John 19:2-5 – “the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, ‘See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.’ So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Behold the man!’”
Ours is a world in which everyone is trying to go up. In business, everyone is trying to climb the corporate ladder to get a bigger office and bigger income through a better job. In politics, everyone is positioning themselves for greater prominence, power, and poll numbers. There is no bestselling book on how to have less, be less, and suffer more.
In Heaven, worshipped as a King by angels as He sat on a throne, Jesus had it all. He was literally at the top of every ladder. Then, Jesus did the unthinkable – He came down that ladder to the earth to be born to peasant parents and laid in an animal’s feeding trough as His first crib. For roughly 90 percent of His life, Jesus lived in obscurity, working in a small town as a carpenter with His dad. His ministry lasted a short three years and resulted in religious and political leaders forming an unholy alliance to murder Him. In mockery, Jesus was publicly beaten, then forced to wear a crown of thorns before being flogged so that His body was ravaged beyond recognition.
Why?
Jesus is humble. Satan is proud, and Jesus is humble. Satan was the first being to try and go up and usurp God as the one sitting on the throne. When Satan was cast down to the earth, he brought pride with him. When Jesus came to earth, He brought humility with Him and established the Kingdom virtue which is the opposite of the way the world works. This explains why on the list of things God hates, pride comes first, Proverbs 6:16-19 says, “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him” and first on the list is “haughty eyes”. Haughty eyes are proud and look down on people who are beneath you. Jesus looked down upon the earth with humble eyes and came down to love and serve others by placing Himself beneath them.
What prideful area of your life needs the most urgent attention