Thorn

Palestine is covered in thorny plants. Dozens of shrub species produce sharp spines — the Christ-thorn jujube (Ziziphus spina-christi) is one of the most common, a fast-growing scrubby tree with curved thorns and small leathery leaves. Thistles, acanthus, and wild brambles cover abandoned fields and rocky hillsides. Thorny vegetation grows readily in disturbed, neglected soil — it is what land produces when it is not carefully cultivated. A farmer who let a field go for one season would return to find it thick with thorns.

This is why thorns carry such weight in the Bible. After Adam's sin, God told him: 'The ground will produce thorns and thistles for you' (Genesis 3:18) — thorns mark cursed, unproductive ground throughout the Old Testament. In Jesus's parable of the sower (Matthew 13:7), thorns choke the seed of the word in the hearts of those distracted by wealth and worry. In Matthew 27:29, the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and pressed it onto Jesus's head as a mock crown for a mock king. But the image cuts deeper than mockery — Jesus was wearing the symbol of the curse, the mark of Genesis 3, on his brow. The thorns of Adam's judgment came to rest on the head of the one who came to reverse it.