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The Gospel of St. John
in Relation to the Other Three Gospels
GA 112

2 July 1909, Kassel

9. The Artistic Composition of the Gospel of St. John

At the close of yesterday's exposition we indicated the intention to consider next the cardinal issue within the Christ impulse: the Death on the Cross and its significance. But before turning to a delineation of the death of Christ, and thus to the climax of this study cycle, we must discuss today the true meaning and significance of much that we find in the John Gospel itself, as well as its relation to what the other Gospels offer. In the last few days we have been endeavoring to comprehend the Christ impulse and to establish it as an actual event in human evolution by means of quite a different source: by clairvoyant reading of the akashic record; and in a sense we referred only to those passages in the Gospels which appear to confirm what clairvoyant research justifies us in stating as truths.

Today, in order to follow up our studies, we shall consider the John Gospel itself and characterize this important document of mankind from a certain aspect. We said yesterday that the theological research of our time, in as far as it is affected by materialism, can find no points of contact with this John Gospel, is unable to see its historical value; but regarded with the vision of spiritual science this Gospel proves to be one of the most marvelous documents possessed by the human race. It is not too much to say that not only as a religious document but—to use a profane expression—among all purely literary works in existence it is one of the greatest. Let us now approach it from this literary angle.

From the very first chapters—if rightly understood and if one knows what all lies concealed in the words—this Gospel of St. John shows a rounded beauty of style equal to any in the world, although a superficial study does not reveal this fact. What superficial observation discloses first is that in enumerating the miracles the writer of the John Gospel, whose back-ground we now know, mentions precisely seven up to the Lazarus event proper. (The significance of the number seven will be treated in the following lectures.) What were these seven signs?

1. The sign in connection with the Marriage in Cana in Galilee.

2. The sign given in the healing of the nobleman's son.

3. The sign given in the healing of the man who had lain sick for thirty-eight years by the Pool of Bethesda.

4. The sign given in the Feeding of the Five Thousand.

5. The sign given in the vision of Christ walking on the sea.

6. The sign given in the healing of the man born blind. And finally:

7. The greatest of the signs, the initiation of Lazarus, the transformation of Lazarus into the writer of the John Gospel.

These are the seven signs. But now we must ask ourselves, What about these signs, this question of miracles? If you listened attentively to a number of things that were told you in the foregoing lectures you will remember having heard that the state of human consciousness has kept altering throughout the entire course of evolution. We cast our gaze back to remote times and found that men did not issue from a merely animalistic stage of development, but from a form in which they possessed the power of clairvoyance as a congenital endowment. People of that time were clairvoyant, even though their consciousness still lacked the ability to say “I am”. The capacity for self-consciousness was something they had to acquire gradually, and for this they had to forfeit their old clairvoyance. In the future the time will come again when all men are clairvoyant, but without loss of self-consciousness, of the “I am”. Those are the three stages which humanity has in part passed through, in part still has ahead of it.

In Atlantis men still lived in a sort of dream consciousness, but this was clairvoyant. Then they gradually achieved self-consciousness, outer objective consciousness, in exchange for which, however, they gave up the old gift of dim clairvoyance. And finally, what man will have in the future is clairvoyant consciousness coupled with self-consciousness. Thus man traverses the path from an ancient dim clairvoyance through an opaque objective consciousness, finally ascending to conscious clairvoyance.

But in addition to consciousness, everything else about man has changed as well. The belief that conditions must always have been as they are today is due to nothing but human shortsightedness. Everything has evolved. Nothing has always been as it is today, not even men's relation to each other. You have already gathered from intimations in the last lectures that in older epochs—up to the time when the Christ impulse entered human evolution—the influence of soul upon soul was much stronger. Such was human disposition at that time. A man did not merely hear what was told him in externally audible words: in a certain way he could feel and know something that the other felt and thought vividly, livingly. Love meant something quite different from what it does today, albeit in those times it was largely a matter of blood ties. Nowadays it has taken on more of a psychic character, but it has lost its strength. Nor will it regain this until the Christ impulse shall have entered all human hearts. In olden times active love possessed at the same time a healing property, a powerful balm, for the soul of its recipient.

Coincident with the development of the intellect and of cleverness, qualities that came into being only gradually, these ancient direct influences of soul upon soul dwindled away. The gift of acting upon the other's soul, of causing one's own soul force to stream into it, was unquestionably peculiar to the older peoples; and you must therefore imagine the force that one soul could receive from another as much greater, the influence one soul could exert upon another as much stronger, than is the case today. The external historical documents may report nothing of all this, the tablets and monuments may not mention it; but clairvoyant study of the akashic record nevertheless discloses the fact that in olden times the healing of the sick, for example, was extensively accomplished through a psychic influence passing from the one to the other. And the soul possessed many other powers as well. Though today it sounds like a fairy tale, it is a fact that in those times a man's will, if he so desired and had specially trained himself for the purpose, had the power to act soothingly upon the growth of a plant, to accelerate or retard it. Today but scanty remnants of all this are left.
Human life, then, was very different at that time. No one would have been surprised—given the right mutual relationship—at the passing over of a psychic influence from one person to the other.

It must be kept in mind, however, that two or more are needed if the exercise of a psychic influence of that sort is to take effect. We could imagine the possibility of a man imbued with the power of Christ entering our midst nowadays; but those with the requisite faith in him would be very few in number, so that he would not be able to achieve all that can be accomplished by the influence of one soul upon another. For not only must the influence be exerted: someone must be present who is sufficiently developed to be affected by it. Remembering that formerly those who could receive such influences were more numerous, we should not be surprised to learn that for the healing of the sick there indeed existed the means by which psychic influences could take effect; but also, that influences which today can be transmitted only by mechanical means were at that time applied psychically.

We should keep in mind that the Christ event entered human evolution at a very special point in time. Only the very last remnants, so to say, of those soul currents that flowed from man to man were left as a heritage of the old Atlantean age. Humanity was about to descend ever deeper into matter, and the possibility for such psychic currents to be effective constantly diminished. That was the moment at which the Christ impulse had to enter, the impulse which in its nature could accomplish so very much for those who were still sufficiently receptive.

Those who are really familiar with evolution as it applied to mankind will therefore find it quite natural that the Christ Being, having once entered the body of Jesus of Nazareth in about the thirtieth year of His life, could unfold very special powers in this sheath, for the latter had been developing since time immemorial. We mentioned yesterday that this individuality of Jesus of Nazareth had in one former life been incarnated in ancient Persia, and then, passing through one incarnation after another, had continued to rise in its spiritual development. That is why the Christ could dwell in such a body, and why this body could be sacrificed to Him. This the Evangelists knew well, hence they presented the entire narrative in such a way as to be wholly comprehensible for spiritual research. Only, we must take everything in the Gospels literally—that is, we must first learn to read them. As has been said, the deeper meanings of the miracles we shall learn in due time; but here we can ask, for example, why, precisely in the first of the miracles, it is specially emphasized in dealing with the Marriage in Cana of Galilee that this took place in Cana “of Galilee”. Seek as you will, you can find in old Palestine within the radius then known no second Cana; and in such a case it would seem superfluous to specify the locality. Why, then, does the Evangelist tell us that this miracle occurred in Cana "of Galilee"? Because the important point to be stressed was that something occurred which had to take place in Galilee. It means that nowhere else but in Galilee could Christ have found just those people whose presence was indispensable. As I said, an influence implies not only the one who exerts it, but the others as well—those who are appropriately fitted to receive it. Christ's first appearance would not have been possible within the Jewish community proper, but it was possible in Galilee with its mixture of many different tribes and groups. Just because members of so many peoples from various parts of the world were assembled in one spot, there was far less blood relationship, and above all, far less faith in it, than in Judea, in the narrow circle of the Hebrew people. Galilee was a heterogenous racial mixture.

But what was it to which Christ, in view of His impulse, felt Himself particularly called? We have said that one of His most significant utterances was,

Before Abraham was, was the I am;

and the other,

I and the Father are one.

By this He meant: among those who cling to the old forms of life the ego is entrenched in a system of blood relationships. The words I and Father Abraham are one aroused a very special feeling in the true confessor of the Old Testament, a feeling nowadays very difficult to share. What a man calls his own self, circumscribed by birth and death, he sees as transitory. But one who had true faith in the Old Testament, who was influenced by the widespread teachings of that time, asserted—not allegorically, but as a fact: As regards myself I am isolated; but I am a member of a great organism, of a great living whole reaching back to Father Abraham. Just as my finger can remain a living member only as long as it is part of my body, so my memory is contingent upon my feeling myself a member of the great folk organism that goes back to Father Abraham. I am part of the great complex, exactly as my finger is part of my body. Cut off my finger and it ceases to be a finger: it is safe only as long as it is part of my hand, my hand part of my arm, and my arm part of my body; it ceases to have meaning if severed from my hand. And in like manner, I myself have meaning only when I feel myself a member of all the generations through which the blood flows down from Father Abraham. Then I feel sheltered. My individual ego is transient and fleeting, but not so this whole great folk organism way back to Father Abraham. When I sense and feel myself wholly embraced by it I conquer my temporally transient ego: I am sheltered in one great ego, the ego of my people that has come down to me from Father Abraham through the blood of the generations.

That represents the conviction of the Old Testament adherents: all the great events narrated in the Old Testament, everything that today seems miraculous, occurred through the power of the inner experience contained in the words, I and Father Abraham are one. But the time came when men were destined to relinquish this state of consciousness for another, hence it gradually disappeared. That is why Christ could not address those who, on the one hand, had lost the magic power of influencing by means of blood ties, and on the other, still believed only in the common bond with Father Abraham. Clearly, among these Christ could not find the faith necessary for enabling His soul to flow actively into other souls; and for this purpose He had to turn to those who, owing to their mixed blood, no longer clung to this old belief: to the Galileans. That is where His mission had to commence. Even though the old state of consciousness was generally on the wane, still He found in Galilee a medley of peoples that stood at the beginning of the era in which blood became mixed. From all quarters tribes assembled here that had previously been governed solely by the forces of the old blood ties. They were on the point of finding the transition. They vividly retained the feeling that their fathers were still endowed with the old consciousness states, that they possessed the magic powers which act from soul to soul. Among these people Christ could inaugurate His new mission, which consisted in endowing man with an ego consciousness no longer bound to blood relationship; an ego consciousness which could say, It is within myself that I shall find the connection with the spiritual Father Who, instead of letting His blood flow down through the generations, radiates His spiritual force into each individual soul. The ego which is within me, and which is in direct communion with the spiritual Father, was before Abraham was. It is for me, then, to infuse into this ego a force that will be strengthened through my being aware of my connection with the spiritual Father force of the world. I and the Father are one. No longer I and Father Abraham—that is, a physical ancestor.

Such were the people to whom Christ turned, people who had arrived at the point of understanding this, people who, having broken away from the blood ties by intermarriage, needed to find the strong force—not in consanguinity, but in the individual soul: the force that can lead men gradually to express the spiritual in the physical.—Do not ask, Why do we not see things happening today as they happened then? Aside from the fact that he who has the will to see them can see them, we must remember that men have emerged from that state of consciousness and descended into the world of matter; that the period in question represented the boundary line; and that Christ used the last representatives of the previous epoch of human evolution in whom to demonstrate the power of spirit over matter. The signs that were done while the old state of consciousness was still present, but disappearing, were intended as an example and a symbol—a symbol of faith.

Now let us turn to this Marriage in Cana of Galilee itself. If I were to develop in detail all the implications indicated in the John Gospel, in the entire Gospel content, fourteen lectures would certainly not suffice: several years would be needed. But such a literal development of the subject would only serve to confirm what I can suggest in brief elucidations.

The first thing we are told in connection with this first sign is:

There was a marriage in Cana of Galilee.

Here we must stop to realize that the John Gospel contains not one word that has not a definite meaning. Well, then: why a marriage? Because a marriage brings about on a single occasion what the Christ mission effects with such far-reaching results: it brings people together. And then, a marriage “in Galilee”? It was in Galilee that the ancient blood ties were severed, that mutually alien bloods came to mingle. Now, Christ's task was intimately connected with this mixing of blood, so we are here dealing with intermarriages having the object of creating progeny among people who are no longer related by blood.

What I am now about to say will seem very strange to you. What would people have felt in such a case in very old times when there still prevailed the close or endogamous marriage, as one is inclined to call it in the spiritual-scientific sense? We must realize that the transformation of this close marriage into a distant or exogamous marriage is very much a part of human evolution, and that what I have already said explains what an endogamous marriage means. Among all people of ancient times it was contrary to law to marry outside of the tribe, away from consanguinity. People related by blood, members of the same tribe, intermarried; and this custom of marrying within the tribe, within blood relationship, resulted in the marvel of engendering intense magical force. This can be verified at any time by means of spiritual-scientific research. The descendants of a blood-related tribe possessed, as a consequence of such intermarriage of relatives, magical powers that permitted one soul to act upon another.

Let us imagine that in ancient times we had been asked to attend a wedding, and that the customary drink—in this case, wine—had given out. What would have happened? Provided the right relations existed among the blood-related members of this wedding party, it would have been possible, through the magical power of love arising out of consanguinity, for the water—or whatever was offered later in place of wine—to be sensed as wine as a result of the psychic influence of the people present. Wine is what they would have been drinking if the right magical influence had been exerted by the one person on the rest. Do not tell me this wine would still have been but water! A sensible person would reply to that: For the human being, things are of the nature in which they communicate themselves to his organism: they are what they become for him, not what they look like. I believe that even today many a wine lover would like water if, by means of some influence or other, it appeared to be changed into wine; that is, if it tasted like wine and produced the same effect in his organism. Nothing else is necessary than that a man should take water for wine.—What, then, was required in olden times to render possible such a sign as that of the water in the vessels becoming wine when it was drunk? The magical power deriving from blood relationship, that is what was required. And furthermore, those assembled at the Marriage in Cana of Galilee possessed the psychic capacity for sensing that sort of thing. Only, a transition had to be brought about.

