The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Eighth Lecture

[ 1 ] The legend of Judas suggests that an ancient, downward-moving spiritual current is joining forces with a new, upward-moving one. Everything was to become new, from the impression the Christ event was to make on the naive soul, right up to those who had risen to a certain degree of initiation. The conversation with Nicodemus makes clear how this latter aspect affected those who had been initiated in the spirit of the old training. At night—the trivial interpretation is not sufficient here; [rather, Nicodemus was] one of those who had advanced to a certain degree: through his clairvoyance at night he was able to come; by clairvoyant power Nicodemus stood before Christ Jesus by virtue of the gifts that Nicodemus already possessed. But Christ had something to say even to this Jewish initiate: that the old initiation is not enough and something new must come: “Unless you are born again of the Spirit and water.” — Unless he experiences a renewed opening of his spiritual senses, he cannot come to the Spirit. — Not only the others, but you too must be born again.

[ 2 ] For in the past, rebirth was not experienced as it must be in the future. The ego became clouded; it faded away in the ancient Egyptian initiation. Likewise, those who passed beyond the veil of the sensory world through ecstasy had to lose their ego. Now, however, human beings are to learn to find their way in the spiritual world without losing their ego. That is why Jesus says: “He who is initiated in the manner you are hears the Spirit passing by, but he does not know where it comes from.” Thus Christ testifies that Nicodemus can perceive the Spirit, but [Nicodemus] does not know where it comes from, because he cannot retain his ego. So something entirely new had to come for the initiate as well.

[ 3 ] This is the essential point that confronts us in these first chapters of the Gospel of John. Modern people find in the Gospel, above all, miracles that do not conform to [today’s] laws of nature. Only those who believe that the world has always looked the way it does today can hold this view. Our soul has lost its clairvoyant gifts in order to gain self-awareness during the time leading up to the ascent into future clairvoyance. Because people used to be clairvoyant, the soul could act more immediately and directly upon the soul. Today it can do so through the word. Anyone who develops through the methods of immersing oneself in spiritual worlds must, in order to be understood, seek and find receptivity in others, and today this is found through the word.

[ 4 ] That was not the case in ancient Persia and Egypt. A desire experienced by one person would resonate in the soul of another, and the soul had a stronger power over the body. By influencing others through the will—specifically through vivid mental imagery—one could have a healing effect on other people.

[ 5 ] That is why, when Christ appeared, people were not surprised that healing could take place through psychic influence. What mattered most to those around him—including the unbelievers and the rulers of Palestine—was not that Christ performed miracles, but something else. What was it like in the ancient initiation? The dim, ancient clairvoyance could work through vision; but it could not reach a certain point—it could not reach the center of the ego—because the ego, self-consciousness in this highest sense, had only come into the world through Christ. Thus: He saw into the very core of the human spirit, from ego to ego; he could work not [merely] from soul to soul.

[ 6 ] At most, ancient clairvoyance enabled one to look into the soul of another when there was a blood relationship. Christ looked into others, into strangers. Hence the conversation with the Samaritan woman as an example of this fact. How does she recognize that he is the one who is to come? Allegorical interpretations are not the essence of such a narrative. She says: I believe him because he has seen the most intimate matters of my heart, [because he] has penetrated into my very self.

[ 7 ] What does it depend on? All ancient initiation was a communal initiation; therefore, everything connected with the people was familiar. In Christ, we have the impulse that has transcended all boundaries to reach into the human being. What is most individual is at the same time most universally human. Christ penetrated into the innermost depths of the human being; that is why his spiritual power was so strong, because it reached into the ego. The others could heal the members of their own people. Christ heals the stranger, working beyond the boundaries of the people. [Let us take as an example the] healing of the centurion’s son. Because the father has that soul impression that reaches into the innermost being, this healing power extends far into the distance.

