the suffering christ 788 crown — I say — both abject and at the same time cruel: abject, for it is made of thorns; cruel, for it is sharp, frightfully pressed, and hammered into [His] head. Some time ago, one of the young brides of Jerusalem invited some girls to witness the coronation of Solomon: “Go forth,” she said, “O daughters of Zion, behold King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of the gladness of his heart” (Cant 3:11). How much greater than Solomon is this [One], to whose coronation Isidore summons us: “Go forth,” he says, “to see the crown of thorns, which the Synagogue placed upon the head of Christ.”41 Both Solomon and Christ were crowned in Jerusalem; but the former was crowned with a golden diadem and shining gems, the latter with a frightful crown of piercing thorns; the former for glory, the latter for disgrace; the former by a most beloved mother, the latter by the worst stepmother, the Synagogue; that first on the day of his betrothal, this One on the day of [His] murder; the first in great gladness of the heart, this One in great sorrow of the heart. Who would come forth to contemplate such a sad spectacle, such calamitous and mournful splendor? However, it is necessary to come forth. Why? So that we may acknowledge our sins with which the heavenly Solomon is crowned. Yet, how can this be accomplished? Surely, it is well known to us that the origin of the thorns and of sin is one and the same. Why, for instance, did God curse the earth, so that it would yield thorns and thistles, if not because He was most grievously offended by that sin of pride and rebellion of our common parent, Adam, and by us all in Adam! [It was a sin] of pride, because we were wanting to be gods, knowing good and evil; [it was a sin] of rebellion, because we most shamelessly violated the admonition of our most holy and most kind Creator in regards to not eating the deadly fruit of the forbidden tree. 41 Isidorus, De Nativitate Domini, Passione, et Resurrectione …, Libri Duo, Haganoae 1529, c. 31: “Quia Spinis coronatus est.”
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