受难节默想 ▎合适的冠冕 （附英文原文）

他们给他脱了衣服，穿上一件朱红色袍子；用荆棘编作冠冕，戴在他头上；拿一根苇子放在他右手里，跪在他面前戏弄他说：“恭喜犹太人的王啊！”《马太福音》27:28-29

没有人比罗马人更精于政治表演，从建造凯旋门来庆祝征服了各大古城，到膜拜皇帝，罗马抓住一切机会来凸显其皇权与至高无上的地位；甚至在处置作乱的犯人时也不例外。

那一天在总督府所发生的就是此类情况。士兵们了解情况，知道耶稣因自称是王，冒犯凯撒而被判死刑。为表明耶稣称王的荒谬，兵丁们戏弄他，给他身披长袍，头戴冠冕，手握权杖。而那长袍其实只是罗马兵丁的披肩，展示着谁在真正掌权；而权杖也不过是一根粗糙的苇杆。士兵们挥舞苇子，用这条假扮的象征耶稣权威的杆子来鞭打他。荣耀的罗马就是以这种粗暴的虐待，加之唾沫和嘲笑，来对待那些虚假的皇帝。

荆棘冠冕

不过此处我所关注的是那日他们给耶稣所戴的冠冕。纵观古代世界，冠冕是王权的普遍象征，凯撒自己的冠冕就是由月桂枝叶编织，贵重金属铸造而成的，是胜利与神性的双重象征。令人嘲讽的是，与此对比，耶稣的冠冕却是由荆棘缠绕而成。福音书的现代读者，通常关注的自然是这荆棘所造成的疼痛。虽说士兵们无疑也想要伤害耶稣，但他们早已鞭打他，也很快要把他钉十字架，所以肉体的疼痛并不是他们唯一想要的。他们想要的不至于此——是刺透人尊严的痛。

因此，他们派人去搜寻荆棘。必须得搜寻，因为没人会去培植荆棘丛，更何况是深处城市正中心的宫殿之中。他们找到这种最无价值的植物后，就摘下其残忍的枝子，给这位看似卑贱之人戴上，作毫无价值的宣告。

合适的冠冕

然而事实上，没有什么比这更合适了，虽然不是兵丁所认为的合适。因为耶稣称王，并不是针对罗马或任何其他帝国，而是全世界，所有受造物。因此只有荆棘最合适。

为什么是荆棘？为此，你需要停下来，听听圣经中有关荆棘的故事。在整本圣经中，荆棘用来象征与比喻无用、痛苦。凡是神收回祝福的地方，神咒诅的地方，都是荆棘丛生，一幅贫瘠与荒芜的景象。荆棘会伤害好的植物，致其死亡，并拦阻行人的道。荆棘是挫折与麻烦之源，只能用作焚烧之料。那么，荆棘并不是与其他植物一起在第三日被造，而是产生在堕落之日，也不足为怪了。

神所造的世界，都是好的。圣经告诉我们，神造了各样果蔬给人和动物作食物。圣经也告诉我们，在神至高主权之下，让人来做副手，来管理这个世界，但并不是作为独立的权威，而是俯伏在神之下的管家。然而，亚当夏娃，我们的先祖与代表，并不满足于在神的主权下来治理世界，他们想要自己做王和王后，想要自我供应，自行决定。他们弃绝神禁吃分别善恶树上果子的命令，认为这才是他们最想要的果子。于是，他们伸手摘下果子吃了。

自那以后，我们所有人都做着一样的事情。我们制定自己的规则，我们为自己提供任何自认为对生命重要的事物。不像亚当夏娃，我们的王国并不大，我们并没有想要做世界的统治者，我们只想做自己的统治者。但是，一旦权力有所动摇，我们就会和凯撒一样，容不下任何对手。

