There will be no formal reading of the Gospel of Mark text tonight.  Instead, it is incorporated into the meditation. 

Let us pray:
Savior of the world,
What have you done to deserve this?
And what have we done to deserve you?
Strung up between two criminals,
Cursed, abused and spat upon,
You wait for death,
And look for us,
For us whose sin has crucified you.
To the mystery of undeserved suffering,
You bring the deeper mystery of unmerited love.
Forgive us for not knowing what we have done;
Open our eyes to what we are doing now,
As through wood and nails,
You release us from our depravity
And transform us by your grace.
AMEN.

As a Christian, this is probably the hardest day to get through during the year.  It’s the most difficult Scripture to hear; it’s the most difficult scene to imagine.  It’s definitely the hardest story about Jesus we tell to our kids.  It’s hard to imagine Jesus’ friends abandoning him, or the rapid arrest, judgment and sentencing he endures.  It’s even harder to imagine the unbelievable cruelty and punishment Jesus goes through.  It’s only human to try to speed through the mess of Jesus’ torture and crucifixion in our excitement and haste to get to Easter – the good stuff.   But tonight, let’s linger here with Jesus, watch and pray and reflect.  
After Pilate releases Barabbas the true criminal; has Jesus flogged with 39 lashes and has given the order for him to be crucified, a small company of soldiers escort Jesus away.  They lead him to the courtyard outside the palace to heap more torment on top of what Jesus has already endured.  They heard Jesus tell Pilate that he IS the king of the Jews, so to continue the humiliation of the prisoner sentenced to die, the soldiers strip him of what clothes remain on his body, and in its place put a purple robe on him.  Only royalty wore a robe.  Only royalty wore purple.
It is cold the morning of Jesus’ arrest and trial, so a campfire is blazing for the soldiers to keep themselves warm.  Next to the fire sits a giant pile of thorn branches, ready to be tossed in as kindling whenever needed.  The type of thorn branches next to the fire have spikes about 1 ½ to 2 inches long. Looking around to see what else could be done to humiliate Jesus; one soldier gets a really clever idea.  He remembers the crowns of laurel leaves that true royalty and government officials wear and decides that his prisoner needs one, too.  Looking around to see what he could use instead, the soldier grabs a handful of the thorn branches - carefully so he won’t get hurt - and begins twisting them together to fashion a crown for the proclaimed king of the Jews.  Along with the purple robe, this would just be icing on the cake.  What better homage to pay to a king than to offer him a crown?  When the other soldiers realize what the one is doing, they howl with laughter and laugh even louder when the crown is thrust onto Jesus’ head.  The soldiers began to call out to Jesus, “Hail King of the Jews!   Hail, King of the Jews!”   And with each salute to Jesus’ royalty, they take turns spitting on him and using a staff to strike Jesus on the head – pushing the thorns of the crown deeper and deeper into his brow.  Blood runs from Jesus’ head down into his eyes and face, blinding him.
Although we hear the Gospel texts and hear stories or see movies of Christ’s torture and humiliation, the real scene was most likely much worse than we can imagine.  It took me a long time to prepare myself to see Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.  I had heard how violent, bloody and graphic the movie was and knew that Mel Gibson tried to be as authentic as possible in his production.   
WE would never do what the soldiers did to Jesus.  WE would never hit him or spit on him or humiliate the true king of the world that he is by mocking him.  We would never put a purple robe on him or God forbid thrust a makeshift crown of thorns on his head to make fun of his proclamation that he is the Son of God, the king of the Jews.  Gosh no! We love and follow Jesus.  We are his faithful disciples!  We would never treat Jesus this way or deny that he is the one who takes away our sins, forgives us and restores us.  We profess Jesus is our Lord and we worship him as our King.  If we had the chance to be present at Jesus’ coronation as the King we worship, the crown WE would place on Jesus’ head would not be one made with thorns.
The crown of thorns, we know, is a false crown.  And we wouldn’t wear one, much less place one on Jesus’ head.  But we do wear other types of false crowns. We wear crowns of position where we let our job title or popularity define who we are.   We wear crowns of wealth where we spend our money on the latest and greatest “gotta have it thing” and forget to think of others who have no-thing.  We wear crowns of self-love or self-righteousness and believe we deserve what we have, because we have worked HARD for it!  We may not be aware that we’re putting these crowns on; they’re certainly comfortable and we sure like wearing them.  But aren’t we essentially mocking ourselves when we wear them?   We may think we deserve our accomplishments, our possessions, and our wealth or believe we’re better than those who don’t look like us or behave in the way we think they should.  And when we think or feel this way, we become blind to our own self-mockery and the damage we do is like pushing the thorns of our false crowns deep into our own brow. Are we being blinded by our own crowns?  Certainly, this isn’t who we want to be or are called to be as Jesus’ disciples.  If we wouldn’t put a crown of thorns on Jesus and mock him, why are we so quick to wear our own false crowns?
Christ wore the thorny crown so we wouldn’t have to.  While the crown is a symbol of Christ’s suffering and humiliation, it can be for us a reminder of the suffering and humiliation we do not have to endure because he did it for us. 
As we go into this weekend looking forward to resurrection, to celebrating Easter Sunday with all its glory and wonder and promises of redemption, let us not be too quick to dismiss the darkness.  Remove your crowns and look around and remember the sacrifice that was made for you; made for you out of love.
Let us pray.
God in pain, Jesus on trial.
You watched and you suffered
So you know so well our pain and sufferings.
Open our hearts to understand
The depths of your love and humanity
That we may draw closer to you
And love you all the more.
We ask this through the power of the Holy Spirit
that binds us to you.
Amen.