From Akashic Research
The Fifth Gospel
GA 148
18 November 1913, Berlin
Translated by Steiner Online Library
The Fifth Gospel III
[ 1 ] The last time I spoke here, I attempted to share some insights from the Fifth Gospel regarding the life of Jesus of Nazareth, from his twelfth year up to the time of John’s baptism in the Jordan. When I recounted that significant experience Jesus of Nazareth had at a pagan place of worship, I showed how reading the Akashic Records today allows us to see Jesus of Nazareth at that pagan place of worship, and how he perceives the demons surrounding the altar. I wish only to briefly recall this: how he then falls down as if dead, how he is transported into another world where he can perceive what the divine-spiritual secrets of the ancient sacred mystery teachings of the pagans were. For in this way he was able to take up within himself a living idea of what paganism once was, and of what it had become in his time.
[ 2 ] I have already mentioned that during this time—that is, while in that other state of consciousness at a pagan altar, which we spoke of last time—he heard, as if from the spiritual world, the proclamation of words that expressed, just as it has been expressed in the ancient sacred teachings of the pagan peoples, which is to be regarded as the mystery of man’s union with the material, with the sensory-physical world. He thus heard, so to speak, from the spiritual worlds that voice which was accessible to the ancient pagan prophets. And what he heard there can be described as a kind of cosmic Lord’s Prayer. It expresses how the destiny of the human soul must take shape through the fact that the human being is united with earthly matter from birth to death. This cosmic Lord’s Prayer, the later inversion of which became the earthly Lord’s Prayer, I was first able to present at our cornerstone-laying ceremony in Dornach. I will read it aloud here again, for the primordial teaching of pagan humanity truly lies within these words. As best I can, I will attempt to render them in German:
Amen
Evil reigns
Witnesses to a dissolving selfhood
Guilt of selfhood blamed on others
Experienced in our daily bread
In which the will of Heaven does not reign
As man separated himself from Your Kingdom
And forgot Your name
You Fathers in Heaven.
[ 3 ] That was roughly what Jesus of Nazareth heard as the mystery of the earthly human being, in the sense of the ancient sacred teaching, during his travels through pagan regions at that time. These words truly express profound mysteries of human evolution. This significant insight thus penetrated the soul of Jesus at that time, as he approached his twenty-fourth year, and from that point on he knew something that had once resounded down from the spiritual world in the ancient times of human development—something that seemed so vast and mighty to him that he said to himself, especially after having had the impression described last time at the decaying old pagan place of worship: Now there are no longer people on Earth to understand all of this.
[ 4 ] This is how he came to know paganism. We have seen how, during the three successive phases of his youth, he came to know the deepest depths of Judaism, the deepest depths of paganism, and also the deepest depths of Essene thought. We have seen how these insights were, bit by bit, sources of the deepest suffering for him. For regarding all three insights, he had to tell himself: They could exist if the conditions were now present in humanity to receive them; but these conditions simply cannot be created at this time.
[ 5 ] That was the result of this life of Jesus. As the Fifth Gospel shows us, this is what Jesus could say to himself before he had taken the Christ into himself: Human evolution has taken place, but in such a way that people have acquired abilities that have obscured the other abilities of primeval times, so that people are now no longer able to receive the revelations of the spiritual world as they had been received in primeval times by Jews and Gentiles. — But he had also had to acknowledge, through his connection with the Essenes, that just as the Essenes were achieving a reunion with the spiritual world, only a small remnant—not all of humanity—could achieve such a reunion. Thus this path, too, had seemed impossible to him. Poor, poor humanity—so the thought went through his soul—if the voices of the ancient pagan prophets were to sound to you, you would no longer understand them. If the voices of the ancient Jewish prophets were to sound to you, you would no longer understand them. But you, as humanity as a whole, can never aspire to what the Essenes aspire to; that is to be aspired to only by a small handful who seek their perfection at the expense of the rest of humanity.
[ 6 ] What I am telling you here in a few dry words was, in his life, a painful spiritual reality. It was a feeling of infinite compassion for all of humanity—the very compassion he had to feel in order to mature, so that he could receive the Christ-essence within himself.
