When Jesus died on the cross, the soldiers placed a crown of thorns on His head. Why thorns? God wanted to make it clear that the curse over mankind in the Garden of Eden was broken by Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. No longer would our efforts be doomed from the start; no longer would we work hard, yet not reap the benefits of our labor. From the time of our redemption on, it would be true that “whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”
Curse
Henri J. M. Nouwen
Many people don’t think they are loved, or held safe, and so when suffering comes they see it as an affirmation of their worthlessness. The great question of ministry and the spiritual life is to learn to live our brokenness under the blessing and not the curse.