Three Christs: The historical, the mystical, and the resurrected

   

The Gospel of John and the Other Three Gospels

Lecture 10

Rudolf Steiner, Stockholm

January 14, 1910

The event in Palestine was thus to incorporate into the great world scene the drama of initiation that had previously taken place in the mystery temples. Through Jesus' life and work, everything that was depicted in the mysteries was to become an historical reality. Now the two different initiations, the southern and the northern, were to be united in him. The Egyptian or southern initiation consisted of the disciple's descent into his own soul. In the last act of this, the disciple was put into a cataleptic sleep, from which he was awakened by the hierophant. In the northern initiation, which goes back to the Zarathustra initiation, the disciple was to silence his inner self in order to lose himself, so to speak, and merge with the mystery of the cosmos. He was to silence what was within, as the other was to silence what was without. He should feel the forces living within him, connecting him to the whole cosmos and expanding into the elements, into the air, the water, the light, the planets, the stones, living in them. It is characteristic of the northern mysteries that the disciple felt incorporated into the outside world, that he felt one with every being. “I am no longer outside the nature of this planet,” he could say to himself, ‘but I am in it.’ When he exhaled, he felt at one with the air and the light that permeates our planetary system. It was the microcosm of man experiencing the macrocosm of the world. First, however, he was shown through symbols how he could come to these experiences.

Even today we have an echo of the northern initiation in the symbol of the Rosicrucians – the cross crowned with roses. In the lower world of existence, the disciple was to find and get to know higher ideals, just as the lower world models the higher one. He was to make the chaste rose, unclouded by any instincts, desires or passions, his ideal and realize on a higher plane what the plant realizes on a lower one. This is what the disciple - in the northern mysteries - was to experience, and this immersion in the outer world was foreshadowed by a symbolic act, the

Thereafter, he had to learn that the physical is in fact a spiritual, this was done through the symbolic “flogging.” In ordinary circumstances, when the body is fresh and healthy, man is not aware of it; only when it begins to ache and hurt does man feel that he has a body. Through the scourging, the disciple should be reminded of his corporeality and, through the pain, become aware of the spirituality of his body. This was the second degree.

In the third degree, the disciple was to merge with the cosmos in order to learn that the earth and the planets, and even the sun, are made of the same matter as himself. This was to make him feel spiritually connected not only to the earth and the planets, but also to the sun, the center of our planetary system, and to learn that the sun is also a spiritual being. He had to be able to see the sun shining in the darkness of midnight, after it had physically set and become invisible, because the sun penetrates the matter that hides it. And for the spiritually clairvoyant, the earth is transparent. The disciple must follow this sun; and this was foreshadowed by his being clothed with a purple mantle as a sign that from now on he would follow the sun from sunset to dawn.

Thereafter, he had to learn that just as the outer sun is visible to the physical brain, the spiritual sun can only be seen by a brain that is permeated by the spiritual. Therefore, the physical brain had to be put out of action - killed, extinguished; and as a sign of this, a crown of thorns was placed on the student's head. For if the spiritual is to be developed, the physical must die. In this way, the student was to experience the eternal within himself and learn that the nature around him, even the sun itself, carries within itself the same spirit that he finds within himself.

[In the course of all the gospels, it should be shown:

Firstly, there is an initiation that leads through foot washing, scourging and crowning with thorns to the place where one can recognize the spirit of the sun.

Secondly, there is an initiation that leads through the mortification of the physical body down into the soul, where one experiences what is eternal in man, the spirit. And it should be shown that the spirit, which one finds when one descends into the soul and ascends to the sun, is one. Therefore, both should be united in an historical event.

John should show this. The other evangelists had to show how that which is physical in the world is also spiritual, and that when man truly becomes clairvoyant, he finds the spiritual sun in space.

How do the Gospels show this and how do they show that the spirit of the sun descended and was incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth? Through what they describe as the transfiguration, the glorification.