[ 7 ] But before this happened, Jesus of Nazareth had one more important conversation with the woman we know as his foster mother or stepmother. We know, of course, that the mother of that Nathanic Jesus—who, in his twelfth year, had absorbed the individuality of Zarathustra into himself—that is to say, the actual biological mother of this Nathanic Jesus—had died shortly after this Jesus boy had absorbed Zarathustra, who was embodied in the other Jesus boy, into himself; thus her soul had long since been in the spiritual world. We also know from earlier lectures of past years that the father of the other, the Solomonic Jesus boy, had died, and that the two families of the two Jesus boys had become a single family in Nazareth, within which Jesus lived together with his siblings and with the Zarathustra mother. We know that the father of Jesus of Nazareth had died by the time Jesus returned from a major journey at about the age of twenty-four, and that Jesus of Nazareth now lived alone with his mother, his foster or stepmother. In general, it must be said that this foster or stepmother only slowly acquired an emotional understanding, but gradually developed a deep emotional understanding of all the profound experiences that the Jesus of Nazareth went through. Over the years, the souls of the Jesus of Nazareth and that of the foster or stepmother grew, so to speak, into one another.
[ 8 ] In the early years following his twelfth birthday, he felt isolated even within his own home because of his experiences. His siblings, seeing his soul as one that was struggling to cope with deep, painful experiences, actually viewed him as someone heading toward a kind of madness. His mother, on the other hand, found a way to gain more and more understanding for this soul. And so it came to pass that Jesus of Nazareth, in his twenty-ninth or thirtieth year, was able to have an important conversation with this mother—a conversation that actually had a profound effect, as we shall soon see.
[ 9 ] This conversation essentially served as a retrospective of everything Jesus of Nazareth had experienced since the age of twelve. The Akashic Records show us how this conversation unfolded. First, Jesus of Nazareth spoke of the experiences that had taken place between his twelfth and sixteenth or eighteenth years, and how during that time he gradually came to experience within himself what had once been the ancient Hebrew teaching—the ancient teaching of the Hebrew prophets. After all, he had not been able to experience it through anyone in his surroundings, just as he had not been able to experience through anyone in his surroundings those words he had spoken to such astonishment of the scribes in their midst on that well-known occasion. But inspirations continually arose in his soul, of which he knew, however, that they came from the spiritual world. The Hebrew teaching arose within him in such a way that he knew himself to be the possessor of this ancient Hebrew teaching, for which, however, there were no ears in his time. He was alone with this teaching. That was his great sorrow, that he was alone with this teaching.
[ 10 ] The mother certainly had a few things to say in response when he remarked: “Even if the voices of the ancient Hebrew prophets were to be heard today, there would be no one left to understand them.” The mother replied that, for example, Hillel had been there, a great teacher of the law, and Jesus of Nazareth also knew how to appreciate who Hillel was and what he meant for Judaism. I need not tell you what significance this Hillel had. You will find it sufficiently honored in Jewish literature. Hillel was a renewer of the finest virtues and teachings of ancient Judaism, as well as a figure who, through his own manner, brought about a kind of renewal of this ancient Judaism. But this did not come about because Hillel was a scholar, but because through his actions and deeds, and above all in his feelings, will, and desires, and in his way of treating people, he expressed how true wisdom of any kind works to transform the human soul. What was particularly praised in Judaism, but no longer fully understood at that time: patience in dealing with other people—this was rightly attributed to Hillel. He had, after all, in a remarkable way gained the opportunity to work among the Hebrews. He came from Babylon, but from a lineage that had been transplanted there by the Jews at the time of the Exile, and which traced its origins back to the family of David himself. In this way, he had united within himself what he had been able to absorb from Babylonian culture with the Hebrew heritage pulsing in his blood. And how this took shape in his soul is recounted in a meaningful legend.
[ 11 ] It is said that once, when Hillel had just arrived in Jerusalem, the most prominent Jewish scholars were gathered for all sorts of discussions, in which one could hear arguments for and against the mysteries of Jewish doctrine. One had to pay a small fee to attend such discussions. Hillel had no money, for he was very poor. “Even though it was very cold, he tried to climb a small hill in front of the house where the discussions were taking place, in order to hear through the window what was being said. For he could not afford the admission fee. It was so cold that night that he froze stiff with frost, so that he was found stiff later that morning and had to be warmed up again to thaw him out. But by going through this, he had participated in the entire discussion in his etheric body. And while the others themselves heard nothing but the abstract words flying back and forth, Hilleleine had seen a world of wondrous visions that transformed his soul.
[ 12 ] There are many more such stories to tell. His patience, in particular, was celebrated. It was said that this patience was inexhaustible. And once, it is even said, someone made a wager to test Hillel’s patience to the very limit, so that Hillel would become angry. The bet was made, and the one who wanted to make Hillel angry—that is, to test the limits of his patience—was tasked with doing so. And he did the following. He went over while Hillel was making preparations for what he was to teach on the Sabbath and was still in his nightclothes, knocked on the door, and called out: “Hillel, Hillel, come out!” — Hillel asked: What is it? Oh, Hillel, come out, I have an important question for you! Hillel put on his robe, went out, and said: My son, what do you wish to ask me? — Then the man who had made the bet said to him: Hillel, I have an important question for you. Why do some people among the Babylonians have such pointed heads? — And Hillel replied: My dear son, do you know, the Babylonians have such poor midwives, and so they are born under such unfavorable circumstances. That is why some people there have such pointed heads. Go now, your question has been answered. — And Hillel went back into the house and continued preparing for the Sabbath.
