show of religious observance, while spitting on His laws and beating His followers.
The temptation for us is to want a king without a crown of thorns. We want a king who will give us victory without a cross. We want the glory without the suffering. We want a political savior who will fix our nation's problems with a golden scepter, not a bloody reed. But that is not the King God has given us.
Our King is the one who wore the purple of mockery, who was crowned with the curse, who was beaten and spat upon. He secured His kingdom not by killing His enemies, but by dying for them. This is the foolishness of God that is wiser than men, and the weakness of God that is stronger than men. The soldiers asked in scorn, "Are you the King of the Jews?" The cross, the resurrection, and the empty tomb are God's thunderous answer: "He is the King of everything."
Therefore, we must see this scene not as a prelude to the main event, but as the very definition of our King's glory. His glory is His condescension. His power is His sacrifice. His enthronement was His humiliation. And because He endured this, He now sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and He calls us to take up our own cross and follow Him. We must choose. We can either kneel in mockery with the world, or we can kneel in true adoration before the King who wears the crown of thorns, which is now, and forever, a crown of glory.