The evangelists were to show how both the northern and southern initiations converged in the Palestinian event and became an historical reality through Jesus. John the Evangelist was to show the methods by which man can come to spiritual vision, and how the Christian initiation, which united the other two, was to be realized. The other evangelists were to show how the outer physical world is permeated by the spiritual one everywhere and how intimately man's inner being is connected to this world. By acquiring the dormant powers within himself and becoming spiritually clairvoyant, man is to find the spiritual sun in the outer world - out there in space.

In the story of the “Transfiguration of Christ”, the synoptic gospels want to show us that the spirit has descended and connected with the earth and has incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth. It is told there that Jesus went aside with three of his initiated disciples and up a mountain. There they were raptured from the body, and they saw Jesus as a spiritual sun and two of his former proclaimers who were spiritually connected to him, namely Moses and Elias. This is the first indication that Christianity was to be proclaimed to the world and that Ahura-Mazdao-Osiris had made Jesus his center on earth, and that Jesus of Nazareth's physical body was the first point where the sun spirit had revealed himself. Since then, this spirit has been connected to the earth's atmosphere.

[This is the proclamation that Vishvakarma, Ahura-Mazdao, Osiris is the spirit of the sun that has expanded to encompass the earth, is now with the earth, having taken his starting point from the body of Jesus of Nazareth. That was the point from which he took hold of the earth. And since then Vishvakarma, Ahura-Mazdao, Osiris is not only to be found outside as the spirit of the Sun, but also as the spirit of the Earth.]

The spiritual seer who searched the Earth's atmosphere in pre-Christian times could not find the spirit of the Sun there, but since the founding of Christianity he sees something new in the astral-etheric atmosphere. And this new thing is the spirit of the sun, which has also become the spirit of the earth. This spirit, which over the centuries had come ever closer to the earth, descended to the earth in the baptism of St. John in the Jordan and incarnated for the first time in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

But the evangelists were also to show how the human being who seeks the spirit of the sun, the real Christ, can undergo the same experiences within as the initiates in the mystery temples. [Thus, historical fact had to become twofold: the northern and the southern initiation. All four gospels tell the story of the merging of the northern and southern initiations. First the foot washing, scourging, laying on of the mantle and crowning with thorns – then the crucifixion, that is, dying during three and a half days, and then the resurrection after one and a half days. That is the merging. The writer of the Gospel of John had recognized the whole secret after being initiated by Jesus himself. Another would have undergone a northern or a southern initiation. Christ Jesus initiated him in such a way that he understood that he understood best how they merge. At the same time, he shows us how we can now intimately experience in seven and a half stages what was exemplified to us as an event.

All the evangelists agree on certain events. They all tell of the scourging, the crowning with thorns, the death and the resurrection after three and a half days. The two initiations, the northern and the southern, merge in these historical events. But best of all, John, whom the Christ had initiated himself, understood the connection between the ancient initiations and the world-historical event in Palestine. In the great example he sets for us, he teaches us how we can relive the same thing that happened in Palestine 1900 years ago through seven successive stages.

If a disciple were to ask how he can come to real knowledge of spiritual things, the esoteric teacher would answer him, fully in line with the Gospels: “First he must gain the feeling of universal humility through months of struggle.” If the plant could look down on the dead mineral kingdom, it would say, “I am a plant and a higher being than the dead mineral.” If the plant could think, it would add, Although I am a higher being, I could not live without the mineral kingdom, because my roots have to suck themselves into the earth and get their nourishment from there. Therefore, I must gratefully bow down to the mineral, which stands lower than I.

If we then ascend to the animal kingdom, we also find there how the animals depend on the plant kingdom for their continued existence. The same law also applies to humans. Humanity cannot live without the lower realms. And in human evolution, those who have risen to a higher social level cannot exist without the lower classes. Even Christ Jesus needed those who had walked directly before him in order to be who he was in the world. Even a being as exalted as he had to bend down to those who stood below him. He bowed down to the twelve apostles in the washing of feet.