The story continues in the John Gospel:

And the mother of Jesus was there: and both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.

And since they lacked wine, the mother of Jesus drew attention to this, and said to Him:

They have no wine.

I said that a transition must be effected if such an event is to take place: the psychic force had to be assisted by something. By what, then? Here we come to the utterance which, as it is usually translated, is really a blasphemy; for I believe it will strike any sensitive person as offensive when, to the statement “they have no wine”, Jesus replies: “Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.” From any angle it is impossible to accept that in a document of this sort. Imagine the ideal of love, as the Gospels describe the relations between Jesus of Nazareth and His mother, and then try to imagine Him using the expression, "Woman, what have I to do with thee"! It is not necessary to say more: the rest must be felt. But the point is, these words are not in the text. Examine this passage in the John Gospel and then look up the Greek text. This contains nothing more than the words employed by Jesus of Nazareth in indicating a certain event:

Woman, this passeth over from me unto thee.

What He referred to was that subtle, intimate force which passed from soul to soul, from Him to His mother; and that is what He needed at this moment. Greater signs He was as yet unable to perform: for this the time must gradually ripen. Therefore He says: My time—the time when I shall work through my own force—is not yet come.—For the present, that magnetic psychic union between the soul of Jesus of Nazareth and His mother was still indispensable.

“Woman, this now passeth over from me unto thee.” Otherwise—well, after an utterance like “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” why would she turn to the servants and say, “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it”? She had to possess the old forces of which nowadays people can have no conception; and she knew that He referred to the blood tie between them, to the bond that should then pass over into the others. Then she knew that something like an invisible spiritual force held sway, capable of effectuating something.—And here let me beg you to read the Gospel—really to read it. I ask how anyone can come to terms with the Gospel who believes that something happened at that wedding—I really don't know what—that six ordinary jars stood there “for the purifying of the Jews”, as we are told; and that according to ordinary observation—without reference to anything such as we have just been considering—the water turned into wine. How could such a thing have come about externally?

What is the meaning of this miracle? And what is the belief in it held by him who stands before you—in fact, the only faith anybody can have in a miracle? Can it be that here one substance was transformed into another for the benefit of those present? No ordinary interpretation will get us far.—We must assume that the jars which stood there contained no water, for nothing is said about their being emptied. But it says they were filled, so if they had been emptied and then refilled—assuming the water had really been changed to wine as by a sleight of hand trick—one would really have to believe that the water which had previously been in the jars had been turned into wine. You see, this does not help: nothing squares.

We must understand that the jars must obviously have been empty, because a special significance attached to the filling of them. “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it,” the mother had told the servants. What sort of water did Christ need? He needed water fresh from the sources of nature; and that is why it was necessary to specify that the water had just been drawn. The only water suitable for Christ's purpose was such as had not yet lost the inner forces that are inherent in any element so long as it is united with nature. As has been said, the John Gospel contains not one word that is not fraught with deep meaning. Freshly drawn water had to be used because Christ is the Being Who had but recently approached the earth and become associated with the forces that work in the earth itself. Now, when the living forces of the water work, in turn, with “that which flows from me unto thee”, it becomes possible for the event described in the Gospel to take place. The governor of the feast is called, and he is under the impression that something unusual has occurred. He does not know what this was—it is specifically stated that he had not seen what happened—only the servants had seen it; but under the influence of what has taken place he now takes the water for wine. That is stated clearly and distinctly, so we know that through psychic force even an outer element—that is, the physical component of the human body—was affected.

And what did the mother of Jesus of Nazareth herself have to possess in order that at this moment her faith might be sufficiently great to produce such an effect? She needed just what she did indeed possess: the realization that He Who was called her son had become the Spirit of the Earth. Then her strong force combined with His, with that which acted from Him upon her, developed so mighty an influence as to produce the effect described.

Thus we have shown, through the whole constellation of conditions surrounding this first sign, how the unison of souls which results from blood ties produces an effect even in the physical world. It was the first sign, and the Christ force is shown at its minimum: it still needed the intensification resulting from contact with the mother's psychic forces, as well as the additional strength residing in certain forces of nature that remained intact in the freshly drawn water. The active force of the Christ Being is here shown at its least; but what is stressed as especially important is its influence upon the other soul and its calling forth from it an activity which the latter is fitted to perform. The essential point is that the Christ force had the power to render the other soul capable of exerting influences: it engendered in the wedding guests as well the ability to taste the water as wine.—But every real force increases through its own exercise, and the second time it is called upon it is already greater. Just as any ordinary force increases with exercise, so is especially a spiritual force strengthened when it has once been successfully applied.

The second of the signs, as you know from the John Gospel, is the healing of the nobleman's son. By what means was he healed? Here again the right answer will be found only by reading the Gospel in the right way and by concentrating on the crucial words of the chapter in question. In the fiftieth verse of the fourth chapter, after the nobleman had told Jesus of Nazareth his story of distress, we read:

Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way, thy son liveth.
And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken
unto him, and he went his way.

Again we have two souls in accord, the soul of the Christ and that of the boy's father. And when Christ said, Go thy way, thy son liveth, what effect did this have? It enkindled in the other soul the force to believe all that Christ's words implied. These two forces worked together. Christ's utterance had the power so to kindle the other soul that the nobleman believed. Had he not believed, his son would not have recovered. That is the way one force acts upon another: two are needed. And already here we find a greater measure of the Christ force. At the Marriage in Cana it still required the support of the mother's force in order to function at all. Now it has progressed to the point of being able to impart the kindling word to the nobleman's soul. We behold an intensification of the Christ force.

Passing to the third sign, the healing at the Pool of Bethesda of the man who had lain sick for thirty-eight years, we must again seek the most important words that throw light on the whole subject. They are these:

Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

Speaking of his being forced to remain prone, the sick man had previously said that he could not move:

Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

But Christ spoke to him—and it is important that it was on the Sabbath, a day of general rejoicing and great brotherly love—clothing His injunction in the words, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. This utterance we must take in conjunction with the other equally important one in which He tells him:

Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

What does that mean? It means that there was a connection between the man's sickness that had persisted for thirty-eight years, and his sin. We need not enquire at the moment whether the sin had been committed in this life or in a former one. The point is that Christ infused into the other's soul the force to accomplish something that reached right down into his psycho-moral nature. Here again we see an intensification of the Christ force. Previously, all that was involved was something intended to produce only a physical effect; but here it is a question of a sickness of which Christ Himself said that it had to do with the man's sin. At this moment Christ was able to intervene in the sick man's very soul. The previous sign still required the presence of the boy's father, but here the Christ force acts directly on the sick man's soul.

A special magic is lent this event by reason of its having been enacted on the Sabbath. Present-day man no longer has any feeling for such things, but the fact that this happened on the Sabbath meant something to a believer in the Old Testament: it was something out of the ordinary; hence the reason why the Jews were so indignant at the sick man was that he carried his bed on the Sabbath. That is an extraordinarily significant detail—people should learn to think when they read the Gospels. They should not consider it a matter of course that the sick man could be cured, that one now walked who for thirty-eight years had not been able to walk. What they should do is ponder a passage such as the following:

The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, it is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.

What struck them was not that the man had been cured, but that he carried his bed on the Sabbath.

So it was an integral part of the healing of this sick man that the whole scene should play on the hallowed day. Christ Himself harbored the thought, If the Sabbath is indeed to be dedicated to God, the souls of men must enjoy special strength on this day by virtue of the divine force.—And it was by means of this force that He worked upon the man before Him; that is, it was transmitted to the sick man's own soul. Hitherto the latter had not found in his soul the force that would overcome the consequences of his sin, but now he has it as an effect of the Christ force. Another intensification.—As I have said, the essential nature of the miracles will be dealt with later, and for the moment we will pass on.

The fourth sign is the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Again seeking the most significant passage, we must bear in mind that an event of this sort should not be viewed in the light of present-day consciousness. Had those who wrote about Christ at the time the John Gospel was written believed what our materialistic age believes today, their narratives would have been very different, for quite other things would have struck them as important. In this case they were not particularly surprised even at the phenomenon of five thousand being fed from so small a supply; but what is most important and specially emphasized is the following passage:

And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.

Just what is it that Christ Jesus does here? In order to bring about what was to take place He makes use of the souls of His disciples, of those who had been with Him and had by degrees matured to the level of His stature. They are a part of the procedure. They surround Him; and in their souls He can now evoke the power of charity: His force flows forth into that of the disciples. Of the manner in which this event could take place we will speak later, but here we must again observe an increase in the Christ force. At the previous sign He infused His force into the man who had lain sick for thirty-eight years, whereas here it acts upon the force of His disciples' souls. What is active here is the intensification of forces that proceeds from the soul of the master to the souls of the disciples. The force has expanded from the one soul to the souls of others: it has grown.

Already at this point, then, there dwells in the disciples' souls the same principle that dwells in the soul of Christ. Anyone inclined to ask what happens as a result of such an influence should observe the facts, should consider what actually occurred when Christ's powerful force acted not alone but kindled the force in other souls, so that it then worked on. There are none today with such living faith: they may believe theoretically, but not with sufficient strength. But not until they do so will they be able to observe what occurred there. Spiritual research knows very well what occurred.

So we observe a step-by-step increase of the Christ force.—The fifth sign, told in the same chapter, begins:

And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid.

Modern publishers of the Gospels assign to this chapter the highly superfluous title, “Jesus walks on the sea”—as though that were stated anywhere in this chapter! Where does it say, “Jesus walks on the sea”? It says, “The disciples saw Jesus walking on the sea.” That is the point. The Gospels must be taken literally. It is simply a case of the Christ force having again increased in strength. So powerful had it become as a natural result of its exercise in the previous deeds that not only could it now act from one soul upon another—not only could the soul of Christ communicate itself, in its force, to other souls—but the Christ could live in His own form before the soul of another who was ripe for it.

The event, then, occurred as follows: Someone who is absent possesses so great a force that it acts upon men at a distance, far away. But the influence of the Christ force is now so powerful that it does more than set free a force in the disciples, as had been the case with those who had sat with Him on the mountain: there the force had merely passed over into the disciples in order that the miracle might be performed. Now, although their physical sight could not reach the Christ, they had the power to see Him, to behold His very form. Christ could become visible at a distance to those with whose souls His own had united. His own form is now sufficiently advanced to be seen spiritually. At the moment when the possibility of physical vision disappeared, there arose in the disciples all the more intensely the ability to see spiritually—and they saw the Christ. But the nature of this seeing at a distance is such that the image of the object in question appears in the immediate vicinity.—Again an increase of the Christ power.

The next sign is the healing of the man born blind; and this narrative, as it appears in the John Gospel, is again particularly distorted. Doubtless you have often read the story:

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did this sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

And then He healed him.

We need only ask, could any Christian attitude interpret the matter as follows? Here is a man born blind; his blindness is not a result of his parents' sin, nor of his own; but he was rendered blind by God in order that Christ might come and perform a miracle for the glory of God. In other words, in order that a miraculous act might be ascribed to God, God had first to make the man blind.

The original passage was simply not read correctly. It does not say at all that “the works of God should be made manifest in him”. If we would understand this miracle we must examine the old usage of the word “God”. You can do this most readily by turning to another chapter in which Christ is positively accused of asserting of himself that He and God were one. How does He reply?

Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are Gods?

What Christ meant by this answer was that in the innermost soul of man there is the potential nucleus of a God: something divine. How often have we not pointed out that the fourth principle of the human being is the potential human capacity for the divine! “Ye are Gods.” That is, something divine dwells in you. It is not the human being but something different, not the person of a man as he lives on earth between birth and death; and it is different also from what man inherits from his parents. Whence derives this element of divinity, this human individuality? It passes through repeated earth lives from incarnation to incarnation: it comes over from an earlier earth life, from a previous incarnation. Hence we read, not the man's parents have sinned, nor has his own personality—the personality one ordinarily addresses as “I”; but in a previous incarnation he created the cause of his blindness in this life. He became blind because out of a former life the works of the God within him revealed themselves in his blindness. Christ Jesus here points clearly and distinctly to karma, the law of cause and effect.

What principle in man had to be worked upon if this kind of sickness was to be healed? Not upon what lives as a transitory ego between birth and death: the forces must penetrate deeper, must enter the ego that continues from one life to another. Again the Christ force has increased. Hitherto we have seen it influencing only what is directly before it; now it acts upon the principle that survives human life between birth and death, that continues from life to life. Christ feels Himself the representative of the I Am. As He pours His force into the I Am—as thus the exalted God of Christ communicates Himself to the God in man—the blind man receives the force enabling him to heal himself from within. Now Christ has penetrated to the innermost being of the soul. His force has acted upon the eternal individuality of the sick man and strengthened it by causing His own force to appear in this individuality, thereby influencing even the consequences of former incarnations.

What intensification still remains for the Christ force to achieve? None but the ability to approach another and awaken in him the capacity for enkindling the Christ impulse in himself, so that his whole being is saturated with it and he becomes another, a Christ-permeated man. And that is what occurred in the Raising of Lazarus, where we find still another increase in the Christ force. It has progressed step by step throughout.

Where else in the world could you find a lyrical document of such glorious composition? No other author has mastered composition on such a plane. Who would not bow down in reverence when reading the marvellous step-wise upbuilding in the narrative of these events! Even contemplating the John Gospel only as an artistic composition we cannot but feel deep reverence. It all grows step by step and rises steadily.

