789 discourse iv: the crown of thorns Consequently, original sin is punished by the sowing of thorns upon the earth; moreover, the crown of thorns is likewise plaited for Christ for the same reason. There would not be this shameful and cruel crowning if our sin didn’t sow the thorns in the earth, since it was the origin of that most disgraceful crowning. Therefore, Basil the Great42 says with the most loving and just lament: “Indeed, the rose is beautiful,” he says, “but it inflicts sadness upon me; for whenever I behold this flower, I am reminded of my sins, on account of which, the earth is cursed to yield thorns and thistles” (Oratio: de Paradiso).43 Still, not only that original sin, but all the other sins of mortal men are thorns as well. Most appropriately, the golden-mouthed Bishop [St. John Chrysostom] mentions this, saying, “Whoever has sinned is full of thorns like a hedgehog.”44 Since none of us are without sin, we are such hedgehogs, and we sinfully provide the thorns [set] on the sacred and majestic head of Christ, piercing it and drawing blood. Nevertheless, He sustained this unheard of torture so strongly and cheerfully according to His own great love for us, that He asked for more and more painful things, so much so, that these thorns aroused in Him a new zeal for suffering. This is just as the most learned Tertullian indicated: “In the times of our Lord (Jesus) Christ,” this ancient author says, “the thorns indeed tore into [Him] with deadly wounds; but love sustained Him in His intense zeal for new punishments.”45 O unheard of love! On account of which death is delayed, life is prolonged, so that greater things will be suffered for the lost ones! The deadly tips of thorns, penetrating at every point the enclosure of the brain, divert the King from the death to be died on the Cross; the blood flowing forth from there becomes food for the mighty spirit, lest God who is destined to rule from the Cross die before the hour of death in the trappings of the coronation. 42 St. Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church († 379). 43 Basilius Magnus, Oratio: De Paradiso: PG 30, 66. 44 Ioannes Chrysostomus, Expositio Psalmi Nonagesimi, in D. Ioannis Chrysostomi vere Aureae in Psalmos Homiliae, Venetiis 1549, f.75v. 45 Cf. Tertullianus, De Corona XIV, 4: CChrL 2, 1063.
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