22. January 6, Epiphany

The appearance on earth of the human form of God had been a closely held secret. Among humans, there were only the shepherds and Mary and Joseph who knew. My wise men didn't even comprehend the part they played in this grand miracle; they thought the baby was an ordinary king.

While I was guiding the holy family into Egypt and admittedly flying in circles and through my circles just for fun, I lost track of my holy family! I looked everywhere for them to no avail. I even tried traveling through time, but still could not find them. Finally, I decided to return to Jerusalem and wait for something to happen.

Flying over the wilderness of Judea I spotted a crowd by a river and flew down to see what was going on. A scruffy man with long messy hair, wearing a camel hair tunic was surrounded by throngs of people who were actually listening to him berating them. He said, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now an ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

As I was watching the scene, I heard a wooshing sound above me and looked up to see a fleet of angels pouring in from the four corners of heaven. Among them, to my surprise appeared my old acquaintances, Fabian, Pineal, Danielus and Poppy.

"What are you all doing here? Did you come to be yelled at too?" I asked.

Poppy laughed, "Of course not." Don't you know what a big day this is? Did you not get the message?"

"No, I just came from Egypt where I left the Holy Family." I didn't tell Poppy that I lost them.

"What is so special about this crowd and that scruffy man?"

Fabian said, "Shh! Listen, and maybe you'll learn something; by the way, the man's name is John."

John, unaware of us, continued, "I baptize you with water for repentance, but One who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand and He will clear the threshing floor and will gather His wheat into the granary; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."

That's all most people needed to hear, before begging to be allowed to jump into the river Jordan and be baptized.

I turned to Danielus and asked, "What is baptism?"

Poppy answered before Danielus could speak. "Baptism is a way for humans to start life over fresh and clean. They pretend that the water is washing off their sins."

"Well then, what is a sin?" I asked, wondering if I had some.

Again Poppy took the floor. "Sin is a short word that stands for the many ways humans disobey God's commands. You see," she added, "God is very tolerant of humans, but there is a limit." Poppy shrugged her winged shoulders and smiled.

Scanning the scene beneath us, I spotted Jesus all grown up walking alone towards the river! I would know Him anywhere. He radiated the same quality of calm that He had last week when He was an infant.

Jesus grew up fast. In the Bride's year, He went from circumcision day which was exactly eight 24-hour days after His birth to become a grown man of about 30 in five more days.

This is what I have come to love about the Bride. She is not stuck in nature. She uses matter and she uses time, and she doesn't always obey their rules, only when it suits her.

Fabian shouted, "Stop thinking and listen! It's about to happen! Quiet"

I turned my attention back to Jesus and John who were arguing about baptizing Jesus.

John said,"I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"

Jesus replied, "Let it be so for now. This way I will fulfill all righteousness." Jesus meant that He wanted to be a perfect covenant man, and that this baptism for Him was a way to show the others how important repentance and baptism are for humans.

The angels hovered wide-eyed and anxious for what they came to see. Lo and behold! I saw the Spirit of God descend in the form of a dove this time, and land right on Jesus' shoulder!

Then all of the people and all of the angels heard a voice from heaven that said, "This is my Beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased."

The people standing on the bank of the river and John, and all of the angels hovering over the scene looked up to see where the voice was coming from.

I was thoroughly flabbergasted. In my very presence God presented Himself in three different forms...at the same time! That was amazing. I wondered then what the message said that I hadn't received. Had God told the angels that He was about to triumvirate, while maintaining His oneness!

I have seen God make light, and the earth with all of its matter and time, and I even saw Him shrink so much that He could enter into an infant, but to have Him appear in three forms as Jesus, as the Spirit-Dove, and as a Father, simultaneously, was amazing.

This event meant that Jesus was ready to go public. He was introduced openly to a large group of people and to scruffy John the baptizer as the Son of God. I'm not sure anyone knows what that means yet, but what an introduction!

The Voice didn't say anything else, the dove flew back up into heaven, and Jesus walked out of the river and was handed a cloth to dry himself off. He spoke to John, thanking him and giving him some advice. A few people dared to approach Jesus, but then He pulled Himself away from the crowd. He did not seem self conscious at all, but instead confidently walked into the forest, alone.

I followed Him to see where He was going and what He would do, and also to protect Him if I could. All sorts of demons lurk in the wilderness looking for ways to trip God. I wondered if as a human, Jesus could handle that all on His own.