One point remains to be elucidated. We have pointed out a number of isolated features tending to show the intensification in the sequence of signs, of miracles; but the narrative embraces a great deal in between, and we must examine the organization of the whole. Tomorrow it will be our task to show that, in addition to the admirable intensification in the miracles, there is definite purpose in the way all the connecting links are embodied: we realize that these could not possibly have been filled in better than was done by the writer of the John Gospel. Today we have considered its artistic composition and found it unthinkable that a work of art could be more perfectly or beautifully composed than is the John Gospel up to the description of the Raising of Lazarus; but only one who can read aright and knows what is essential senses its great and mighty meaning. It is the mission of anthroposophy to bring this meaning before our souls. But this John Gospel contains more. Our expositions of it will be followed by others imbued with a wisdom loftier than ours; but this wisdom will in turn serve to find fresh truths, just as during the past seven years our wisdom has served to find what cannot be found without anthroposophy.

Neunter Vortrag

Es klangen gestern unsere Darlegungen aus in dem Satz, daß vor uns stehe die Betrachtung des Wichtigsten innerhalb des Christus-Impulses: des Todes und seiner Bedeutung selber. Bevor wir aber zu der Darstellung des Christus-Todes und damit zu dem Höhepunkt dieser unserer Zyklusbetrachtungen kommen, wird es notwendig sein, heute einiges zu sprechen über den eigentlichen Sinn und die Bedeutung von mancherlei in dem Johannes-Evangelium selber und von den Beziehungen des darin Dargestellten zu den anderen Evangelien.

Wir haben in den letzten Tagen versucht, aus ganz anderen Quellen heraus, aus der hellseherischen Betrachtung der Akasha-Chronik den Christus-Impuls zu begreifen und als ein tatsächliches Ereignis in der Entwickelung der Menschheit hinzustellen. Und wir haben uns gewissermaßen nur auf das bezogen, was sich in den Evangelien ausnimmt wie eine Bestätigung dessen, was zuerst durch die hellseherische Forschung als wahr ausgesprochen werden konnte. Heute wollen wir aber um des Fortganges unserer Betrachtungen willen einige Blicke auf das Johannes-Evangelium selber werfen und dieses wichtige Dokument der Menschheit einmal von einer Seite her an sich selbst charakterisieren. Dieses Johannes-Evangelium, von dem wir gestern gesagt haben, daß die theologische Forschung der Gegenwart, soweit sie vom Materialismus angekränkelt ist, keine rechte Stellung ihm gegenüber gewinnen kann, daß sie nicht vermag das Geschichtliche, das Historische einzusehen, dieses Johannes-Evangelium wird sich uns darstellen, wenn wir es mit geisteswissenschaftlichem Blick betrachten, als eines der wunderbarsten Dokumente, welche die Menschheit hat. Man darf sagen, daß das Johannes-Evangelium nicht nur unter den religiösen Dokumenten, sondern unter den gesamten — gebrauchen wir einmal das profane Wort -, unter den gesamten literarisch-schriftstellerischen Dokumenten zu den größten gehört. Wollen wir uns einmal von dieser Seite her dem Inhalte dieses Dokumentes nähern.

Dieses Johannes-Evangelium ist in bezug auf seine Komposition schon in den allerersten Kapiteln, wenn man sie richtig versteht, wenn man weiß, was eigentlich in den Worten liegt, eines der stilvollsten, der gerundetsten Dokumente, die es gibt in der Welt. Das kann man allerdings nicht bei einer oberflächlichen Betrachtung einsehen. Da zeigt sich zunächst bei einer oberflächlichen Betrachtung, daß der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums - wir kennen ihn nunmehr in bezug auf die Aufzählung der Wunder bis zum eigentlichen Lazarus-Ereignis gerade sieben solcher Wunder aufzählt. - Auf die Bedeutung der Sieben-Zahl soll in den nächsten Tagen noch eingegangen werden. — Welches sind diese sieben Wunder oder Zeichen?

1. Das Zeichen, das gegeben wird durch die Hochzeit zu Kana in Galiläa,

2. das Zeichen, das gegeben wird durch die Heilung des Sohnes des königlichen Beamten,

3. dasjenige, das gegeben wird durch die Heilung des achtunddreißig Jahre lang Kranken am Teich Bethesda,

4. die Speisung der fünftausend Menschen,

5. das Zeichen, das gegeben wird durch das Anschauen des Wandelns des Christus auf dem Meer, _

6. dasjenige Zeichen, das gegeben wird durch die Heilung des Blindgeborenen, und endlich

7. das größte Zeichen, die Initiation oder Einweihung des Lazarus die Verwandlung des Lazarus zu dem Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums selber.

Das sind sieben der Zeichen. Nun müssen wir uns allerdings einmal fragen: Wie steht es denn überhaupt mit diesen Zeichen, mit dieser Wunderfrage?

Wenn Sie aufmerksam gehört haben, was in den letzten Tagen in der mannigfaltigsten Art zu Ihnen gesprochen worden ist, so werden Sie sich erinnern, daß gesagt wurde, daß der Bewußtseinszustand der Menschen sich im Laufe unserer ganzen menschlichen Entwickelung geändert habe. Wir haben den Blick zurückgewendet in ururalte Zeiten. Wir haben gesehen, daß die Menschen nicht ausgegangen sind von einem bloß tierischen Standpunkt in der Entwickelung, sondern von einer Gestalt, in der die Menschen noch Hellsehergabe wie eine natürliche Fähigkeit hatten. Hellseherisch waren die Menschen früher, wenn sie auch ein solches Bewußtsein hatten, daß sie noch nicht «Ich bin » sagen konnten. Die Fähigkeit des Selbstbewußtseins mußten sich die Menschen erst nach und nach erobern; dafür aber mußten sie in Kauf geben das alte Hellsehen. In der Zukunft wird eine Zeit wiederkommen, wo alle Menschen hellseherisch sind, trotzdem sie sich das Ich-bin, das Selbstbewußtsein bewahrt haben. Das sind die drei Stufen, welche die Menschheit zum Teil durchgemacht hat und zum Teil noch durchzumachen hat. In der Atlantis war es noch so, daß die Menschen dort in einer Art Traumbewußtsein lebten, aber in einem hellseherischen Bewußtsein. Dann kam es so, daß sie sich das Selbstbewußtsein, das äußere Gegenstandsbewußtsein allmählich eroberten,wofürsieaberinKauf geben mußten die alte dumpfe Hellsehergabe. Und endlich ein hellseherisches Bewußtsein, das mit diesem Selbstbewußtsein verbunden ist, wird der Mensch in der Zukunft haben. So wandelt der Mensch von einem alten dumpfen Hellsehen durch ein nicht hellsichtiges Gegenstandsbewußtsein und steigt wieder auf zu einem selbstbewußten Hellsehen.

Aber außer dem Bewußtsein hat sich auch alles andere in der Menschheit geändert. Es ist wirklich nur menschliche Kurzsichtigkeit, wenn man glaubt, so wie es heute zugeht, müsse es immer zugegangen sein. Alles hat sich entwickelt. Es war nicht immer so. Auch das Verhältnis von Mensch zu Mensch war nicht immer so, wie es heute ist.

Wir haben schon aus den Andeutungen der letzten Tage entnehmen können, daß in den alten Zeiten bis in die Zeit hinein, wo der ChristusImpuls in die menschliche Entwickelung eingeschlagen hat, ein vielgröBerer Einfluß vorhanden war von Seele zu Seele. Die Menschen waren dazu veranlagt. Der Mensch hörte nicht nur, was der andere, der ihm gegenübertrat, ihm mit äußerlich hörbaren Worten sagte, sondern wenn der andere etwas lebhaft, lebendig empfand, etwas lebhaft dachte, so konnte das der Mensch, der ihm gegenübertrat, in einer gewissen Weise fühlen, wissen. Liebe war in älteren Zeiten, wo sie allerdings mehr an die Blutsverwandtschaft gebunden war, noch etwas ganz anderes, als sie heute ist. Heute hat sie einen mehr seelischen Charakter angenommen, aber sie ist schwächer geworden. Sie wird erst ihre Stärke wiedergewinnen, wenn der Christus-Impuls in alle Menschenherzen einzieht. Wenn Liebe gewirkt hat in alten Zeiten, so hatte diese Liebe zugleich etwas wie eine heilende, wie eine balsamische Kraft für die andere Seele. Mit der Entwickelung des Intellektes und der Klugheit, die sich ja auch erst nach und nach gebildet haben, sind diese alten Einflüsse von Seele zu Seele dahingeschwunden.

Hineinzuwirken in die Seele des anderen, hinüberströmen zu lassen die Kraft, die man in der eigenen Seele hatte, das war eine Gabe, die den Völkern der alten Zeiten durchaus eigen war. Daher müssen Sie auch an eine viel größere Macht denken, die damals Seele von Seele empfangen konnte, müssen an viel größeren Einfluß denken, der von Seele zu Seele ausgeübt werden konnte. Wenn auch keine äußeren historischen Urkunden davon etwas melden, wenn auch die Steine und Denkmäler nichts sagen, so zeigt uns die hellseherische Beobachtung in der AkashaChronik doch, daß in diesen alten Zeiten zum Beispiel Krankenheilungen in umfassender Weise durch psychischen Einfluß von einem Menschen auf den anderen stattfinden konnten. Und vieles andere vermochte die Seele in jenen Zeiten. Was heute dem Menschen wie ein Märchen klingt: daß der Wille des Menschen zum Beispiel die Macht hatte, wenn er es anstrebte, wenn er sich besonders dazu trainierte, besänftigend auf das Pflanzenwachstum zu wirken, das Wachstum der Pflanzen zu beschleunigen oder zu verzögern -, das war in jenen Zeiten eine Tatsache. Heute sind von all dem nur noch spärliche Reste vorhanden.

Also das Leben des Menschen war damals noch ein ganz anderes. Niemand hätte sich in alten Zeiten darüber gewundert, daß irgendwo, wenn das richtige Verhältnis da war von Mensch zu Mensch, ein solcher seelischer Einfluß von einer Persönlichkeit zur anderen hinübergegangen wäre. Allerdings, das müssen wir festhalten: daß immer zwei oder mehrere dazu gehörten, damit ein solcher seelischer Einfluß ausgeübt werden konnte. Man könnte sich ja auch in unserer Zeit denken, daß ein Mensch mit der Kraft des Christus unter die Menschen träte. Diejenigen aber, welche die Stärke des Glaubens an ihn hätten, sie wären sehr dünn gesät, und er könnte nicht das vollbringen, was durch seelischen Einfluß von einer Seele zu der anderen gewirkt werden kann. Dazu ist nicht nur notwendig, daß gewirkt wird, sondern daß jemand da ist, der reif ist, diese Wirkung zu empfangen. Wenn in alten Zeiten die Menschen häufiger waren, die solche Wirkungen empfangen konnten, so wird es uns nicht wundern, wenn gesagt wird, daß damals für Krankenheilungen gerade die Mittel da waren, durch welche auf dem Wege des psychischen Einflusses gewirkt wurde, daß aber auch andere Einwirkungen, die heute nur auf mechanischem Wege geschehen können, durch psychischen Einfluß geschehen sind.

In welche Zeit fiel denn das Christus-Ereignis innerhalb der menschlichen Entwickelung? In eine ganz bestimmte Zeit fiel es hinein — das müssen wir uns vor Augen halten. Es waren von solchen Seelenströmungen von einem Menschen zum anderen sozusagen nur die letzten Reste vorhanden, die noch aus der atlantischen Zeit wie ein Erbstück hereinragten. Gerade schickte sich die Menschheit an, immer mehr und mehr in das Materielle hineinzugehen und immer weniger die Möglichkeit zu haben, solche seelische Strömungen wirken zu lassen. Dahinein mußte der Christus-Impuls fallen, der gerade durch seine Wesenheit bei denen, die noch dafür empfänglich waren, unendlich viel wirken konnte.

Wer die Entwickelung in der Menschheit wirklich kennt, wird es daher selbstverständlich finden, daß, nachdem die Christus-Wesenheit einmal in den Leib des Jesus von Nazareth eingezogen war, ungefähr im dreißigsten Jahr seines Lebens, sie in diesem Leib, in dieser Hülle ganz besonders wirken konnte. Denn diese Hülle war herangereift aus uralten Zeiten. Wir haben gestern erwähnt, daß die Individualität des Jesus von Nazareth in einem früheren Leben schon einmal verkörpert war im alten Persien, daß sie dann immer wieder durch Verkörperungen durchgegangen ist und in jeder Verkörperung höher und höher gestiegen ist in ihrer geistigen Entwickelung. Davon hing es ab, daß der Christus in einem solchen Leibe wohnen konnte, daß ihm dieser Leib als Opfer dargebracht werden konnte. Das wußten die Evangelisten sehr wohl. Daher haben sie alles so dargestellt, daß es für den geistigen Forscherblick durchaus verständlich ist.

Nur müssen wir alles in den Evangelien wörtlich nehmen, das heißt, sie zuerst lesen lernen. Warum wird zum Beispiel gerade in dem ersten der Zeichen - wie gesagt, die tiefere Bedeutung der Wunder werden wir noch kennenlernen -, beider Besprechung der Hochzeit zu Kana in Galiläa besonders betont, daß das geschah «zu Kana in Galiläa»? Es gibt — Sie können forschen, wo Sie wollen — in dem alten Palästina, in dem Umkreise, der damals bekannt sein konnte, kein zweites Kana. Bedarf es aber bei den Orten, die einzig da sind, eines besonderen Zusatzes? Warum sagt trotzdem der Evangelist, wenn er auf dieses Wunder zu sprechen kommt, daß es geschah «zu Kana in Galiläa »? Weil es darauf ankommt, zu betonen, daß da etwas geschah, was in Galiläa geschehen mußte, Das heißt, der Christus hätte die Menschen, die dazu nötig waren, nicht in anderen Gegenden als gerade in Galiläa gefunden. Ich sagte schon, zu einer Wirkung gehört nicht nur der eine, der wirkt, sondern es gehören auch die anderen dazu, die entsprechend geeignet sind, diese Wirkung anzunehmen. Sein erstes Auftreten hätte der Christus nicht haben können innerhalb der jüdischen Gemeinde selber, wohl aber in Galiläa, an demjenigen Orte, wo gemischt waren die verschiedensten Völkerstämme und Völkergruppen. Gerade dadurch, daß an einem Orte zusammengekommen waren aus den verschiedensten Teilen der Welt die verschiedensten Völker, gerade dadurch war hier in Galiläa nicht mehr dieselbe Blutsverwandtschaft und vor allen Dingen nicht mehr der Glaube an diese Blutsverwandtschaft vorhanden wie in Judäa, bei dem engeren hebräischen Volke. Durcheinandergewürfelt waren die Menschen in Galiläa. Wozu aber mußte sich der Christus vermöge seines Impulses gerade besonders berufen fühlen?

