What a difference a few days can make. On the Sunday before being crucified Jesus entered Jerusalem a hero, the great hope of the people, and on Friday he would leave the city condemned, rejected and despised. He had entered Jerusalem being carried on the back of a young donkey, but he would exit the city just a few days later under His own power and carrying a cross on His back. On Sunday they cheered for the fact that Jesus had called Lazarus alive out of a tomb and on Friday they cheered as He was killed and placed into one. On Sunday, they had excitedly declared Him to be their King, and on Friday they sought to kill him, and on the basis of what charge? That he said He was their King.

Yes, before the week was out, Jesus the Messiah, would wear a crown, but in grotesque, cartoonish fashion it would be a crown fashioned from that symbol of the fall, thorns. He would be declared publicly as King, but the placard saying so would be hammered into the rough, blood-stained wood of the cross on which He was likewise fastened.