[ 8 ] That which works within the innermost being of the human being from incarnation to incarnation is what is connected with human well-being, with health and illness. Beyond the individual incarnation, it is the soul’s moral qualities that find expression in the body. He saw only the soul, could grasp only the soul in the present incarnation, but not what concerned karma. Christ sees right into the karma through the ego and can say: Your sins are forgiven. — He works not only into the feelings, but right into that center of the human being where karma plays out. That is a higher level.

[ 9 ] One thing is clear from the accounts in the Gospel of John: Christ had to bring something to consciousness in order to be able to act anew. At the wedding in Cana, for example, it is the bond with his mother. Something else happens in the healing of the royal official’s son and the sick man at the Pool of Bethesda. It is the bond that connects his I with the I of every human being: this came into his consciousness during his conversation with the Samaritan woman.

[ 10 ] The Gospel of John powerfully illustrates how Christ grows. This is the artistic perfection of the structure of the Gospel of John. And now we see how John the Baptist speaks of Christ. He is to describe the nature of the Spirit that lives in Christ... He compares it to the Spirit in the ancient initiations. This Spirit previously spoke “according to a measure,” but now it does not—what does this mean? In the past, the initiate had to use a meter; he had to work within a mantric measure; through this, the soul of the other was stirred. Now the Spirit is to work directly, not according to an external syllabic meter. Thus, at this point as well, it is indicated to us how the I of Christ is to unfold in its direct divine activity.

[ 11 ] People should gradually take in the lessons that can be learned about Christ, so that they may develop spiritually: There was once the I that shows us how we are to become. If we have lived out every incarnation in the Christian sense, we will be fully Christified by the end of Earth’s evolution. An impulse from the I, from the innermost center, will pass over to the innermost center of the other. Thus, brotherhood will be achieved through the power of Christ. Therefore, it is shown how the spirit takes the place of what previously only matter was capable of.

[ 12 ] I am the bread of life. — Taken in an external, symbolic sense: In the ancient Egyptian mysteries, it was known that bread was a symbol of wisdom; inner, real interpretation: The ego, developed to its highest potential, is to take the place of material activity. This was to be demonstrated through a great deed, the feeding of the five thousand. It is said: When the loaves and the fish were presented to Christ, he blessed them—that is, he united them with his Spirit—and the Spirit took the place of matter in bringing about the effect. The Spirit accomplished what matter otherwise accomplishes. They were filled. With what? “I am the bread of life,” says Christ. The body of Jesus, as it gradually died, was able to let its powers overflow through the sacrifice.

[ 13 ] Christ Jesus was able to work into material existence from the center. The effect of the body of Christ Jesus was consumed by the five thousand. In the language of the mysteries, the human body is divided into twelve members, which correspond to the twelve signs of the zodiac: forehead—Aries, neck—Taurus, hands—Gemini, chest—Cancer, and so on.

[ 14 ] What those present had partaken of was connected to the body of Christ; therefore, twelve baskets were gathered. It is a real event that the Spirit had a physical effect—that of becoming satiated; and through this, those present were permeated by the Spirit and, at that moment, saw the twelve parts of Jesus with clairvoyance.

[ 15 ] Thus, in these stories, we always find a transition from the physical to the clairvoyant.

[ 16 ] Thus, we see an escalation in the fourth sign and again in the fifth. The author of the Gospel of John describes the events in such a way that we can take his words at face value. But modern headings are often misleading. It does not say, “Jesus walks on the sea,” but rather that the disciples “saw him walking.” It is implied to us that he was working through them, was truly with them where they felt abandoned, and was spiritually present with them. [Where his physical body was is never mentioned. This is also of no significance. The most important thing was that, in their distress, he was with them in his astral body, even though he was absent in his physical body. And in this way, we too always have Christ with us. — I am with you always.]

[ 17 ] In this way, we can always experience Christ when we ascend to the Spirit. He had gone out in his Spirit and was with the disciples by overcoming space and time through the powerful force of the I.