Wir haben ja gesagt, daß eines seiner wichtigsten Worte das war: «Bevor Abraham war, war das Ich-bin», und das andere: «Ich und der Vater sind eins.» Er wollte damit sagen: Bei denjenigen, die an den alten Lebenseinrichtungen hängen, ist das Ich nur geborgen innerhalb einer Blutsverwandtschaft. Derjenige, der ein richtiger Bekenner des Alten Testamentes war, er fühlte etwas ganz Besonderes bei den Worten: «Ich und der Vater Abraham sind eins», etwas, was heute dem Menschen schwer ist nachzufühlen. Was der Mensch sein eigenes Selbst nennt, was eingeschlossen ist zwischen Geburt und Tod, das sieht der Mensch vorübergehen. Derjenige aber, der ein richtiges Bekenntnis zum Alten Testamente hatte, der berührt war von den Lehren, die in der damaligen Zeit durch die Menschheit flossen, er sagte, und zwar nicht bloß als ein allegorisches Wort, sondern als eine Tatsache: Für mich bin ich ein einzelner, aber ich bin ein Glied in einem großen Organismus, in einem großen Lebenszusammenhange, der hinaufgeht bis zu dem Vater Abraham. Wie der Finger als lebendiges Glied nur bestehen kann, solange er an meinem Leibe ist, so habe auch ich nur einen Sinn, solange ich fühle, daß ich ein Glied bin an dem großen Volksorganismus, der hinaufgeht bis zu dem Vater Abraham. Ich hänge genau so an dem großen Volkszusammenhang, wie der Finger an meinem Leibe ist. Trennt man den Finger ab, so ist er bald kein Finger mehr; er ist nur geborgen, wenn er an meiner Hand, die Hand an meinem Arm und der Arm an meinem Leibe ist, er hat keinen Sinn mehr, wenn er von der Hand abgetrennt ist. Ebenso habe ich nur einen Sinn, wenn ich mich fühle als ein Glied aller der Generationen, durch die herunterfließt das Blut von dem Vater Abraham. Da fühle ich mich geborgen! Vorübergehend und vorbeirauschend ist mein einzelnes Ich, aber nicht vorübergehend ist dieser ganze große Volksorganismus bis hinauf zum Vater Abraham. Wenn ich mich ganz darinnen empfinde, mich ganz darinnen fühle, dann überwinde ich mein zeitlich vorübergehendes Ich; dann werde ich geborgen in einem großen Ich, in dem Volks-Ich, das durch das Blut der Generationen vom Vater Abraham bis zu mir heruntergeströmt ist! So sagte sich der Bekenner des Alten Testamentes.

Durch die Kraft dieses innerlichen Erlebnisses, das in den Worten liegt: «Ich und der Vater Abraham sind eins», geschah alles das, was an Großem, an heute noch wunderbar Erscheinendem innerhalb des Alten Testamentes geschehen ist. Weil aber die Zeit kam, in der die Menschen nicht mehr berufen sein sollten, einen solchen Bewußtseinszustand zu haben, so verlor sich das nach und nach. Der Christus mußte daher nicht zu denjenigen gehen, die auf der einen Seite die Fähigkeit verloren hatten, durch jene magische Kraft zu wirken, die in den Blutsbanden liegt, und die auf der anderen Seite noch den Glauben hatten nur an die Gemeinschaft mit dem Vater Abraham. Denn bei denen konnte er jenen Glauben nicht finden, der dazu notwendig war, um das zu wirken, was strömen konnte von seiner Seele in die anderen Seelen; da mußte er zu denjenigen gehen, die dutch ihre Blutmischung nicht mehr einen solchen Glauben hatten, da mußte er zu den Galiläern gehen. Hier mußte er beginnen mit seiner Mission. Wenn auch im allgemeinen der alte Bewußtseinszustand im Schwinden war, so fand er doch bei ihnen gerade eine Volksmischung vor, die im Anfange der Blutmischung stand. Von allen Seiten kamen hier Volksstämme zusammen, welche vor diesem Zusammenströmen noch unter den Kräften deralten Blutsbande gestanden hatten. Sie waren eben dazu gekommen, den Übergang zu finden. Sie hatten noch das lebendige Gefühl in sich: Unsere Väter haben noch die alten Bewußtseinszustände gehabt, sie haben noch die magischen Kräfte gehabt, die von Seele zu Seele wirken. — Bei ihnen konnte er mit seiner neuen Mission wirken, die darin bestand, dem Menschen ein Ich-Bewußtsein zu geben, das nicht mehr an Blutsverwandtschaft geknüpft ist, ein Ich-Bewußtsein, das sagen konnte: In mir selber finde ich den Zusammenhang mit dem geistigen Vater, mit dem Vater, der nicht sein Blut physisch herunterrollen läßt durch die Generationen, sondern der seine geistige Kraft in jede einzelne individuelle Seele hineinsendet. Das Ich, das in mir ist und das eine unmittelbare Beziehung zum geistigen Vater hat, es war, ehe denn Abraham war. Daher bin ich berufen, eine solche Kraft in das Ich hineinzugießen, die da gestärkt wird durch das Bewußtsein des Zusammenhanges mit der geistigen Vater-Kraft der Welt. «Ich und der Vater sind eins », nicht ich und der Vater Abraham, das heißt ein leiblicher Vorfahr, sind eins.

Und zu solchen ging der Christus, die eben angekommen waren an dem Punkt, das zu begreifen - die eben notwendig hatten, nicht in den Blutsbanden, die sie gerade durch ihre Vermischung durchbrachen, sondern in der einzelnen Seele die starke Kraft zu finden, die wiederum den Menschen dahin führen kann, nach und nach das Geistige im Physischen zum Ausdruck zu bringen. Sagen Sie nicht: Warum sehen wir denn heute nicht, daß derlei geschieht, wie es damals geschehen ist? Abgesehen davon, daß derjenige, der sehen will, es sehen kann, muß bedacht werden, daß eben die Menschen hinausgeschritten sind aus diesem Bewußtseinszustande, daß sie heruntergestiegen sind in die stoffliche Welt, und daß jene Zeiten damals gerade die Grenzscheide waren und der Christus an den letzten Exemplaren der sich entwickelnden Menschheit zeigte, was der Geist über das Physische vermag. Zu einem Vorbild und Symbol, zu einem Glaubenssymbol wurden diejenigen Zeichen hingestellt, die da geschehen sind, als der alte Bewußtseinszustand noch vorhanden, aber eben im Hinschwinden war.

Jetzt schauen wir uns einmal diese. Hochzeit zu Kana in Galiläa selbst an. Wenn ich alle Einzelheiten des Johannes-Evangeliums hier wörtlich vor Ihnen entwickeln würde, das, was wirklich Evangelien-Inhalt ist, dann würden allerdings vierzehn Vorträge nicht ausreichen, sondern ein paar Jahre würden dazu nötig sein. Aber alle diese wörtliche Entwickelung würde nur eine Bestätigung sein für das, was ich Ihnen in kurzen Auseinandersetzungen andeuten kann.

Zuerst wird uns bei diesem ersten Zeichen gesagt: Da war eine Hochzeit zu Kana in Galiläa. Nun müssen wir uns bewußt sein, daß in dem Johannes-Evangelium kein Wort steht, das nicht eine besondere Bedeutung hätte. Warum also eine «Hochzeit»? Weil durch die Hochzeit einmal das bewirkt wird, was durch die Christus-Mission in so eminenter Weise bewirkt wird: durch die Hochzeit werden die Menschen zusammengeführt. Und eine Hochzeit «in Galiläa»? In Galiläa war es, daß die alten Blutsbande getrennt wurden, daß fremdes Blut mit fremdem Blut sich mischte. Was der Christus tun sollte, hing aber gerade zusammen mit der Blutmischung. Also haben wir es zu tun mit einer Verbindung unter Menschen, um Nachkommen zu haben, von Menschen, die nicht mehr blutsverwandt sind. Nun wird Ihnen allerdings recht wunderbar erscheinen, was ich Ihnen jetzt sage. Was hätten Leute in ganz alten Zeiten in einem solchen Falle, wie er da vorlag, gefühlt, in Zeiten, da noch das vorhanden war, was man im geisteswissenschaftlichen Sinne nennen möchte die «nahe Ehe»? Denn das ist durchaus etwas, was zur Menschheitsentwickelung gehört, daß sich eine ursprüngliche «nahe Ehe» verwandelt hat in eine «ferne Ehe». Und es liegt schon in dem, was ich bisher gesagt habe, ausgedrückt, was die nahe Ehe ist. Bei allen Völkern finden Sie in den alten Zeiten das eine, daß es gegen ein Gesetz des Volkes gewesen wäre, aus dem Stamm, aus der Blutsverwandtschaft herauszuheiraten. Was blutsverwandt war, was in denselben Stamm hineingehörte, das heiratete sich; und dieses Heiraten innerhalb desselben Stammes, innerhalb des verwandten Blutes, das hatte eben zur Wirkung das Wunderbare, was durch die geisteswissenschaftliche Forschung jederzeit konstatiert werden kann, daß große magische Kraft ausgeübt werden konnte. Die Nachkommen innerhalb eines blutsverwandten Stammes hatten durch diese Verwandten-Ehe magische Kräfte, die von Seele zu Seele wirkten. Wenn wir zu einer Hochzeit in uralten Zeiten gerufen worden wären, was wäre da der Fall gewesen? Nehmen wir einmal an, es wäre meinetwillen der Trank, den man dazumal gerade brauchte, also der Wein, ausgegangen. Was wäre da geschehen? Es hätte bloß durch die Bande der Blutsverwandtschaft das richtige Verhältnis da zu sein brauchen in dieser blutsverwandten Hochzeitsfamilie, und man hätte durch die magische Gewalt der Blutsliebe erleben können, daß zum Beispiel das Wasser, das in einem späteren Augenblicke des Hochzeitsfestes statt des Weines gereicht worden wäre, durch den seelischen Einfluß dieser Persönlichkeiten von den anderen empfunden worden wäre als Wein. Wein hätten sie getrunken, die anderen, wenn das richtige magische Verhältnis der einen Persönlichkeit zu den anderen dagewesen wäre. Sagen Sie nicht: Dieser Wein wäre ja doch Wasser gewesen! Ein vernünftiger Mensch muß sich darauf die Antwort geben: Für den Menschen sind die Dinge dasjenige, als was sie sich seinem Organismus mitteilen, was sie dem Menschen werden, nicht wie sie aussehen. Ich glaube, noch heute würden manche Weinliebhaber es ganz gern haben, wenn man ihnen Wasser reichte, wenn nur durch irgendeinen Einfluß bewirkt werden könnte, daß das Wasser so schmeckte wie Wein und es in ihrem Organismus die Wirkung des Weines hätte. Mehr ist ja nicht notwendig, als daß für den Menschen Wasser Wein ist. Was war also in alten Zeiten notwendig, damit ein solches Zeichen hat geschehen können, daß in den Gefäßen Wasser war, daß es aber Wein war, wenn es getrunken wurde? Es war die magische Gewalt, die durch die Blutsverwandtschaft bewirkt wurde, notwendig. Aber die Kraft in den Seelen, so etwas zu empfinden, die war da bei den Leuten auf der Hochzeit zu Kana in Galiläa. Ein Übergang mußte nur geschaffen werden.

Es heißt im Johannes-Evangelium (2, 1 ff.) weiter: «Und die Mutter Jesu war da. Jesus aber und seine Jünger wurden auch auf die Hochzeit geladen.» Und da es an Wein mangelte, machte die Mutter des Jesus darauf aufmerksam und sagte zu ihm: «Sie haben nicht Wein.»

