Crown of Thorns

 

 A young Napoleon Bonaparte showed himself to be a military genius with his various conquests. He then positioned himself as advantageously as he could to seize the maximum power avail. organized a huge assembly in the Notre Dame Cathedral in France. The pope was there with a crown, a crown that would signify Napoleon as the emperor of France. Napoleon entered the cathedral, he allowed the pope to anoint him with oil, but then he took the crown from the pope and crowned himself. It is thought that this was to demonstrate how he saw himself, as a man of ultimate authority in France, not taking any orders, or guidance from the Pope or anyone else. For Napoleon, with his crown of emperor, he would claim all the accolades for success. This started off a long bloody period, where most of Europe was at war with Napoleon at some point. Even Russia got involved. Various different alliances were formed in an effort to defeat Napoleon, and eventually it all came to a head, Napoleon was held captive by the british, and France needed to move on. Who then took the blame for the failure? Napoleon did. He attempted suicide, it didn’t work, and he was stowed off on an island and kept there for the rest of his life because it was deemed that he was to dangerous a man to be allowed back into France. There were many things that transpired to bring Napoleon to this point, but to get through all of that would take days, so I won’t. I want to pivot and talk about someone else now. 

 Another being, one who already has power, enough power to speak all things into existence, and the power to fashion humans from dirt; a being who has authority over time, and is not bound by it in any way decided to come in Human form and receive a crown. He received a crown of thorns, pressed into his skull, searing pain, probably even into the brain. With angels looking on all around, and the ultimate power to torch the whole universe with just one word, he accepted the crown voluntarily. A crown that contained pain, represented shame, and defeat. This being wore his crown to his death. He didn’t stay dead though, because his name was, and still is Jesus Christ.

 Which crown do you want to wear? Do you want a crown of worldly power? Do you want a crown of pain? Do you want a crown that makes you look good or do you want a crown that kills the human and lets God show up?