[ 13 ] But after a short while, the same man returned and called out as before: “Hillel, Hillel, come out!” — Hillel replied: What is it? — Oh, Hillel, I have an important question that needs to be answered right away. — And Hillel came out again and said to the questioner: What is the question? — And the man replied: Oh, Hillel, tell me, why are there so many people in Arabia who have such narrow-eyed faces? — Hillel replied: “In Arabia, the desert is so vast, and one can only endure it if one’s eyes are adapted to the desert. That is why so many people in Arabia have such narrow-set eyes. Go now, my son, for your important question has been answered.” — And Hillel went back into the house.
[ 14 ] But it wasn’t long before the man came back a third time and called out again: “Hillel, Hillel, come out! — What is it? — Hillel, come out, I have an important question that needs to be answered right away!” — Hillel went out, and then the man said: “Oh, Hillel, please answer my question: Why do so many people near Egypt have such flat feet?” — And Hillel replied: “My dear son, they have such flat feet because they live in swampy areas. There they need flat feet like some birds that live in swampy areas, and their feet must be adapted to the environment. That is why they have such flat feet. Go now, my son, your question has been answered. — And he went back inside.
[ 15 ] But after a few minutes the same man returned, knocked on the door again, but with every question he had grown sadder, and he called out, even sadder than before: “Hillel, come out!” — And when Hillel came out, he said: “Oh, Hillel, I made a bet that I could make you angry.” Now I have tried three times with my questions. Tell me, O Hillel, what must I do so that I do not lose my bet! — But Hillel replied: My son, it is better that you lose your bet than that Hillel might become angry. Go now, and pay your bet!
[ 16 ] This is an example intended to show the degree of patience Hillel had demonstrated in the eyes or in the opinion of his fellow Jews at that time. Jesus of Nazareth had thus also experienced the impact of this man. But he not only knew what Hillel had accomplished; he himself had heard the great Bath-Kol in his soul—that is, the voice from heaven—where the mysteries, as they once resounded to the prophets from the divine-spiritual world, had risen within his soul. And he knew that even in Hillel there was only a very faint echo of what the ancestors of the Hebrews had once been ready for. But now the descendants of the ancient Hebrews were not even ready for the faint echo that resounded in Hillel’s voice, and even less so for the great Bath-Kol.
[ 17 ] All of this weighed heavily on his mind, and he shared this with his mother. He told her what he had endured, how, week by week, it had become increasingly clear to him what the ancient sacred teachings of old Judaism were, and how the descendants of the ancient Hebrews no longer had ears to hear what were once the words of the great prophets. And now his mother understood him, so that a deep emotional and spiritual understanding met his words.
[ 18 ] And then he told of that event he had experienced after turning eighteen and setting out into Jewish and Gentile regions. Only now did he tell his mother how, on his journey, he had come upon a pagan place of worship, but how the priests there had fled. For a malignant disease had broken out among the people, one that could infect anyone. And when he arrived, he was seen, and the news spread like wildfire that a very special person was approaching. For it was peculiar to him that, simply by his outward appearance as Jesus of Nazareth, he made a special impression wherever he went. Thus the people of that region, whose greatest sorrow was that the pagan priests had abandoned them and their altar was no longer being tended, believed that a sacrificial priest was coming in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who would once again perform their sacrifices. In great numbers they gathered around the dilapidated altar. Jesus of Nazareth had no desire to perform their sacrificial rites. But he saw the deeper reasons why those people were suffering. He saw what might be expressed as follows:
[ 19 ] On such sacrificial altars, legitimate sacrifices were once performed, which served as the outward expression of the ancient mystery revelations of those pagan regions. The mystery revelations were, after all, expressed in these ritual acts. And when such ritual acts were performed in ancient, sacred times—as he now knew through direct perception—performed with the proper attitude of the priests, then the divine-spiritual beings with whom the pagan people were connected took part in them. But little by little these sacrificial rites had fallen into decadence, had degenerated, had become corrupted. The priests were no longer endowed with the proper dispositions, and so it had come to pass that at such a place of worship, demons reigned instead of the good old divine beings. And in these demons lies the reason why the people had to suffer. Jesus of Nazareth now saw these demons gathered together. They challenged his clairvoyant gaze, as it were, and he fell down, as if dead. And as he fell, the people realized that he had not come to perform the sacrifices at their altar once more. They fled, and in that moment he saw the entire transition from the old pagan world of gods to the world of demons and recognized that this was the cause of this people’s suffering.