Ein Übergang, sagte ich, mußte geschaffen werden, damit sich so etwas ereignen konnte. Die seelische Kraft mußte durch irgend etwas unterstützt werden. Durch was konnte sie unterstützt werden ? Da kommen wir zu dem Wort, das in der Weise, wie es gewöhnlich übersetzt wird, eigentlich eine Blasphemie ist. Denn ich glaube nicht, daß ein fein empfindender Mensch es nicht als unangenehm empfinden müßte, wenn er sagt: «Sie haben nicht Wein!» und ihm darauf geantwortet wird: «Weib, was habe ich mit dir zu schaffen? Meine Stunde ist noch nicht gekommen!» Es ist überhaupt unmöglich, daß das in einer solchen Urkunde hingenommen wird. Man soll sich denken: Das Ideal der Liebe, wie es uns in den Evangelien geschildert wird, Jesus von Nazareth, er sollte in den Beziehungen zu seiner Mutter den Ausdruck gebrauchen: «Weib, was habe ich mit dir zu schaffen ?» Man braucht nicht mehr darüber zu sagen, denn das übrige muß man empfinden. Aber diese Worte stehen nicht da! Sehen Sie sich diese Stelle im Johannes-Evangelium an. Sie brauchen nur den griechischen Text aufzuschlagen, da haben Sie nichts weiter als die Worte, die da gesagt werden, indem der Jesus von Nazareth auf etwas hindeutet: «O Weib, dieses geht da von mir zu dir!» Gerade auf diese feine intime Kraft von Seele zu Seele, was da hinübergeht von ihm zu der Mutter, darauf weist er hin. Das braucht er aber in diesem Augenblick. Höheres an Zeichen kann er in diesem Augenblick noch nicht wirken, dazu muß seine Zeit erst heranreifen. Daher sagt er: Meine Zeit, wo ich bloß durch eine Kraft wirken werde, die ist noch nicht gekommen! - Denn jetzt ist noch notwendig das magnetische seelische Band, das da von der Seele des Jesus von Nazareth zu der Mutter hinübergeht. «O Weib, das geht da von mir zu dir!» Wie sollte die Mutter sonst nach dieser Rede, «Weib, was habe ich mit dir zu schaffen!» dazu kommen, zu den Dienern zu sagen: «Was er euch saget, das tut!»? Es ist notwendig, daß sie ausgestattet ist mit den alten Kräften, von denen heute die Menschen keine Ahnung mehr haben, und sie weiß, daß er hinweist auf dieses Blutsband zwischen Sohn und Mutter, hinweist auf das Band, das hinüberführen soll zu den anderen. Da weiß sie, daß jetzt etwas waltet wie eine unsichtbare geistige Kraft, die hier etwas bewirken kann. Und nunmehr bitte ich Sie, das Evangelium wirklich zu lesen. Ich möchte wissen, wie diejenigen mit dem Evangelium zurechtkommen, die da glauben, daß etwas — ja, ich weiß nicht, was eigentlich — geschehen sein soll, die da glauben, daß sechs gewöhnliche Krüge dastanden, wie sie sagen, «zur jüdischen Reinigung», und wie dann nach dieser ganz gewöhnlichen Anschauung ohne irgend etwas anderes — das eben in demjenigen lag, was jetzt besprochen worden ist —, wie da das Wasser hätte zu Wein werden sollen, wie das äußerlich nur hätte geschehen sollen?!

Was ist es? Und ebenso: Was ist der Glaube, den derjenige, der hier vor Ihnen spricht, zu diesem Wunder hat, den nur irgend jemand zu einem Wunder haben kann, daß sich hier eine Substanz in eine andere für die Menschen gewandelt hat? Aber mit einer gewöhnlichen Interpretation kommt man da nicht zurecht.

Man muß sich vorstellen, daß die Krüge, die da standen, vermutlich nicht mit Wasser gefüllt waren. Es ist gar nicht gesagt, daß sie etwa ausgegossen worden wären. Das steht nicht da. Wenn sie aber ausgegossen und wieder gefüllt worden wären - es steht da, sie seien gefüllt worden -, dann müßte man doch eigentlich glauben, daß es sich darum handeln müßte, wenn wirklich das Wasser sozusagen wie durch ein Taschenspielerkunststück in Wein verwandelt worden wäre: daß dann auch das Wasser, das früher darinnen gewesen wäre, in Wein verwandelt worden wäre. Also damit kommt man nicht zurecht. Es stimmt die ganze Sache nicht. Klar muß man sich aber sein, daß diese Krüge offenbar leer gewesen sind, daß sie leer gewesen sind aus dem Grunde, weil ihr Füllen etwas Besonderes zu bedeuten hatte.

«Was er euch saget, das tut!» hatte die Mutter zu den Dienern gesagt. Was brauchte der Christus für Wasser? Er brauchte Wasser, das eben aus den Quellen der Natur kam. Daher muß besonders gesagt werden, daß das Wasser soeben geschöpft worden ist. Jenes Wasser, das noch nicht die inneren Kräfte verloren hatte, die irgendein Element hat, solange es noch mit der Natur zusammenhängt, war für seinen Zweck allein geeignet. — Wie gesagt, kein Wort ist in dem JohannesEvangelium ohne tiefe Bedeutung. — Ein Wasser, das soeben frisch geschöpft ist, mußte genommen werden, weil ja der Christus die Wesenheit ist, die sich eben der Erde genähert hat, eben verwandt geworden ist mit den Kräften, die in der Erde selber wirken. Indem die lebendigen Kräfte des Wassers wiederum mit dem zusammenwirken, was da strömt «von mir zu dir», da kann das geschehen, was uns im Evangelium geschildert wird: daß der Speisemeister herbeigerufen wird, und daß er unter dem Eindruck steht, daß hier etwas Besonderes geschehen ist — aber das, was geschehen ist, weiß er nicht; es wird ausdrücklich gesagt: er hat nicht gesehen, was geschehen ist, die Diener haben es gesehen, nicht er —, und daß er nun unter dem Eindruck dessen, was da geschehen ist, das Wasser als Wein empfindet. Das wird ganz klar und deutlich gesagt, so daß also wirklich durch die seelische Kraft hier bis in ein äußeres Element, das heißt bis in das Physische des menschlichen Leibes, hineingewirkt worden ist. Was mußte bei der Mutter des Jesus von Nazareth selber vorhanden sein, damit ihr Glaube in diesem Augenblick stark genug sein konnte, um eine solche Wirkung hervorzubringen? Sie mußte eines haben, was allerdings in ihr vorhanden war, nämlich die Einsicht, daß derjenige, welcher da ihr Sohn genannt wurde, der Geist der Erde geworden war. Dann konnte wiederum ihre starke Kraft des Glaubens in Verbindung mit seiner starken Kraft - was von ihm zu ihr wirkt - so mächtig wirken, daß das geschah, was beschrieben ist.

So haben wir in dem ersten Zeichen durch die ganze Konstellation der Verhältnisse gezeigt, wie aus den Zusammenstimmungen der Seelen heraus, aus dem, was noch geknüpft ist an die Blutsbande, in die physische Welt hineingewirkt wird. Es war das erste Zeichen, das geschehen ist und wo die Kraft des Christus im Mindestmaße gezeigt wird. Sie brauchte noch die Verstärkung durch den Zusammenhalt mit den seelischen Kräften der Mutter, und sie brauchte die Verstärkung durch die im Wasser mit der Natur noch vereinigten Kräfte, die noch darinnen sind, wenn man das Wasser frisch geschöpft hat. Im Mindestmaße tritt uns hier die wirkende Kraft der Christus-Wesenheit entgegen. Aber besonders wird Wert darauf gelegt, daß die Christus-Kraft hinüberwirkt auf die andere Seele und aus dieser anderen Seele, die dazu geeignet ist, Wirkungen herausruft. Das ist das Wesentliche, daß die Christus-Kraft gerade die Macht hat, die andere Seele geeignet zu machen, so daß die Wirkungen eintreten. Sie hatte die Hochzeitsgäste dazu geeignet gemacht, daß sie auch das Wasser als Wein empfanden. Ein jegliches aber, was eine wirkliche Kraft ist, verstärkt sich in seiner Wirkung selber. Indem der Christus das zweite Mal diese Kraft auszuüben hat, ist sie schon stärker. Wie sich die einfachste Kraft durch Übung verstärkt, so verstärkt sich besonders eine geistige Kraft, wenn sie einmal mit Erfolg angewendet wird.

Das zweite der Zeichen ist, wie Sie aus dem Johannes-Evangelium wissen, die Heilung des Sohnes eines königlichen Hauptmannes. Wodurch wird der Sohn des königlichen Hauptmannes geheilt? Auch hier werden Sie wiederum nur das Richtige erkennen, wenn Sie das Johannes-Evangelium im richtigen Maße lesen, wenn Sie die Worte, die in dem betreffenden Kapitel das Wichtigste sind, ins Auge fassen. Im 5o. Verse des vierten Kapitels heißt es, nachdem der Hauptmann dem Jesus von Nazareth sein Leid geklagt hat:

«Jesus spricht zu ihm: «Gehe hin, dein Sohn lebt.» Der Mensch glaubte dem Worte, das Jesus zu ihm sagte, und ging hin.»

Wiederum waren zwei Seelen da, welche zusammenstimmten: die Seele des Christus und die Seele vom Vater des Sohnes. Und wie wirkt das Wort des Christus: «Gehe hin, dein Sohn lebt»? Es wirkt so, daß es in der anderen Seele die Kraft entzündet, zu glauben, was als ein solches Wort gesprochen war. Diese zwei Kräfte wirkten zusammen. Das Wort des Christus hatte die Kraft, so zu zünden in der anderen Seele, daß der Hauptmann glaubte. Würde der Mensch nicht geglaubt haben, so würde der Sohn nicht gesund geworden sein. So wirkt die eine Kraft auf die andere. Zwei gehören dazu. Hier aber haben wir bereits ein höheres Maß der Christus-Kraft. Bei der Hochzeit zu Kana brauchte sie noch, um überhaupt wirken zu können, die Verstärkung durch die Kraft der Mutter. Jetzt ist die Zeit so weit gekommen, daß die ChristusKraft das zündende Wort in die Seele des Hauptmannes hinübergießen kann. Eine Steigerung der Christus-Kraft ist da.

Gehen wir jetzt zu dem dritten der Zeichen, zu der Heilung des achtunddreißig Jahre lang Kranken am Teich Bethesda. Da müssen wir wieder das wichtigste Wort lesen, das Licht hineinwirft in die ganze Sache. Das ist jene Stelle, welche da heißt:

«Jesus spricht zu ihm: Stehe auf, nimm dein Bette und gehe hin!» (5, 8)

Der Kranke hatte vorher gesagt, als er von seiner Notwendigkeit sprach, liegen zu bleiben, daß er sich nicht bewegen könnte:

«Herr, ich habe keinen Menschen, wenn das Wasser sich beweget, der mich in den Teich lasse; und wenn ich komme, so steiget ein anderer vor mir hinein.» (5, 7)

Der Christus aber spricht zu ihm — und das ist nun wiederum wichtig, daß es an einem Sabbat ist, wo überall Festesstimmung ist, eine Zeit eminentester Menschenliebe -, und er kleidet das, was er sagen will, in den Ausdruck: «Stehe auf, nimm dein Bette und gehe hin!» (5, 8). Und wir müssen dieses Wort zusammenhalten mit dem anderen, das er ihm sagt, und das ebenso wichtig ist:

«Siehe zu, du bist gesund geworden; sündige hinfort nicht mehr, daß dir nicht etwas Ärgeres widerfahre.» (5, 14)

Was heißt das? Das heißt: Die Krankheit des achtunddreißig Jahre lang Kranken hing zusammen mit seiner Sünde. Ob diese Sünde begangen ist in diesem oder in einem früheren Leben, das wollen wir jetzt nicht erörtern. Für uns handelt es sich darum: Es hat der Christus in seine Seele die Kraft gegossen, etwas zu tun, was hineingreift bis in die moralisch-seelische Natur des anderen. Da haben wir wiederum eine Steigerung der Christus-Kraft. Vorher handelte es sich bloß um etwas, was so weit wirken sollte, daß Physisches geschah. Jetzt aber ist eine Krankheit da, von welcher der Christus selber sagt, daß sie zusammenhängt mit der Sünde des Kranken. Der Christus weiß in diesem Moment einzugreifen in die eigene Seele des Kranken. Vorher bedurfte es des Vaters noch; jetzt wirkt die Christus-Kraft in die Seele des Kranken hinein, was dadurch noch einen besonderen Zauber erhält, daß es am Sabbat geschieht. Der heutige Mensch hat keinen rechten Sinn mehr für solche Dinge. Für einen Bekenner des Alten Testamentes aber hatte es etwas zu sagen, daß es am Sabbat geschah. Das war etwas ganz Besonderes. Daher waren auch die Juden über den Kranken besonders erregt, weil er am Sabbat sein Bett trug. Das ist ein außerordentlich wichtiger Zug. Die Menschen sollten denken lernen, wenn sie die Evangelien lesen! Sie sollten es nicht für etwas Selbstverständliches halten, daß der Kranke geheilt werden konnte, daß derjenige, der seit achtunddreißig Jahren nicht hat gehen können, jetzt geht; sie sollten nachdenken über eine solche Stelle:

«Da sprachen die Juden zu dem, der gesund war worden: Es ist heute Sabbat; es ziemt dir nicht, das Bette zu tragen.» (5, 10)

Nicht das fiel ihnen auf, daß er gesund geworden war, sondern daß er am Sabbat sein Bette trug! Es gehörte also zu der Heilung dieses Kranken dazu die ganze Situation, gerade an dem geheiligten Tag zu wirken. In dem Christus selber ist der Gedanke: Wenn der Sabbat dem Gotte wirklich heilig sein soll, dann müssen die Seelen durch die Gotteskraft an diesem Tage eine besondere Stärke haben. Durch diese Stärke wirkt er hinüber auf den, der da vor ihm stand, das heißt, sie übertrug sich auf die eigene Seele des Kranken. Und während der Kranke früher in seiner Seele keine Kraft gefunden hat, welche die Folgen der Sünde hat überwinden können, hat er jetzt diese Kraft durch die Wirkung der Christus-Kraft. Wiederum eine Steigerung der Christus-Kraft.

Und jetzt gehen wir weiter. Wie gesagt, über die eigentliche Natur der Wunder soll später gesprochen werden.

