The Third Sorrowful Mystery
The Crowning with Thorns
By May/June 2009
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The suffering servant is crowned King
“Then Pilate’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace, and the whole company gathered round him. They stripped off his clothes and put a scarlet robe on him. Then they made a crown out of thorny branches and placed it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand; then they knelt before him and mocked him. ‘Long live the King of the Jews!’” Matthew 27:27-30
Reflection
A crown is shaped like a circle, which represents unity and equality, with no end or beginning. A crown also represents royalty: ancient tribal kingship. The King or Queen was initiated by an anointing with oil. In Jesus’ time, his people awaited a leader, a Messiah, descendant of the great King David. This Anointed One would free the people from all foreign invaders and oppressors, and rule the people with justice and peace.
Many thought Jesus would be this political Messiah. During his torture, enemies mocked him, calling him “King of the Jews.” They placed a crown of thorns on his head. Imagine the piercing pain of the thorns. Just as great was the pain of miscomprehension. “My Kingdom is not of this world.” Jesus’ leadership is that of the suffering servant, foretold by the prophet Isaiah: “He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly; he never said a word. Like a lamb about to be slaughtered, like a sheep about to be sheared, he never said a word.” (Isaiah 53:7) St. Mark (10:45) says “...the Son of Man did not come to be served; he came to serve and to give his life to redeem many people.”
Today we call our leaders presidents or prime ministers. The image of king has been relegated to history. We attempt to redefine Kingdom as Reign, but here again the root meaning of “reign” is Rex. What types of leaders represent the values that Jesus proposes? How can we develop a circle, a crown, of unity for all humanity?
Mission Call
All of us somehow define our relationship to leadership structures. In other countries, we missionaries often encounter corrupt and repressive regimes. We may live in a place where human rights are not respected, where public money is pocketed by individuals rather than used for providing health, education, and transportation. Many times we become involved in local groups fighting for coherent and transparent policies from their governments.
Training church leaders is an essential task of mission work. This can mean inviting men and women to religious life. It can involve training lay people to become community leaders, called catechists or ministers. It is these leaders, the majority of them women, who faithfully lead the Sunday service. In developing countries, our Church depends on these catechists and ministers to ensure a vibrant faith community.
With this decade of the rosary, let us pray for our political leaders. Let us remember catechists and ministers serving small communities throughout the world. Let us ask God to deepen our own sense of service to others.
Amazon Word
Every year on Holy Thursday, I am moved by the symbolic washing of the apostles’ feet during mass in the Makuxi village. The catechists choose 12 people, six women and six men, some children, others adult, others elderly, to represent the apostles. I take a pan of water and a towel and wash their feet. These are feet that walk in simple sandals, feet that work in the manioc fields. They are tough, calloused, scarred, with broken toenails… the feet of the poor. The meaning of this gesture that Jesus left us strikes home to me: our God is a God who serves and we are called to serve our sisters and brothers, especially the poor.
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