[ 18 ] The author of the Gospel of John describes how [one’s own] consciousness continually rises within Christ. How does a person attain that power of love that enables them to exert an influence beyond themselves? By elevating to the highest degree what is hinted at in the discourses on judgment. He never wants to let this “I” act on its own, but only the great laws of the Cosmic Father.

[ 19 ] By putting to death his own fatherhood—his physical body—he attains the cosmic Father. This ascent within our own consciousness is depicted to us in a particularly powerful scene: an adulteress is brought before him. To understand the doctrine of karma is to know that even the smallest thing we do is reflected in our life’s account. We need only stand by; then it works by the power of its own laws. Christ does this... He sees what she has in her life’s account, but he does not judge. He writes on the earth what he has seen, because human karma works through the evolution of the earth. Let us leave the balancing to the evolution of the Earth, he is telling us. Thus, in this judgment scene, the Christ effectively erases his own will and allows the Father to act. Through this, he has the power to transfer his ego-force into the other in such a way that it can change their feelings. Through this, he makes himself into one who keeps nothing within himself, but radiates everything out into others.

[ 20 ] Through this sacrifice, what humanity had done wrong to itself is made right. Humanity had worked inward, striving toward the ego, but had not yet had the opportunity to radiate its essence. The divinely radiant essence is light. “I am the light of the world.” Because he is this radiant light, he can help those who have been blinded by karma; [thereby he can] act upon such sufferings as the ego has brought upon itself through its deeds in former incarnations. [Jesus saw that at that moment the man’s karma had run its course and that he could regain his sight, and he understood that by healing him, he was doing the will of the One of whom he was an instrument. But to restore sight to a person who was not meant to have it would not have been a good deed.] He must act in such a way that his action is an expression of the divine working of the Father Principle that permeates the cosmos. Christ does not wish to act of his own accord. Therefore, he acts in accordance with karma. Through his presence, what occurs in accordance with cosmic justice is brought about.

[ 21 ] The highest culmination occurs when he allows his ego to pass into the physicality of another, when he says: “I am the life.” Lazarus must become such a one in whom the ego of Christ himself lives. Therefore, he has replaced the old initiation with a new one. The final act of the old initiation was a lethargic state lasting three and a half days... The Hierophant awakened... [The final act of the initiation consisted of the initiate spending three and a half days in a cataleptic sleep, during which the etheric body and the astral body were freed from the physical body. Afterward, he was called back to life by the Hierophant and subsequently became a teacher and a proclaimer of spiritual matters, now that he could speak from his own experience. This took place in a crypt within the temple and was conducted in secret. - Now this resurrection took place before the whole world. Jesus loved the family in Bethany and often stayed there. He had brought Lazarus to the point where, according to the ancient initiation, only the final act remained.]

[ 22 ] In Lazarus—the disciple whom Jesus loved—we are to see how, through the power of the presence of Christ Jesus, a keystone was to be laid for the old initiation; but the new was to follow; after three and a half days, the “I Am” was to be awakened in Lazarus through Christ. Not the spiritual world in the old style, but as it lived in the Spirit of Christ—the I-ness of Christ, perfected Atma, Budhi, and Manas... and what had flowed into him, as if from higher worlds, in an avataric manner. The world that lived within him was to shine forth as wisdom in Lazarus. So that through this initiation, Lazarus was imbued with the highest wisdom from Christ himself. He knew the mysteries through Christ himself; therefore, he was able to communicate all the mysteries of the Christ event.

[ 23 ] [Although the Gospel of John never mentions the author’s name, when it refers to the one who wrote it at the end, he is called “the disciple whom Jesus loved”—that is, he is described using the same expression that had previously always been applied to Lazarus.]

[ 24 ] He is John, the one who proclaimed the mysteries of Christ himself. That is why John is never mentioned before this, but is mentioned afterward, just like Lazarus himself: that is how much the Lord loved him.

[ 25 ] This is how Christ Jesus initiated the one who would later become his herald to the world.