Das vierte der Zeichen ist die Speisung der fünftausend Mann. Dabei müssen wir wiederum das allerwichtigste Wort ins Auge fassen. Und welches ist das? - Man muß immer bei solchen Dingen bedenken, daß man nicht mit einem heutigen Bewußtsein ein solches Geschehnis überschauen darf. Wenn diejenigen, welche über den Christus geschrieben haben in der Zeit, als das Johannes-Evangelium geschrieben worden ist, geglaubt hätten, was heute unsere materialistische Zeit glaubt, dann hätten sie wirklich anders geschrieben; denn dann wäre ihnen anderes aufgefallen, als ihnen aufgefallen ist. - Das wichtigste Wort aber - das andere fällt ihnen nicht besonders auf, auch nicht, daß Fünftausend gespeist werden können mit dem wenigen, was da ist -, das Wort, das besonders betont wird, ist dieses:

«Jesus aber nahm die Brote, dankte und gab sie den Jüngern, die Jünger aber denen, die sich gelagert‘hatten; desselbigengleichen auch von den Fischen, wieviel sie wollten.» (6, 11)

Was tut denn da der Christus Jesus? Hier bedient er sich, um das zu tun, was geschehen sollte, der Seelen der Jünger, derjenigen, die mit ihm waren, die herangereift waren zu seiner Größe nach und nach. Die gehören dazu. Sie sind um ihn herum; in ihnen kann er jetzt wachrufen eine seelische Kraft der Wohltat. Seine Kraft strömt hinaus in die der Jünger. Wie dann das hat geschehen können, was hier geschehen ist, darüber wollen wir noch sprechen. Aber eine Steigerung seiner Kraft bemerken wir auch hier wiederum. Früher hat er seine Kraft hinüberströmen lassen in die Seele des achtunddreißig Jahre lang Kranken. Jetzt aber wirkt seine Kraft hinüber in die Kraft der Seelen der Jünger. Hier wirkt jene Spannung der Kräfte hinaus, die da geht von der Seele des Herrn zu der Seele der Jünger. Es hat sich die Kraft erweitert von der Seele des einen auf die Seelen der anderen. Stärker ist die Kraft geworden. Es lebt also schon jetzt in den Seelen der Jünger auch das, was in der Seele des Christus lebt.

Wenn die Menschen sagen wollten: Was geschieht durch einen solchen Einfluß ? - dann sollten sie sich nur einmal an die Erfahrung halten. Sie sollten einmal versuchen zu beobachten, was geschah, wenn wirklich die starke Kraft, die in dem Christus war, nicht allein wirkte, sondern die Kraft entzündete in den Seelen der anderen Menschen, so daß sie dann weiter wirkte. Es gibt heute nicht Menschen, welche so lebendig glauben - vielleicht glauben sie theoretisch, aber nicht mit der genügenden Kraft. Dann aber erst könnten sie beobachten, was da geschieht. Die Geistesforschung weiß sehr wohl, was da geschieht.

So haben wir eine von Stufe zu Stufe gehende Verstärkung der Christus-Kraft.

Und weiter: das fünfte der Zeichen, das in demselben Kapitel erzählt wird und beginnt:

«Am Abend aber gingen die Jünger hinab an das Meer, Und traten in das Schiff, und kamen über das Meer gen Kapernaum. Und es war schon finster geworden, und Jesus war nicht zu ihnen gekommen.

Und das Meer er hub sich von einem großen Winde.

Da sie nun gerudert hatten bei fünfundzwanzig oder dreißig Feld Wegs, sahen sie Jesum auf dem Meere dahergehen und nahe zum Schiffe kommen; und sie fürchteten sich.» (6, 16-19)

Diejenigen, welche heute Evangelien drucken lassen, schreiben zum Beispiel als einen höchst überflüssigen Titel darüber: « Jesus wandelt auf dem Meer», als ob das irgendwo in diesem Kapitel stehen würde. Wo steht: « Jesus wandelt auf dem Meer»? Es steht da: «Die Jünger sahen Jesum auf dem Meere dahergehen.» Das ist es. Wir müssen die Evangelien wörtlich nehmen. Die Christus-Kraft hat sich eben wiederum verstärkt! So stark war sie geworden durch die selbstverständliche Verstärkung in der Übung in den letzten Taten, daß jetzt nicht nur die Christus-Kraft von einer Seele in die andere wirken konnte, daß sich nicht nur die Christus-Seele in ihren Kräften mitteilen konnte den anderen Seelen, sondern daß der Christus in seiner eigenen Gestalt vor der Seele des anderen leben konnte, der dazu geeignet war. Also das Ereignis ist dieses: Irgend jemand ist an einem anderen Orte, seine Kraft ist so stark, daß sie wirkt auf entfernte Menschen, die weit weg sind. So stark wirkt sie aber jetzt, die Christus-Kraft, daß sie nicht bloß in den Jüngern eine Kraft auslöst, wie sie bei denen war, die sich mit ihm auf dem Berge gelagert hatten; da war nur die Kraft übergegangen auf die Jünger, um das Wunder zu wirken. Jetzt haben sie die Kraft, obwohl sie mit physischen Augen nicht da hineinsehen können, wo der Christus ist, den Christus zu sehen und seine eigene Gestalt zu schauen. Der Christus konnte in der Ferne sichtbar werden für diejenigen, zu denen sich sein Seelenband bereits geknüpft hatte. Jetzt ist seine eigene Gestalt so weit, daß sie geistig gesehen werden kann. In dem Augenblick, als die Möglichkeit des physischen Sehens bei den Jüngern schwindet, da taucht die Möglichkeit des geistigen Sehens bei ihnen um so mehr auf, und sie sehen den Christus. Das Sehen in die Ferne ist aber durchaus so, daß man das Bild des Gegenstandes wie in seiner unmittelbaren Nähe hat. Wiederum eine Steigerung der Christus-Kraft. Das nächste Zeichen ist die Heilung des Blindgeborenen.

Diese Heilung des Blindgeborenen, wie sie in dem Johannes-Evangelium steht, wird nun wiederum ganz besonders entstellt. Sie haben die Geschichte ja vielleicht öfters im Evangelium gelesen:

«Und Jesus ging vorüber und sah einen, der blind geboren war. Und seine Jünger fragten ihn und sprachen: Meister, wer hat gesündigt, dieser oder seine Eltern, daß er ist blind geboren?

Jesus antwortete: Es hat weder dieser gesündiget, noch seine Eltern, sondern daß die Werke Gottes offenbar würden an ihm.» (9, 1-3)

Und dann heilt er ihn. Man braucht nur zu fragen: Ist es etwa ein christliches Empfinden, daß man so interpretiert: Hier ist ein Blindgeborener. Gesündigt, so daß er blind geboren ist, haben nicht seine Eltern, gesündigt hat auch nicht er, aber er ist von Gott blind gemacht worden, damit der Christus kommen kann und zum Ruhme Gottes ein Wunder tun kann. Damit also eine Wirkung dem Gotte zugeschrieben werden könnte, mußte erst der Betreffende von dem Gotte blind gemacht werden! Es ist aber nur nicht richtig gelesen. Es heißt auch gar nicht, daß sich «die Werke Gottes bei diesem Blinden offenbaren sollten».

Wenn wir dieses Zeichen verstehen wollen, so müssen wir zurückgehen auf den Sprachgebrauch, wie das Wort «Gott» gebraucht wurde. Das werden Sie am leichtesten finden, wenn Sie ein anderes Kapitel aufschlagen, wo der Christus geradezu angeklagt wird, daß er von sich behauptete, er wäre mit dem Gotte eins. Wie antwortet er?

«Jesus antwortete ihnen: Stehet nicht geschrieben in eurem Gesetz: Ich habe gesagt: Ihr seid Götter?» (10, 34)

Das heißt, der Christus antwortet: In dem Innersten der Menschenseele ist die Anlage zu einem Gotte. Es ist etwas Göttliches. Wie oft haben wir es ausgesprochen, daß das vierte Glied der menschlichen Wesenheit die Anlage zu dem Göttlichen im Menschen ist. «Ihr seid Götter! », das heißt: ein Göttliches wohnt in euch! Dieses Göttliche ist etwas anderes als der Mensch, als die Person des Menschen, wie er hier zwischen Geburt und Tod lebt; das ist auch etwas anderes als das, was ein Mensch von seinen Eltern ererbt hat. Woher kommt dieses Göttliche, diese Individualität des Menschen? Sie geht von Verkörperung zu Verkörperung, durch wiederholte Erdenleben. Aus einem früheren Erdenleben herüber, aus einer früheren Inkarnation kommt diese Individualität. Also: nicht seine Eltern haben gesündigt, auch nicht seine Persönlichkeit, zu der man gewöhnlich «Ich» sagt. Aber in einem früheren Leben hat dieser Mensch die Ursache dazu gelegt, daß er blind geboren ist in diesem Leben. Blind ist er dadurch geworden, daß sich die Werke des Gottes in ihm von einem früheren Leben her in seiner Blindheit zeigen. Karma, das Gesetz von Ursache und Wirkung, wird hier klar und deutlich von dem Christus Jesus angedeutet. Auf was also muß jetzt gewirkt werden, wenn diese Krankheit geheilt werden sollte? Es muß auf das gewirkt werden, was nicht als ein vergängliches Ich zwischen Geburt und Tod lebt, sondern tiefer müssen sich die Kräfte hineinbohren, in das Ich, das von Leben zu Leben geht. Die Christus-Kraft hat sich abermals gesteigert. Bis jetzt haben wir gesehen, daß sie nur auf das gewirkt hat, was ihr gegenübersteht. Jetzt wirkt sie auf das, was das Menschenleben zwischen Geburt und Tod überlebt, was von Leben zu Leben geht. Der Christus fühlt sich selbst als der Repräsentant des Ich-bin. Indem er seine Kraft hineingießt in das Ich-bin, indem so der hohe Gott des Christus sich mitteilt dem Gotte im Menschen, bekommt der Mensch die Kraft, sich von innen heraus zu heilen. Jetzt ist der Christus hineingedrungen bis in das innerste Wesen der Seele. Seine Kraft hat hineingewirkt in die ewige Individualität des Kranken und hat diese dadurch stark gemacht, daß die eigene Kraft des Christus auftritt in der Individualität des Kranken und dadurch auch hineinwirkt bis in die Folgen der früheren Inkarnationen.

Welche Steigerung gibt es jetzt noch für die Christus-Kraft? Einzig und allein die Steigerung, daß der Christus an einen Menschen heranrückt und das in ihm auferweckt, wodurch sein eigener Impuls in dem anderen Menschen auferweckt wird, daß der andere Mensch die Christus-Kraft so aufnimmt, daß sein ganzes Wesen davon durchdrungen wird, und er ein anderer Mensch, ein Christus-durchdrungener Mensch wird. Das geschieht bei der Auferweckung des Lazarus! Da haben wir wieder eine Steigerung der Christus-Kraft. Die ChristusKraft steigert sich von Stufe zu Stufe.

Wo haben Sie in der Welt ein lyrisches Dokument, das so großartig komponiert wäre! Keine anderen Schriftsteller haben solche Kompositionen gehabt. Wer müßte sich nicht in Ehrfurcht beugen, wenn hier die Ereignisse so geschildert sind, daß sie sich steigern von Stufe zu Stufe und in einer so wunderbaren Weise! Wenn wir nur von der Seite der künstlerischen Komposition her das Johannes-Evangelium betrachten, müssen wir uns in Ehrfurcht vor ihm beugen. Hier wächst alles von Stufe zu Stufe hinauf und steigert sich.

Noch eines bleibt uns übrig zu zeigen. Wir müssen uns fragen: Wir haben einzelnes herausgegriffen, was uns die Steigerung der Zeichen, der Wunder zeigt. Es steht auch manches dazwischen. Wie gliedert sich das in das Ganze hinein?

Morgen wird es unsere Aufgabe sein, zu zeigen, daß im JohannesEvangelium nicht nur in seinen Wundern eine bewunderungswürdige Steigerung liegt, sondern daß alle die übrigen Zwischenausführungen mit besonderer Absicht sich hineinfügen, so daß man wohl begreift, daß es nicht besser hätte ausgefüllt werden können, als es der Schreiber des Johannes-Evangeliums getan hat.

Wir haben heute das Johannes-Evangelium künstlerisch betrachtet in bezug auf seine Komposition, und wir sehen, daß es wahrhaftig kaum denkbar ist, daß ein Kunstwerk künstlerisch vollendeter komponiert ist und sich schöner darstellt als das Johannes-Evangelium bis zu seiner Schilderung der Auferweckung des Lazarus.

Aber nur der, der lesen kann und weiß, worauf es ankommt, spürt den großen, gewaltigen Sinn des Johannes-Evangeliums. Die Theosophie ist heute dazu berufen, diesen großen Sinn uns vor die Seele zu rücken. Aber es liegt noch mehr in diesem Johannes-Evangelium. Unseren Ausführungen werden Erklärungen des Johannes-Evangeliums nachfolgen, und diese werden wiederum eine höhere Weisheit haben als die unsrigen. Aber ihre Weisheit wird wiederum dazu dienen, neue Wahrheiten zu finden, wie uns unsere Weisheit seit dreißig Jahren dazu dient, dasjenige zu finden, was ohne Theosophie nicht gefunden werden kann.

Ninth Lecture

Yesterday, our explanations ended with the statement that we are now faced with the most important aspect of the Christ impulse: death and its meaning itself. But before we come to the description of Christ's death and thus to the climax of our cycle of lectures, it will be necessary today to say something about the actual meaning and significance of many things in the Gospel of John itself and about the relationship of what is described there to the other Gospels.

In recent days, we have attempted to understand the Christ impulse from entirely different sources, from the clairvoyant observation of the Akashic Chronicle, and to present it as an actual event in the development of humanity. And we have, so to speak, referred only to what appears in the Gospels as a confirmation of what could first be declared true through clairvoyant research. Today, however, for the sake of furthering our considerations, we want to take a few glances at the Gospel of John itself and characterize this important document of humanity from one perspective. This Gospel of John, of which we said yesterday that contemporary theological research, insofar as it is afflicted by materialism, cannot gain a proper position in relation to it, that it is unable to understand the historical, this Gospel of John will appear to us, when we look at it with a spiritual scientific eye, as one of the most wonderful documents that humanity has. It can be said that the Gospel of John is one of the greatest not only among religious documents, but among all — let us use the profane word — among all literary documents. Let us approach the content of this document from this angle.