面对亚当夏娃的背叛，神咒诅了他所创造的那个多产又充满生机的世界，地上长出了新的东西。为了让亚当艰苦劳作，创世纪3:18告诉我们，地上除了神已创造的美好植物，也必长出荆棘与蒺藜。这就成了亚当背叛的象征，因为亚当的自我管辖，他现在可以拥有的新事物就是荆棘。这真是完美的搭配：如荆棘一般，人类的自治——我们内心不受约束的自我管理——已经带来了一段持续的，充满痛苦、苦难与徒劳的历史。事实证明，这种自治与其所创造的冠冕是相配的。

但如果这就是荆棘的故事，那为什么说耶稣基督戴此冠冕就是合适的呢？他可是道成肉身的神子，既是完全的神也是完全的人，他以神性创造了世界，论人性他也毫无罪恶，从这两个角度看，他都不该被戴上这样受咒诅的王冠。他的王权被亚当侵犯，他的话语被夏娃质疑，是他亲口发出咒诅。而现在他自己却戴上这咒诅的标志，甚至忍受它所带来的刑罚，为什么说这是合宜的？

为爱的原故

除了爱，别无理由。在爱里，神决定荆棘的故事要止于十字架。出于绝对的恩典与怜悯，甚至在发出咒诅的时候，父就早已计划要差子来亲自承受咒诅，在命令荆棘从地里长出的时候，子就已决定要头戴这荆棘冠冕。

因此时候一到，神子便丢弃天上的荣耀与那永不衰残的冠冕，道成肉身。然后耶稣基督，这位宇宙唯一的真君王，戴上我们的荆棘冠，为你，为我，以及每一位出于亚当的冒名君王来承受神的愤怒。

通过佩戴荆棘冠，承担其带来的后果，耶稣结束了荆棘的管辖。因为凡不再叛逆而悔改并相信他的人，耶稣不仅替代我们受苦，忍受我们该受的刑罚，他也做了我们的君王，救我们脱离罪的咒诅，带我们进入荣耀的国度。在那里荆棘不再生长，也不再刺穿眉头，在那里，我们将头戴冠冕，不是我们自己的，而是属于他的公义冠冕，我们将喜乐地伏在冠冕的主人脚前领受。那时候我们会看见耶稣，不是头戴荆棘，而是“因为受死的苦，就得了尊贵荣耀为冠冕，叫他因着神的恩，为人人尝了死味。”（希2:9）

作者 Michael Lawrence

Michael Lawrence是俄立岗州波特兰市鑫森浸信会（Hinson Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon）的主任牧师。

【英文原文】

Good Friday Meditation: A Fitting Crown

They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. Matthew 27:28-29

Nobody excelled at political theatre quite like the Romans. From triumphal arches built to celebrate the conquering of walled cities to the worship of emperors, Rome did not miss an opportunity to underscore her imperial authority and supremacy. Not even in the execution of a prisoner for sedition.

Such an execution is what was going on in the Praetorium that day. The soldiers knew the score. Jesus had claimed to be king, and was to die for the offense against Caesar. To make a point of the ridiculousness of his claim they played pretend with him, dressing him up with royal robe, crown, and scepter. But the robe was a Roman soldier’s cape, showing who was really in charge; and the scepter was a rough wooden staff. The only ones to wield it were the soldiers, who would beat him with the sign of his own pretended authority. This rough abuse, along with spit and mockery, was the honor Rome gave to make-believe kings.

A CROWN OF THORNS

But what I’d like to consider here is the crown they gave Jesus that day. Throughout the ancient world, crowns were the universal symbol of royalty. Caesar himself wore a crown with plaited leaves of the laurel cast in precious metal. It was a symbol of both victory and divinity. In mocking contrast, Jesus’ crown was twisted together from thorns. Modern readers of the Gospel accounts, of course, usually focus on the pain such thorns would have caused, and no doubt the soldiers intended it to hurt. But they had already flogged him, and they were about to nail him to a cross. So physical pain doesn’t seem to have been the only thing on their minds. They were after something more—a pain that would pierce through to a man’s pride.

