The Ceremony in the Temple

A festival was celebrated in the temple. A precious lamp burns on the altar. A tri-colored banner victoriously fluttered in the sacred precinct. The blue of the Father, the yellow of the Son, and the red of the Holy Spirit flashed on that banner. The three king-magi (Malachim) lingered in the chamber of reflection; they came to the temple guided by the mystical sun, the star of Bethlehem. Jesus, the sublime bodhisattva, sat in front of the altar, dressed in a white linen garment, a white cloak covering his head. The sky was overcast with heavy clouds and copious showers. This is how it is written by the prophet, Micah 5:2: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel.” Lo and behold, here is that shepherd attending his spiritual birth. This is the Nativity of the heart. Suddenly, Jesus, the good shepherd, rose and went towards a sacred precinct of the temple. Then, a remarkable lightning bolt, a terribly divine lightning, sparkled in the darkness; it was the Inner Master who in those remarkable moments entered his bodhisattva. Since he had already lifted his first serpent upon the pole, the bodhisattva Jesus was prepared.

The three king-magi (the Malachim) came to worship the man-child whose name is Jesus Christ. This is the birth of a master. This is the Nativity of the heart of, “the sons of God... which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” [John 1:12, 13].

The three king-magi (the Malachim) worshiped Jesus in the temple. Jesus then uttered these sublime words. “Oh, Jehovah, God of mine, how remarkable was that thunderbolt that fell from heaven!” This happened when Jesus went up into a mysterious precinct of the temple; that precious precinct was surrounded by beautiful balustrades. There, the master removed his cloak and sat on a chair. It was in those moments that a divine thunderbolt fell from heaven, and his Inner Being entered him.

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." - John 3:6

When Jesus was born in spirit and in truth, a chorus of Angels chanted filled with happiness, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” [Luke 2:14] and the three king-magi (the Malachim) fell down, and worshiped the good shepherd.

Jesus was a man of medium stature with fair skin, lightly tanned by the rays of the sun. Jesus had black hair and a beard of the same color. Jesus had black and penetrating eyes like two ineffable nights. He had a wide forehead and straight nose (the word Nazarene comes from Nazar, meaning “a man with a straight nose”) and fine, strong lips. The mystical birth of Jesus is the First Initiation of Major Mysteries.