Inverted Cup of Bone

This, He knew, was the hard road to His Father. There was no other, easier route. The nature of man is such that he must shrink from thoughts of his own death, more so when the body is well and not close to death. The manside of His nature became more and more pronounced as He dwelt upon the imminent dissolution of the bonds between this miraculously fashioned body with its sinews and blood and its bone structure and its mind imprisoned by an inverted cup of bone and yet free by the God-given power to think and to will. He considered the soul which would cling to this body until, in dreadful agony, the body died.

The manside of His nature was not reconciled to death. Thoughts of it, after thirty-four years of living within the body, were sickening. And yet, this had been His choice. He would come here and die for man.

Once He called out “My Father!” He prayed, sometimes in rapid murmuring; sometimes slowly, distinctly and loudly. Once, He looked up above the rock and, for a moment, fell silent. He saw an angel. The sight was luminous, but He was not encouraged. The angel said nothing. The silence probably meant that His Father would do nothing to lessen the suffering of Jesus.

- from The Day Christ Died, “1 A.M.”, © 1957 by Jim Bishop.


(Appropriate pronouns capitalized out of respect and reverence by lower-case me.)