In terms of its composition, the Gospel of John is, even in its very first chapters, if one understands them correctly, if one knows what actually lies in the words, one of the most stylish, most well-rounded documents that exist in the world. However, this cannot be seen from a superficial examination. At first glance, it appears that the writer of the Gospel of John—we now know him from the list of miracles up to the actual event of Lazarus—lists exactly seven such miracles. The significance of the number seven will be discussed in the next few days. What are these seven miracles or signs?

1. The sign given by the wedding at Cana in Galilee,
2. the sign given by the healing of the royal official's son,
3. the sign given by the healing of the man who had been sick for thirty-eight years at the pool of Bethesda,
4. the feeding of the five thousand,
5. the sign given by the walking of Christ on the sea,
6. the sign given by the healing of the man born blind, and finally
7. the greatest sign, the initiation or dedication of Lazarus, the transformation of Lazarus into the writer of the Gospel of John himself.

These are seven of the signs. Now we must ask ourselves: What is the meaning of these signs, of these miracles?

If you have listened attentively to what has been said to you in the last few days in many different ways, you will remember that it was said that the state of consciousness of human beings has changed in the course of our entire human evolution. We have looked back to ancient times. We have seen that human beings did not start out from a purely animal stage of development, but from a form in which they still possessed clairvoyance as a natural ability. Human beings used to be clairvoyant, even though they had a consciousness that did not yet allow them to say, “I am.” Humans had to gradually acquire the ability of self-consciousness; but in return they had to give up their old clairvoyance. In the future, a time will come again when all humans will be clairvoyant, even though they will have retained the “I am,” the self-consciousness. These are the three stages that humanity has partly gone through and partly still has to go through. In Atlantis, people still lived in a kind of dream consciousness, but in a clairvoyant consciousness. Then it came about that they gradually gained self-consciousness, the consciousness of external objects, but in return they had to give up their old, dull clairvoyant gift. And finally, in the future, humans will have a clairvoyant consciousness connected with this self-consciousness. Thus, humans are moving from an old, dull clairvoyance through a non-clairvoyant consciousness of objects and rising again to a self-conscious clairvoyance.

But apart from consciousness, everything else in humanity has also changed. It is really only human short-sightedness to believe that things must always have been as they are today. Everything has developed. It was not always so. Even the relationship between human beings was not always as it is today.

We have already been able to gather from the hints of the last few days that in ancient times, up until the time when the Christ impulse entered human development, there was a much greater influence from soul to soul. People were predisposed to this. People did not only hear what the other person opposite them said in outwardly audible words, but if the other person felt something vividly, thought something vividly, the person opposite them could feel and know this in a certain way. In earlier times, love was something quite different from what it is today, although it was certainly more closely linked to blood relationship. Today it has taken on a more spiritual character, but it has become weaker. It will only regain its strength when the Christ impulse enters all human hearts. When love worked in ancient times, this love had at the same time something like a healing, balm-like power for the other soul. With the development of the intellect and wisdom, which of course only formed gradually, these ancient influences from soul to soul have faded away.

To influence the soul of another, to allow the power that one had in one's own soul to flow over to another, was a gift that was entirely characteristic of the peoples of ancient times. Therefore, you must also think of a much greater power that could be received from soul to soul at that time, you must think of a much greater influence that could be exerted from soul to soul. Even if there are no external historical records of this, even if the stones and monuments say nothing, clairvoyant observation in the Akashic Records shows us that in those ancient times, for example, healing of the sick could take place in a comprehensive manner through psychic influence from one person to another. And the soul was capable of much more in those times. What sounds like a fairy tale to people today—that the will of human beings, for example, had the power, if they strove for it and trained themselves especially for it, to have a soothing effect on plant growth, to accelerate or delay the growth of plants—was a fact in those days. Today, only sparse remnants of all this remain.

So human life was very different back then. In ancient times, no one would have been surprised if, somewhere, when the right relationship existed between people, such a spiritual influence had passed from one personality to another. However, we must note that it always took two or more people for such a spiritual influence to be exerted. One could imagine in our time that a person with the power of Christ would come among people. But those who would have the strength of faith in him would be very few, and he would not be able to accomplish what can be achieved through spiritual influence from one soul to another. For this, it is not only necessary that something be done, but that someone be there who is ready to receive this effect. If in ancient times there were more people who could receive such effects, we should not be surprised to hear that at that time there were means of healing the sick which worked through psychic influence, but that other effects which today can only be achieved by mechanical means were also achieved through psychic influence.

When did the Christ event occur within human evolution? It occurred at a very specific time — we must keep this in mind. Only the last remnants of such soul currents from one human being to another remained, protruding like a relic from the Atlantean epoch. Humanity was just beginning to enter more and more into the material world and to have less and less opportunity to allow such soul currents to work. It was into this situation that the Christ impulse had to come, which, precisely because of its nature, was able to have an infinite effect on those who were still receptive to it.

Anyone who truly understands the development of humanity will therefore find it natural that, once the Christ Being had entered the body of Jesus of Nazareth, at about the age of thirty, it was able to work in this body, in this shell, in a very special way. For this shell had matured from ancient times. We mentioned yesterday that the individuality of Jesus of Nazareth had already been embodied once before in ancient Persia, that it then passed through incarnations again and again, rising higher and higher in its spiritual development with each incarnation. It depended on this that Christ could dwell in such a body, that this body could be offered to him as a sacrifice. The evangelists knew this very well. That is why they presented everything in such a way that it is perfectly understandable to the spiritual researcher.

But we must take everything in the Gospels literally, that is, we must first learn to read them. Why, for example, is it emphasized in the first of the signs—as I said, we will learn the deeper meaning of the miracles later—in the account of the wedding at Cana in Galilee that this happened “at Cana in Galilee”? There is no other Cana in ancient Palestine, in the area that was known at that time, no matter where you look. But is a special addition necessary for places that are unique? Why does the evangelist nevertheless say, when he comes to mention this miracle, that it happened “at Cana in Galilee”? Because it is important to emphasize that something happened there that had to happen in Galilee. That is to say, Christ would not have found the people who were necessary for this in any other region than Galilee. I have already said that an effect does not depend only on the one who produces it, but also on others who are suitably disposed to receive it. Christ could not have made his first appearance within the Jewish community itself, but rather in Galilee, where the most diverse tribes and peoples were mixed together. Precisely because people from the most diverse parts of the world had come together in one place, precisely because of this, here in Galilee there was no longer the same blood relationship and, above all, no longer the belief in this blood relationship as in Judea, among the more closely knit Hebrew people. The people in Galilee were mixed together. But why did Christ feel particularly called upon to do this because of his impulse?

We have said that one of his most important words was: “Before Abraham was, I am,” and the other: “I and the Father are one.” He meant to say that for those who cling to the old ways of life, the I is only secure within a blood relationship. Those who were true believers in the Old Testament felt something very special in the words, “I and the Father Abraham are one,” something that is difficult for people today to understand. What people call their own self, what is enclosed between birth and death, people see as passing away. But those who truly professed the Old Testament, who were touched by the teachings that flowed through humanity at that time, said, not merely as an allegorical saying, but as a fact: “For me, I am an individual, but I am a member of a large organism, of a large life connection that goes back to Father Abraham.” Just as the finger can only exist as a living limb as long as it is part of my body, so I too have only meaning as long as I feel that I am a limb of the great organic body of the people that goes back to the father Abraham. I am just as attached to the great organic body of the people as the finger is to my body. If you cut off the finger, it is soon no longer a finger; it is only safe when it is on my hand, the hand on my arm, and the arm on my body; it has no meaning when it is separated from the hand. In the same way, I only have meaning when I feel myself to be a member of all the generations through which the blood of Father Abraham flows. Then I feel safe! My individual self is temporary and fleeting, but this whole great national organism, stretching back to Father Abraham, is not temporary. When I feel myself completely within it, when I feel completely at home within it, then I overcome my temporary self; then I am secure in a greater self, in the national self that has flowed down through the blood of generations from Father Abraham to me! So said the confessor of the Old Testament.

Through the power of this inner experience, which lies in the words, “I and Father Abraham are one,” everything great that happened within the Old Testament, everything that still seems wonderful today, came to pass. But because the time came when people were no longer called to have such a state of consciousness, this was gradually lost. Christ therefore did not have to go to those who, on the one hand, had lost the ability to work through the magical power that lies in blood ties and, on the other hand, still believed only in communion with Father Abraham. For in them he could not find the faith necessary to bring about what could flow from his soul into other souls; he had to go to those who, through their mixture of blood, no longer had such faith; he had to go to the Galileans. Here he had to begin his mission. Even though the old state of consciousness was generally in decline, he found among them a mixture of peoples who were just at the beginning of their intermingling. Tribes came together here from all sides, which before this convergence had still been under the influence of the old blood ties. They had just come to find the transition. They still had a vivid feeling within themselves: Our fathers still had the old states of consciousness; they still had the magical powers that work from soul to soul. With them he could work with his new mission, which consisted in giving human beings an ego-consciousness that was no longer tied to blood relationship, an ego-consciousness that could say: In myself I find the connection with the spiritual father, with the father who does not physically pass on his blood through the generations, but who sends his spiritual power into each individual soul. The I that is within me and has a direct relationship with the spiritual Father was there before Abraham was. Therefore, I am called to pour such a power into the I, which is strengthened by the awareness of the connection with the spiritual Father power of the world. “I and the Father are one,” not I and the Father Abraham, that is, a physical ancestor, are one.

And Christ went to those who had just reached the point of understanding this — who needed to find, not in the blood ties that they were breaking through their intermingling, but in the individual soul, the strong force that can lead people to gradually express the spiritual in the physical. Do not say: Why do we not see today that such things are happening as they happened then? Apart from the fact that those who want to see can see, it must be remembered that human beings have stepped out of this state of consciousness, that they have descended into the material world, and that those times were precisely the turning point when Christ showed the last examples of the evolving humanity what the spirit can do above the physical. The signs that occurred when the old state of consciousness still existed but was in the process of disappearing were set up as examples and symbols, as symbols of faith.

Now let us take a look at these signs. The wedding at Cana in Galilee itself. If I were to develop all the details of the Gospel of John here before you, word for word, that which is really the content of the Gospels, then fourteen lectures would not suffice; it would take a few years. But all this literal development would only be a confirmation of what I can indicate to you in brief discussions.

First, we are told of this first sign: There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. Now we must be aware that there is not a single word in the Gospel of John that does not have a special meaning. Why, then, a “wedding”? Because the wedding brings about what is brought about in such an eminent way by the Christ mission: through the wedding, people are brought together. And a wedding “in Galilee”? It was in Galilee that the old blood ties were broken, that foreign blood mixed with foreign blood. But what Christ was to do was precisely connected with the mixing of blood. So we are dealing with a union between people in order to have offspring, between people who are no longer related by blood. Now, what I am about to tell you will seem quite wonderful to you. What would people in ancient times have felt in such a case as this, in times when what we might call “close marriage” in the spiritual-scientific sense still existed? For it is definitely part of human development that an original “close marriage” has transformed into a “distant marriage.” And what I have said so far already expresses what close marriage is. In all peoples in ancient times, you find that it would have been against a law of the people to marry outside the tribe, outside the blood relationship. Those who were related by blood, who belonged to the same tribe, married each other; and this marriage within the same tribe, within the same bloodline, had the wonderful effect, which can be confirmed at any time by spiritual scientific research, that great magical power could be exercised. The descendants within a blood-related tribe had magical powers through these marriages between relatives, which worked from soul to soul. If we had been called to a wedding in ancient times, what would have happened? Let us suppose that, for my sake, the drink that was needed at that time, i.e., wine, had run out. What would have happened? All that would have been needed was the right relationship within this blood-related wedding family, and through the magical power of blood love, we could have experienced, for example, that the water served instead of wine at a later point in the wedding celebration would have been perceived as wine by the others through the spiritual influence of these personalities. The others would have drunk wine if the right magical relationship between the one personality and the others had been present. Don't say: But this wine would have been water! A reasonable person must answer: For human beings, things are what they communicate to their organism, what they become for human beings, not what they look like. I believe that even today, some wine lovers would be quite happy if they were served water, if only some influence could be brought to bear to make the water taste like wine and have the effect of wine on their organism. All that is necessary is that water is wine for human beings. So what was necessary in ancient times for such a sign to occur, that there was water in the vessels, but that it was wine when drunk? It was the magical power brought about by blood relationship that was necessary. But the power in the souls to feel such a thing was present in the people at the wedding in Cana in Galilee. All that was needed was for a transition to be created.

The Gospel of John (2: 1ff.) continues: “And the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.” And since there was no wine, the mother of Jesus pointed this out to him and said to him, “They have no wine.”

A transition, I said, had to be created so that something like this could happen. The spiritual power had to be supported by something. What could support it? This brings us to the word which, in the way it is usually translated, is actually blasphemy. For I do not believe that a sensitive person would not find it unpleasant to say, “You have no wine!” and receive the reply, “Woman, what have I to do with you? My hour has not yet come!” It is impossible that this could be accepted in such a document. One should imagine: the ideal of love as described to us in the Gospels, Jesus of Nazareth, should use the expression “Woman, what have I to do with you?” in his relationship with his mother. There is no need to say more, for the rest must be felt. But these words are not there! Look at this passage in the Gospel of John. You only need to open the Greek text, and there you have nothing more than the words that are spoken when Jesus of Nazareth points to something: “Woman, this is going from me to you!” It is precisely this subtle, intimate power from soul to soul, which passes from him to his mother, that he is pointing to. But he needs this at this moment. He cannot yet perform a higher sign at this moment; his time must first ripen. That is why he says: My time, when I will work solely through a power, has not yet come! For now the magnetic soul bond that passes from the soul of Jesus of Nazareth to his mother is still necessary. “Woman, this is from me to you!” How else could the mother, after these words, “Woman, what have I to do with you?”, come to say to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you”? It is necessary that she be endowed with the ancient powers of which people today have no idea, and that she knows that he is pointing to this blood bond between son and mother, pointing to the bond that is to lead over to the others. She knows that something is now at work like an invisible spiritual force that can bring about something here. And now I ask you to really read the Gospel. I would like to know how those who believe that something — yes, I don't know what exactly — is supposed to have happened, who believe that there were six ordinary jars there, as they say, “for Jewish purification,” and then, according to this very ordinary view, without anything else—which was precisely what has just been discussed—how could the water have turned into wine, how could this have happened outwardly?

