When He Was on the Cross – Entry #5 of 7

Thorns were on his head
The blood was on his scarlet robe
And stained it crimson red

Jesus was referred to as the king of the Jews and the soldiers mocked him by putting a crown of thorns on his head, just wanting to add to his humiliation. The crown of thorns also added one more area of pain, another source of bleeding, and torture for Jesus to endure. The people even bowed to him in a mocking manner to try and make him feel as if He were the lowest being on earth. Little did these captors realize that this crown would be replaced by a crown of glory when Jesus became the King of kings and Lord of lords. They did not realize that one day every knee would bow and every tongue confess him to be the true King.

It is interesting to me that the crown was made from a plant that did not even exist until Adam and Eve sinned while in the Garden of Eden. As a result of their sin, they were told they would have thorns and thistles in their fields of crops. Thorns originated after that first sin and have now been woven into a crown of thorns for the Savior who had the power to forgive sins. A little irony….

There is often confusion over whether the robe of Jesus was purple or scarlet. Two of the writers of the gospels portrayed it as scarlet and two reported it as purple. It is most likely that the robe placed on Jesus was an old faded robe and it would be difficult to tell if the robe, when new, was either scarlet or purple. A faded robe, with the red being the core color, could appear to be a different color depending on the age of the robe and perhaps even the lighting. It is unlikely that Jesus would have been given a new purple robe since that is what was worn by leaders such as Pontius Pilate. It is also unlikely that a soldier would have given up a new scarlet robe. So a faded robe is the most likely scenario and thus the challenge of distinguishing the proper color. I know that I find it challenging at times, to determine the true original color of some of my favorite and very worn t-shirts.

Putting the color of the robe aside, the most important point is regardless of the color of the robe, it was stained with the blood of our Savior. He had blood flowing from his merciless whipping as well as blood flowing down his face from the crown of thorns. We probably are not even aware of any other wounds Jesus might have received along the way as he carried the bar of the cross. Perhaps his shoulders bled from the carrying the weight of the crosspiece, maybe his hands were bleeding because of the roughness of the wood, perhaps he fell and caused yet another injury, and perhaps he had wounds as a result of items thrown by the unruly crowd. Factoring in what we know for sure and other potential injuries, his blood was flowing onto the robe that had been placed upon him. I am thinking this was already a heavy robe and it was getting even heavier with the blood and sweat of Jesus and thus making his burden even greater.

Parts of the robe were gradually absorbing the freely flowing blood and soaking all the way through the robe. Fresh blood is typically described as a crimson color, so the faded purple/scarlet robe was slowly becoming crimson reflecting the location of the wounds that had been inflicted.

Hopefully I have now set the stage for the wonderful message coming in the next few lines of the song.