After the disciple Month had allowed himself to be imbued, month after month, with a sense of humility and gratitude towards those who were lower than he, one day this feeling was transformed into a unified astral experience that is the same for all people. He sees himself in the Akashic Records at the point of Jesus Christ, he sees an image of the foot washing in front of him. But instead of Christ Jesus, he sees himself. Once a person has seen this image, he cannot deny the historical reality of the foot washing.

The washing of the feet is therefore not just something that happened once, but something that we ourselves are meant to experience. In the old initiation, the disciple had to imprint the image of the washing of the feet within himself through external symbols so that he would recognize it when it became historical reality. In our day, we need neither symbols nor the historical event. By appropriating the feelings of gratitude and humility, we can evoke the Akasha image within ourselves as a mystical event within the initiation of our time. Just as the symbol of the Drotten mysteries was transformed into historical reality, so for us the mystical experience becomes a confirmation of what happened 1900 years ago.

During the next stage, the second in the series, the disciple must develop a sense of all the suffering that exists in the world. They must strengthen their will so that they can bear physical pain courageously and without wavering when it comes. Not just for days, but for months and years, they must allow themselves to be permeated by all the suffering in the world. Then one day he will truly recognize his corporeality, feel as if he had been scourged all over his body. This feeling is a seed that is then transformed into the image of the scourging of Christ, which one sees before oneself in the Akasha Chronicle.

In the face of this experience, which is also the same for everyone, one can no longer doubt the historical events in Palestine.

The instructor then says to the disciple: “You must now descend into the very depths of your soul and become one with the wisdom whose reality you have recognized. You must become an instrument for this wisdom and become so one with it that even if the world mocks and ridicules you, you will not waver, but bravely accept everything. Denied and destroyed by the world around you, you shall still maintain yourself through your inner strength. After a time, this feeling transforms into a kind of strange emptiness in the physical brain. The disciple feels as if the brain has been switched off, killed; and he experiences a kind of piercing of the physical brain and sees in the Akashic Records a picture of the “Crowning with Thorns”. Through this he receives the knowledge of who the Christ is: that he is truly the Spirit of the Sun, who has descended to the Earth. This is the third stage. Through inner experiences, the person should relive the historical event in Palestine.

From the washing of the feet to the crowning with thorns, we have now followed the northern mystery drama of initiation. Now the human being should also recognize in his innermost being that the Christ has entered into him, and the cosmic Christ becomes the inner mystical Christ within him. Here the southern drama of initiation confronts us.

At the same time, we learn what a person is allowed to experience within themselves. Completely new feelings must take hold of a person in the fourth stage. Their own body must become like any other object to them. They must learn to carry it like, for example, a table – and not like something that belongs to them. They must feel bound to their body only in a purely external way. And this does not have to lead to any kind of asceticism. We are not strong because of what we have inside us, but because of the tools we have in our hands and that we can use. We have to be able to look at our body objectively and ourselves as its carrier. In this way, the body can become a tool in our hands – just as we can deliver stronger blows with a hammer than with anything else that is part of ourselves. Physical pain is still present, and the body will only become free of pain in the final stage of evolution. But slowly the soul is learning to see it as something objective that it does not need to concern itself with.

When the initiate has developed this feeling, there comes a moment when he really feels that he is only externally bound to the body, and when he looks at it, he finds blood-red spots on his hands and feet and on his right side. This is the so-called blood test. It is a sign that the body is now only something purely objective for him. Then we say of him that he is no longer in his body. He is crucified, that is, he carries his body like a cross through the world. This is the “crucifixion.” Now he may also see in the Akasha Records the historical moment when Christ Jesus was crucified.

What follows is difficult to describe in human words. At this stage, there comes a moment when the initiate completely ceases to see with physical eyes and to hear with physical ears. The world in this respect no longer exists for him. Darkness surrounds him in the physical sense. At this moment, he must get to know all the pain and suffering in the world. He descends into the world of suffering and evil and gets to know the dark side of life. This is the “mystical death or descent into the realm of death [that is the descent into hell].