So they sent someone to search for thorns. And he would have had to search. No one cultivates thorn bushes, and they were in the middle of a palace in the middle of a city.

When they had found this most worthless of plants, they took its cruel leaves, and crowned what seemed a worthless man with worthless claims.

A FITTING CROWN

In fact, nothing could have been more fitting, though not fitting in the way in which those soldiers may have thought. For Jesus did not claim the throne of Rome or any other empire. No, his claim was over the whole world, the entire creation, and for that only thorns would do.

Why only thorns? To understand that, you have to stop and hear the story of thorns in the Bible. Throughout the Scriptures, thorns are a symbol and proverb for futility and pain. Wherever God’s blessing is withdrawn, wherever his curse is found, thorns abound. They are a picture of unfruitfulness and desolation. They choke out and smother good plants. They block the path of the wayfarer. A source of frustration and trouble, they are good only for burning. And it is no wonder: their origin is not on day three of creation along with the rest of the plants, but on day one of the Fall.

When God created the world, he created it good. And the Bible tells us that he created all kinds of vegetation as food for animals and people. The Bible also tells us that he created mankind to act as vice-regents under his Supreme Lordship. They were to rule the world, not as independent authorities, but as stewards under him. But Adam and Eve, our first parents and representatives, were not content to rule under God’s authority. They were not content to accept his provision or to administer his rule. They would be king and queen by themselves; they would provide for themselves, and they would decide for themselves. They rejected his command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They decided that was the fruit they wanted most. And so they reached out and took it.

And all of us have been doing the same ever since. We make up our own rules. We provide for ourselves whatever meaning to life we choose. Our empires aren’t large. Unlike Adam and Eve, we make no claim to be rulers of the world. Just rulers of ourselves. But where our rule holds sway, like Caesar, we brook no rivals.

In response to Adam and Eve’s rebellion, God cursed the productive and life-giving world he’d made. And something new appeared from the ground. In return for Adam’s painful toil, Genesis 3:18 tells us that the ground would now produce thorns and thistles, in addition to the good plants God had already created. Here then was the symbol of Adam’s rebellion, something new he could claim as a result of his rule. It’s a perfect match. Like the thorn, the autonomous rule of mankind—and the independent rule of our own hearts—has produced an unbroken history of pain, suffering, and futility. Such rule has proved as worthy as the crown it created.

But if that’s the story of thorns, how could it be fitting that Jesus Christ wore them as a crown? For here stood the incarnate Son of God, fully God and fully man, the creator of the world in his divinity, sinless in his humanity, and so doubly undeserving of such a cursed diadem! It was his throne that had been assaulted by Adam; his word that had been doubted by Eve. It was his mouth that had spoken the curse. How could it be fitting that he now wear its symbol, and, what’s worse, suffer its execution?

FOR LOVE’S SAKE

There is no reason, except for love. In love, God decided that the story of thorns would end at the cross. Out of his sheer grace and mercy, the Father, even as he spoke the curse, already planned to send his Son to take the curse upon himself. Even as he caused thorns to spring up from the ground, the Son had already decided to wear those same thorns on his brow.

So when the time was right, the Son of God put aside his heavenly glory, a crown that does not fade, and he took on flesh. And then Jesus Christ, the true and only King of the world, put on our crown and suffered the wrath of God that you and I and every other imposter king descended from Adam deserves.

And by wearing that crown, and suffering its fate, Jesus brought the reign of thorns to an end. For all who repent of their rebellion and put their faith in him, Jesus not only suffered as our substitute, paying the penalty we deserved, he also reigned as our king, rescuing us from sin’s curse and bringing us into his glorious kingdom, a new creation where thorns do not grow and brows are not pierced. A kingdom where we will wear crowns, not of our own making, but of his, crowns of righteousness which we will gladly throw at the feet of their rightful owner. For then we will see Jesus, crowned not with thorns, but with “glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (Heb 2:9).

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