[ 20 ] But he was now also transported back to those pagan times when the true revelations of the ancient sacred teachings were bestowed upon humanity. It was on this occasion that he heard what I have read aloud as the Cosmic Lord’s Prayer. Now he knew how far removed present-day humanity—including his own—in both paganism and Judaism, was from the ancient teachings and revelations. Only, what he had to learn about Judaism, he had gained through the voice of the great Bath-Kol. Paganism, on the other hand, had dawned upon him in a terrible vision. This had a completely different effect than an abstract message; it transformed his soul. Thus he knew that there were now no ears left to understand what once resounded for Judaism in the voices of the prophets, just as there were now no ears left to understand what once could have resounded for the ancient pagan world.
[ 21 ] He now recounted all this to his mother in moving words. Then he also spoke of his association with the Essenes, particularly of something that would have been difficult to understand had his mother not already shown him such emotional understanding: that once, as he was leaving an Essene gathering, he saw the gates of Lucifer and Ahriman fleeing. He knew that the methods of the Essenes were impossible for the vast majority of people. It was true that one could achieve union with the divine-spiritual world through these methods, but only by rejecting Lucifer and Ahriman. But in doing so, Lucifer and Ahriman had all the more opportunity to flee to the other people and push them further into the entanglements of earthly existence, so that they could not participate in union with the spiritual world. Through this experience, Jesus of Nazareth thus knew: The Essene path, too, cannot become a universal human path, for it is possible only for a small handful of people. — This was a third painful realization, in addition to the other two.
[ 22 ] There was something peculiar about the way he told the story. For his words did not merely reach his mother; they flowed into her heart like living beings. As the deep meaning of these words—a meaning steeped in suffering but also in the deepest human love—flowed into her soul, the mother felt as if her soul were being strengthened from within, animated by a power emanating from him, and undergoing an inner transformation. This is how the Mother felt. It is truly as if everything that lived in the soul of Jesus of Nazareth had passed over into the Mother’s soul during this conversation. And it was the same for him. For the Akashic Records reveal something wondrous to us here in a mysterious way.
[ 23 ] The Jesus of Nazareth spoke in such a way that his words, as they flowed from him and found their way into his mother’s heart and soul, always carried a part of his own self with them. One might say: On the wings of his words, his own self seemed to pass over to his mother, but without actually passing into her as a distinct self; she merely felt enlivened by these words. For what was remarkable was that, through the effect of this conversation, the soul of that mother—who was the biological mother of the Nathanic Jesus—descended from the spiritual world and united with the soul of the stepmother or foster mother, so that from that conversation onward, the soul of the real mother of the Nathanic Jesus lived simultaneously within the soul of the stepmother or foster mother. The soul of the stepmother or foster mother had received the soul of that other mother. What took place here was like a kind of rebirth into virginity. This transformation, this permeation of the mother’s soul with another soul from the spiritual worlds, makes a deeply, deeply moving impression upon observation, when one sees how the stepmother or foster mother now walks about, in fact, merely as a shell for that mother who spent the time from Jesus’ twelfth to thirtieth year in the spiritual world.
[ 24 ] There was now something within Jesus himself as if he had surrendered his ego to his mother, as if only his physical body, etheric body, and astral body were living within him, governed as it were by cosmic laws. And an inner urge arose within this threefold physicality of Jesus of Nazareth to go to the one he had met in the Essene community—who, like himself, was not a true Essene but had been accepted into the Essene community—to go to John the Baptist. And then, in the event known from the four other Gospels—the baptism—the Christ-being was immersed into the physicality of Jesus of Nazareth, whose ego, connected to his sufferings and his entire being, had been placed into the conversation that had passed into the soul of the mother. This threefold physicality took up the Christ-being, which has often been described to you, and which now lived in these three bodies in place of that other I. And now this Fifth Gospel, which can be gleaned from the Akashic Records, also speaks to us of the temptation following the conception of the Christ-being. However, a glance into the Akashic Records reveals the temptation in a somewhat different spirit, and I will again try, as best I can, to recount what emerges there, how the scene of the temptation took place.