After that, the darkness around him parts, the spiritual light breaks through, and the initiate looks into the spiritual world. By thus having followed the Christ to Golgotha and united with him, he is thereafter also united with the spirit of the world and lives in it. [From now on he is not only united with the earth spirit, he is united with the planetary spirit. He is connected with the whole Earth.] This is the fifth stage, or the 'burial in the earth', during which man experiences the two and a half days that the Christ lay in the tomb. During these days, the physical matter of Christ's body was dissolved and dematerialized, while the actual being of Christ as the spirit of the Earth still lives on in the astral sphere of the Earth.

There he is visible to all spiritual seers who did not see him in his physical body. It was there that Paul beheld him and became convinced that the Sun Spirit had come down to Earth. Paul knew what the spiritually clairvoyant could see in the earth aura. Therefore, when he saw after Jesus' death that this aura had changed and beheld the Christ there, he understood that the spirit of the Sun had revealed itself in Jesus of Nazareth and that Jesus had conquered death. That is why he could say that the Christ had risen. Through his clairvoyant consciousness, he knew that he had seen the Christ just as surely as the other disciples had seen him with their physical eyes. This is clearly enough hinted at in the New Testament, so that we should not believe in a trivial way that the dismembered body of Christ rose from the grave.

When the Christ revealed himself to the twelve disciples, Thomas did not want to believe that it was he because he did not understand the spiritual realities like the others. He who believes in the spiritual must understand the meaning of this resurrection just like the disciples. Thomas did not believe, so he could not feel the spiritual either. He had not developed his inner powers [to such an extent] that he could really have felt the spiritual. With our physical senses, we can naturally only feel the physical. Through faith and willpower, Thomas developed the spiritual sense within him so that he could feel the spiritual body of Jesus as if it were physical. [Through his pure spiritual power, the Christ could even break the bread.] In the same sense, Jesus is the “bread of life” for those who have developed their inner senses through his pure spiritual power.

After the disciple has gone through six stages in this way - the washing of the feet, the flagellation, the crowning with thorns, the mystical death or crucifixion, the entombment and the resurrection - he finally comes to the seventh and last stage of “ascension or union with the spiritual world, the return home to the Father.

Through the Gospel of John, we consequently get to know the different phases - first in the northern mysteries up to the crowning with thorns, then in the southern mysteries, starting with the crucifixion. Furthermore, we learn how these two initiations occurred in the outside world and merged and blended in the person of Jesus. Through the Christ Jesus a new initiation was founded - the Rose Cross - in which the two old initiations were fused together. Therefore it is important to understand the event in Palestine correctly. For the Christ to become an inner experience, He had to become an historical reality in the world first.

It is true that light would not exist for man if he did not have eyes to see, but on the other hand he would not have eyes if light did not already exist – no eye without light. Just as the physical sun conjured up physical light, so the historical event in Palestine made it possible for us to experience the mystical Christ within us. [He, the historical Christ, conjures him up.] Thus the Christ not only founded a new spiritual current in the world, but also a new initiation.

So, first of all, we have the historical Christ, who lived on Earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who underwent the washing of feet, scourging, crowning with thorns, crucifixion, entombment, and then conquered death so that it became a new birth for him. But we also have the Pauline Christ or the spiritual Christ, whom the spiritually clairvoyant person can see in the astral atmosphere of the Earth. It is he who has contributed most to the spread of Christianity. Through him, Paul was convinced, who had not been present in Palestine, and through Paul we have a deeper explanation of the Gospels. Finally, we have the mystical Christ, whom the spiritualized person can awaken within himself. [The one who can become mystically active in our chest, can take hold of us to the deepest, the inner Christ.

It is this triune Christ – the historical, the Pauline and the mystical Christ – that we must get to know more and more. [These are the three Christs of Christian esotericism.

Source: The Rudolf Steiner Archive