Jesus was abandoned and betrayed by his closest friends. He was falsely accused of being a rebel and a blasphemer, but his pain wasn't over yet. "He calls himself the King of the Jews?", the Romans thought. "Fine, we'll make him a king. Here's your crown Jesus, we found some thorns. Ha!" The very thing the angels sang at his birth, "Glory to the newborn king," was now the subject of mockery, laughter, jeers. Some king he is, some anointed prophet. Pssh, he can't even defeat the Jews' greatest political enemy. Weak, broken, bloody. Yet the Gospel of Mark notes an interesting detail around Jesus's mockery: he's clothed in a purple robe. The color purple is a biblical symbol of royalty. Jesus is the descendant of King David, and he was prophesied to bring back the kingdom of his ancestor. This royal descendant, the very God of the universe, mocked and humiliated by his enemies.
It's so heartbreaking, yet there's a sad reality to these events even today. Jesus is supposed to be the Lord and king of my life, and still, I give other things a greater priority than him. Pleasure, influence, success, you name it. All of these things are the top of my list, ahead of Jesus. They shouldn't be. Even worse, our world seems ashamed of Christ. He's become the butt of jokes, our go-to curse word, among other things. Why are we adding more thorns to Christ's crown? We must stand beside him, especially now. If we don't do it, no one else will.
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