There’s something different about the thorns. We’ve talked about the path—what others have done to me . We’ve talked about the rocks—what I’ve allowed to remain in me . But when we follow the thorns through Scripture, they take us somewhere much deeper. They take us all the way back to Genesis. Thorns weren’t part of God’s original design. They show up after sin enters the world. God tells Adam that because of sin, the ground will now produce “thorns and thistles.”

The thorns are a picture of what sin has done to us. Sin brought into God’s creation things He never intended: shame, brokenness, separation and death. And unlike a rock we can dig out or a hard place that can be softened, we eventually reach something we simply can’t fix ourselves.

That’s why the gospel is such good news. We couldn’t deal with the curse, so Jesus did. Think about what happened before the cross. Roman soldiers beat Jesus, mocked Him, put a scarlet robe around Him and then twisted together a crown of thorns and pressed it onto His head.Thorns. The very thing Genesis connects to the curse is placed on the head of Jesus. That isn’t a detail we should hurry past.

Paul says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse.” Jesus took upon Himself what sin had produced. Paul says elsewhere that God made Him who knew no sin “to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus took the sin and left the blessing. That changes the meaning of dirty work. Dirty work doesn’t mean fix yourself . It doesn’t mean try harder, become more religious or somehow make yourself worthy enough for God. There is work only Jesus could do—and He did it.

The path may need softening. The rocks may need removing. But when we reach the thorns, we are reminded that everything God grows in us ultimately rests on something we could never accomplish for ourselves. Jesus bore the thorns.