What is it? And likewise: What is the belief that the one speaking here before you has in this miracle, which only someone can have in a miracle, that here one substance has been transformed into another for human beings? But you cannot come to terms with this by means of an ordinary interpretation.

One must imagine that the jars that stood there were probably not filled with water. It is not said that they had been emptied. That is not stated. But if they had been emptied and refilled—it says that they were filled—then one would have to believe that if the water had really been transformed into wine, as if by a conjurer's trick, then the water that had been in them would also have been transformed into wine. So this does not make sense. The whole thing is not right. But it must be clear that these jars were obviously empty, that they were empty for the reason that their filling had a special meaning.

“Do whatever he tells you,” the mother had said to the servants. What did Christ need water for? He needed water that came directly from the springs of nature. Therefore, it must be emphasized that the water had just been drawn. That water, which had not yet lost the inner forces that any element has as long as it is still connected with nature, was suitable for his purpose alone. As already said, no word in the Gospel of John is without deep meaning. Water that had just been drawn had to be used because Christ is the being who had just approached the earth, who had just become related to the forces working in the earth itself. As the living forces of the water interact again with what flows “from me to you,” what is described in the Gospel can happen: the steward is called, and he is under the impression that something special has happened here — but he does not know what has happened; it is expressly stated that he did not see what happened, the servants saw it, not he — and that now, under the impression of what has happened, he perceives the water as wine. This is stated very clearly, so that it is evident that the spiritual power has actually penetrated into an external element, that is, into the physical body of the human being. What must have been present in the mother of Jesus of Nazareth herself for her faith to be strong enough at that moment to bring about such an effect? She had to have something that was indeed present in her, namely the insight that the one who was called her son had become the spirit of the earth. Then her strong power of faith, in connection with his strong power—which works from him to her—could work so powerfully that what is described happened.

Thus, in the first sign, we have shown through the entire constellation of circumstances how, out of the harmony of souls, out of what is still connected to the blood ties, something is brought into the physical world. This was the first sign that occurred, showing the power of Christ in its smallest measure. It still needed to be strengthened by the cohesion with the soul forces of the mother, and it needed to be strengthened by the forces still united with nature in the water, which are still present when the water is freshly drawn. Here we encounter the working power of the Christ Being in its smallest measure. But particular importance is attached to the fact that the Christ power works over to the other soul and, out of this other soul, which is suited to it, brings forth effects. The essential thing is that the Christ power has precisely the power to make the other soul suitable so that the effects occur. It had made the wedding guests suitable so that they also perceived the water as wine. But everything that is a real power strengthens its effect by itself. When Christ has to exercise this power a second time, it is already stronger. Just as the simplest power is strengthened by practice, so a spiritual power is especially strengthened when it is used successfully once.

The second of the signs, as you know from the Gospel of John, is the healing of the son of a royal captain. How is the son of the royal captain healed? Here, too, you will only recognize what is correct if you read the Gospel of John in the right way, if you focus on the words that are most important in the relevant chapter. In the 50th verse of the fourth chapter, after the centurion has complained to Jesus of Nazareth about his suffering, it says:

“Jesus said to him, 'Go, your son lives.' The man believed the word that Jesus said to him and went away.”

Again, there were two souls that were in agreement: the soul of Christ and the soul of the Father of the Son. And how does the word of Christ work: “Go, your son lives”? It works in such a way that it ignites the power in the other soul to believe what was spoken as such a word. These two powers worked together. The word of Christ had the power to ignite the other soul in such a way that the centurion believed. If the man had not believed, the son would not have been healed. Thus one power acts upon the other. Two are needed. Here, however, we already have a higher degree of Christ's power. At the wedding in Cana, it still needed the reinforcement of the mother's power in order to have any effect at all. Now the time has come when Christ's power can pour the igniting word into the soul of the centurion. There is an increase in Christ's power.

Let us now turn to the third of the signs, the healing of the man who had been sick for thirty-eight years at the pool of Bethesda. Here we must again read the most important word, which sheds light on the whole matter. This is the passage which says:

“Jesus said to him, 'Get up, take your bed and go!'” (5:8)

The sick man had previously said, when speaking of his need to remain lying down, that he could not move:

“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am coming, another steps down before me” (5:7).

But Christ says to him—and it is important to note that this is on the Sabbath, when there is a festive atmosphere everywhere, a time of the highest human love—and he clothes what he wants to say in the words: “Get up, take your bed and go!” (5:8). And we must keep this word together with the other one he says to him, which is just as important:

“See, you are well; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you” (5:14).

What does this mean? It means that the illness of the man who had been sick for thirty-eight years was connected with his sin. Whether this sin was committed in this life or in a previous life, we will not discuss now. For us, the point is this: Christ poured into his soul the power to do something that reaches into the moral and spiritual nature of the other person. Here we see once again an increase in the power of Christ. Previously, it was merely a matter of something that was to have an effect to the extent that something physical happened. Now, however, there is an illness which Christ himself says is connected with the sin of the sick man. At this moment, Christ knows how to intervene in the sick man's own soul. Previously, the Father was still needed; now the power of Christ works into the soul of the sick man, which is given a special magic by the fact that it happens on the Sabbath. People today no longer have any real sense of such things. But for a believer in the Old Testament, it meant something that it happened on the Sabbath. It was something very special. That is why the Jews were particularly upset about the sick man, because he carried his bed on the Sabbath. This is an extremely important point. People should learn to think when they read the Gospels! They should not take it for granted that the sick man could be healed, that the one who had not been able to walk for thirty-eight years could now walk; they should reflect on such a passage:

“Then the Jews said to the man who had been healed, 'It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.'” (5:10)

They did not notice that he had been healed, but that he was carrying his bed on the Sabbath! So part of the healing of this sick man was the whole situation of performing the miracle on the holy day. In Christ himself is the thought: if the Sabbath is truly to be holy to God, then souls must have a special strength on this day through the power of God. Through this strength, he worked on the one standing before him, that is, it was transferred to the sick man's own soul. And while the sick man had previously found no strength in his soul to overcome the consequences of sin, he now had this strength through the effect of Christ's power. Again, an increase in Christ's power.

And now let us continue. As I said, we will speak later about the actual nature of miracles.

The fourth of the signs is the feeding of the five thousand. Here again we must consider the most important word. And what is that? - One must always bear in mind with such things that one cannot understand such an event with today's consciousness. If those who wrote about Christ at the time when the Gospel of John was written had believed what our materialistic age believes today, they would have written very differently; for then they would have noticed something different from what they did notice. But the most important word—the others do not particularly strike them, not even that five thousand can be fed with the little that is there—the word that is particularly emphasized is this:

“But Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were seated; and they ate as much as they wanted.” (6:11)

What is Christ Jesus doing here? Here he makes use of the souls of the disciples, those who were with him, who had gradually matured to his greatness, in order to do what was to be done. They belong to him. They are around him; in them he can now awaken a spiritual power of beneficence. His power flows out into that of the disciples. We will talk more about how what happened here could have happened. But we also notice an increase in his power here again. Earlier, he let his power flow into the soul of the man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. But now his power flows into the power of the souls of the disciples. Here, the tension of forces emanating from the soul of the Lord to the souls of the disciples is at work. The power has expanded from the soul of one to the souls of the others. The power has become stronger. So what lives in the soul of Christ now also lives in the souls of the disciples.

If people wanted to say, “What happens through such an influence?” they should simply look at the experience. They should try to observe what happened when the powerful force that was in Christ did not act alone, but ignited the power in the souls of other people, so that it then continued to work. There are no people today who believe so vividly—perhaps they believe theoretically, but not with sufficient power. Only then could they observe what happens. Spiritual research knows very well what happens.

Thus we have a step-by-step strengthening of the power of Christ.

And further: the fifth of the signs, which is recounted in the same chapter and begins:

“In the evening, the disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and set out across the sea toward Capernaum. It was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.

And the sea was stirred up by a strong wind.

When they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty yards, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were afraid.” (6:16-19)

Those who print the Gospels today write, for example, as a highly superfluous title: “Jesus walks on the sea,” as if that were written somewhere in this chapter. Where does it say, “Jesus walks on the sea”? It says, “The disciples saw Jesus walking on the sea.” That is all. We must take the Gospels literally. The power of Christ has just been strengthened again! It had become so strong through the natural reinforcement in the practice of the last deeds that now not only could the power of Christ work from one soul to another, not only could the soul of Christ communicate its powers to other souls, but Christ could live in his own form before the soul of another who was suited to it. So the event is this: someone is in another place, his power is so strong that it affects people who are far away. But the power of Christ is now so strong that it does not merely trigger a power in the disciples, as it did in those who had camped with him on the mountain; there, the power had merely passed over to the disciples in order to perform the miracle. Now they have the power, even though they cannot see with their physical eyes where Christ is, to see Christ and to see his own form. Christ could become visible in the distance to those with whom his soul bond had already been formed. Now his own form is so far advanced that it can be seen spiritually. At the moment when the disciples' physical sight disappears, their spiritual sight appears all the more, and they see Christ. Seeing into the distance is such that one has the image of the object as if it were in one's immediate vicinity. This is again an increase in the power of Christ. The next sign is the healing of the man born blind.

This healing of the man born blind, as it appears in the Gospel of John, is now again particularly distorted. You have probably read the story often in the Gospel:

“And Jesus passed by and saw one who was blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

Jesus answered, 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned; but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.'” (9:1-3)

And then he heals him. One need only ask: Is it a Christian sentiment to interpret this as follows: Here is a man born blind. It is not his parents who have sinned so that he was born blind, nor has he sinned, but he has been made blind by God so that Christ may come and perform a miracle for the glory of God. So in order for an effect to be attributed to God, the person concerned first had to be made blind by God! But this is simply not read correctly. It does not say at all that “the works of God should be revealed in this blind man.”

If we want to understand this sign, we must go back to the usage of the word ”God.” You will find this most easily if you turn to another chapter where Christ is accused of claiming that he is one with God. How does he respond?

“Jesus answered them, 'Is it not written in your law, “I have said you are gods”?'” (10:34)

That is, Christ answers: In the innermost part of the human soul is the potential for a god. It is something divine. How often have we said that the fourth member of the human being is the potential for the divine in man. “You are gods!” means: something divine dwells in you! This divine is something other than the human being, other than the person of the human being as he lives here between birth and death; it is also something other than what a human being has inherited from his parents. Where does this divine, this individuality of the human being, come from? It passes from embodiment to embodiment through repeated earthly lives. This individuality comes from a previous earthly life, from a previous incarnation. So it is not his parents who have sinned, nor his personality, which we usually call “I.” But in a previous life, this human being laid the cause for being born blind in this life. He became blind because the works of God in him from a previous life are manifesting themselves in his blindness. Karma, the law of cause and effect, is clearly indicated here by Christ Jesus. So what must be worked on now if this illness is to be healed? It must be worked on what does not live as a transitory I between birth and death, but the forces must penetrate deeper into the I that goes from life to life. The Christ force has increased once again. Until now, we have seen that it has only worked on what stands opposite it. Now it acts upon that which survives human life between birth and death, that which passes from life to life. Christ feels himself to be the representative of the I-am. By pouring his power into the I-am, by the high God of Christ thus communicating himself to the God in man, man receives the power to heal himself from within. Now Christ has penetrated into the innermost being of the soul. His power has worked into the eternal individuality of the sick person and has strengthened it by allowing Christ's own power to appear in the individuality of the sick person and thus also to work into the consequences of earlier incarnations.

What further increase is there now for the power of Christ? Only the increase that Christ approaches a human being and awakens in him that which awakens his own impulse in the other human being, so that the other human being takes in the power of Christ in such a way that his whole being is permeated by it, and he becomes a different human being, a human being permeated by Christ. This happens in the raising of Lazarus! Here we have another increase in the power of Christ. The power of Christ increases from stage to stage.

Where in the world do you have a lyrical document that is so magnificently composed? No other writer has had such compositions. Who would not bow in awe when the events are described here in such a way that they increase from stage to stage and in such a wonderful way! If we consider the Gospel of John from the point of view of artistic composition alone, we must bow in awe before it. Here everything grows from stage to stage and increases.

There is one more thing left to show. We must ask ourselves: We have picked out individual examples that show us the intensification of the signs and miracles. There are also many other things in between. How does this fit into the whole?

Tomorrow it will be our task to show that in the Gospel of John there is not only an admirable intensification in its miracles, but that all the other intermediate passages fit in with a special intention, so that one can well understand that it could not have been filled in better than the writer of the Gospel of John has done.

Today we have looked at the Gospel of John artistically in terms of its composition, and we see that it is truly almost inconceivable that a work of art could be more artistically composed and more beautifully presented than the Gospel of John up to its description of the raising of Lazarus.

But only those who can read and know what is important can sense the great, powerful meaning of the Gospel of John. Theosophy today is called upon to bring this great meaning to our souls. But there is even more to this Gospel of John. Our explanations will be followed by explanations of the Gospel of John, and these will in turn have a higher wisdom than ours. But their wisdom will in turn serve to find new truths, just as our wisdom has served us for thirty years to find that which cannot be found without theosophy.