From
The Rectory:
King Corona & King
Jesus
The Corona Virus &
The Crown of Thorns
(Written 6/4/2020)
Do
you know what the word “corona” means? “Corona” (as in “corona virus”) is Latin
for “crown”. If you’ve seen a blown-up image of the corona virus, you’ll know
that it has a series of crown-like spikes on its surface, and that’s what gives
it its name: the crown virus.
And
if you’ll allow the personification, you can see why King Corona might be
rather confident and proud. He might well strut around in his deadly crown. He
has transformed the world. He has shut down whole societies. And brough havoc to
economies. High and low have fallen under his sway. No one can assume they’re
safe. He has done what the Blitz could not, closing down churches and schools. Many
are terrified of him. His legacy and place in the history books are certainly
assured.
Like
The Black Death, he will always be remembered.
Where
does his power come from? Surely it is from his alliance with Death. That’s the
thing, isn’t it? We’re not really afraid of a cough or a high temperature or a
shortage of loo roll. The thing is that many people, some of them young and
healthy, have died, are dying or will die because of King Corona. And what
could be more fearful than death? Especially when many in society claim that
death is the end. If you think this life is all there is, you might cling on to
it with a dreadful desperation – you might grasp after it in any way you could.
You might bow down and worship King Corona and do whatever he commands in the
hope that he might not afflict you. Though sadly, King Corona is unseen and
unpredictable. He cannot be trusted even by those most devoted to his service. Whatever
precautions you seek to take, he might still strike.
But
in the Bible, we meet a different king with a different crown. His service is
entirely different. His kingdom is not of this world.
King
Jesus comes to his people humble and meek, riding on a donkey, not a war horse.
And like King Corona, he is crowned, but his crown is a crown of thorns. This
crown, if you like, is a bit like the donkey. Both of them are substitutes or
parodies of the real thing. No war horse but a donkey. No crown of gold and
jewels but of thorns.
What
does this crown of thorns mean? Of course the soldiers do it to hurt and mock Jesus.
But what does God mean by it? Yes, it spoke of the suffering and humiliation of
this king. But I think for the Bible reader there’s something else.
Where
have we heard of thorns and brows and heads and death before in the Bible? Isn’t
it all there in Genesis Chapter 3? Just as in Matthew 27 we find one man,
Jesus, so in Genesis 3, we find one man, Adam, the father of all fallen race –
another King, if you will.
And
God said to Adam: “Cursed is the
ground because of you;
Through painful toil
you will eat of it all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns
and thistles for you…
By the sweat of your
brow you will eat your food
Until you return to the
ground,
Since from it you were taken;
For dust you are and to dust you shall return.”
Curse,
thorns, brow, death. It’s all there, isn’t it? It could have been written with
the crucifixion scene in mind! Surely in the mind of God it was.
What
do thorns mean for the Bible reader? They mean the curse of God on sin and all
the painful consequences of sin and ultimately, death. All throughout the Bible
we’ve been waiting for the problem of the thorns to be resolved and now at the
cross of Christ, it is: The prick of the thorns is visited on the head of
Jesus, our Federal Head.
Now
the God-man, the Second Adam, takes the thorn, the pain of sin, on his own
brow. Jesus bears the curse of sin in his body on the tree – in our place, for
us, so that we might be forgiven. For him, death. For us, life. Curse for him. Blessing
for us.
That
crown of thorns will be Jesus’ victory laurel. The sign above him says, “King
of the Jews.” That cross is his throne. There the humble one is exalted and
lifted up and glorified to draw all humanity to himself in homage.
Jesus
is the king. His the glory and the crown – the crown of thorns, which was agony
for him but which is life and peace and joy and liberation and salvation for us!
With
Jesus we can say to the corona virus, “O, be not proud!” You are no true King,
Mr Corona. Your crown is pretended. You rule only by the permission of the
world’s true king and for a time. You’re a tin pot little tyrant. You have made
your alliance with Death, but Death is our defeated enemy. For us, Death is
nothing to fear! The ogre Death is tamed. He has lost his sting. He has no
power to harm us. He is a servant, who brings us into the nearer presence of
Jesus.
The
real king of the world is not the corona virus or his grisly henchman, Death,
but King Jesus on his donkey, on his cross, with his crown of thorns, on his
glory throne. He is a humble and good and kind and gentle and wise king, who
loves and care for his needy subjects. Surely, he was the Son of God, the
Saviour of the World, whose death breaks open the tomb.
Here
is confidence even in the face of death for all you will trust in the
crucified, risen and exalted Jesus. May we embrace the crucified and risen
Saviour. And humble ourselves to trust him in the way of cross and
resurrection. Amen.
The Revd Marc Lloyd
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