[ 25 ] It was—so now we can say, the Christ Jesus—who first stood face to face with Lucifer. And through that process—which the spiritual researcher can certainly comprehend, and in a form that the spiritual researcher can grasp—Lucifer actually poses the question that must, of course, be put into external words if one wishes to recount it; the question that is conveyed in the other Gospels; the question that is a tempting question, intended especially to address pride: All the kingdoms you see around you—and Lucifer meant the kingdoms of the astral world in all their vastness—shall be yours if you acknowledge me as your Lord!
[ 26 ] When posed at the right moment—at least to a human being—this question expresses the deepest impulse of temptation, for it triggers all the forces and impulses of pride and overconfidence within the soul. Of course, it is difficult to grasp this fully if one thinks of the astral world only in abstract terms. But when one is immersed in it, the power of this astral world—in which Lucifer then speaks—affects the entire constitution of the human being so profoundly that all the demons of pride are unleashed within him with the same inevitability as one becomes hungry after going four or five days without food. One cannot speak here in the harmless manner of the physical plane: One should not allow oneself to be blinded by pride. — That is all well and good for the physical plane, but it no longer holds the same value when the entire astral world storms the human constitution. But Christ Jesus resisted the temptation of Lucifer. This being could not succumb to pride. He rejected Lucifer.
[ 27 ] I would like to make a comment here. It is generally quite easy to get the order mixed up when reading the Akashic Records. I believe the order of the so-called temptation is as it seems correct to me. However, it could be that it is the other way around. I do not believe that to be the case, but I cannot say that a later verification might not reveal the reverse order. Therefore, I would like to emphasize that in these messages from the Akashic Records, I am telling you nothing other than what actually emerges. For this reason, in places where uncertainty arises, I point out that a correction may be necessary later on.
[ 28 ] So, after the first Luciferic attack had been repelled, Lucifer and Ahriman now acted in unison. Together, they posed the question to Christ Jesus about casting himself down into the depths of the abyss. This was a question directed at his pride. Through a particular detour, this question was to be posed to pride—to the feeling of being exalted above all fear. Christ Jesus rejected the question. He could not be tempted by an appeal to his pride, which in this case meant the feeling of being exalted above fear. Lucifer now had to withdraw, to let him go.
[ 29 ] Ahriman remained behind, and he asked the third question, which again corresponds in the Fifth Gospel to the question in the other Gospels—the question regarding the stones turning into bread. If Christ truly had the power, he should turn the stones into bread. And behold: in the face of this question, a remnant remained unanswered. Christ Jesus was not quite able to answer this question posed by Ahriman, and Ahriman did not depart completely defeated. This, however, is what the Akashic Records-based view of this matter reveals to us. And Christ Jesus knew: with regard to Ahriman, a remnant remains that cannot be overcome by such an inner spiritual process, but for which other things are still necessary.
[ 30 ] I would like to try to explain this in a way that may seem trivial. However, this will make it easier for us to understand what this is all about. Ahriman is actually the lord of the world of material laws. Once this year’s Munich lectures are published, the whole world of Ahriman will become even clearer. Ahriman is the lord of material laws—those laws that can in fact only be spiritualized after the entire course of Earth’s development has run its course, those laws that remain active, that remain effective. Ahriman is the rightful lord of the material laws. If he did not abuse this dominion, did not extend it to something else, he would be a being of a kind that is uniquely necessary within Earth’s evolution. But what is written in the Cosmic Lord’s Prayer still holds true: “The guilt of selfhood incurred by others, experienced in daily bread, in which the will of heaven does not reign.” It is true that in his earthly life, man is bound by material laws, and that he cannot achieve the immediate spiritualization of what arises from these material laws through a merely inner, soul-based process, but that external factors are necessary for this. Everything connected with rich and poor is related to this question. Everything that entangles us in a social order, so that we are under the yoke of laws that we can only spiritualize in the overall course of Earth’s development, belongs here. And connected to this—as I said, I must say something trivial, but the trivial is not meant that way—is that the social order is gradually taken over by the dominion of everything that can be called money, the dominion of money, which makes it impossible to live directly within laws permeated by the spiritual. Everyone understands, of course, what is meant by such a thing. But because of the impossibility of “turning stones into bread,” the impossibility of having the spiritual directly within matter, independent of the material—because this impossibility exists, and its mirror image, the rule of money, exists—thereby Ahriman holds sway. For in money, socially speaking, Ahriman also lives.
[ 31 ] From the question posed by Ahriman—which remained unanswered—the ideal had to arise within Christ Jesus to now pour itself into the development of the Earth and gradually, slowly, to work throughout the entire future course of Earth’s evolution. This could not be accomplished merely on a spiritual level. The entire subsequent development of the Earth had to be permeated by Christ! Christ had to pass into the development of the Earth. Ahriman had the power to impose upon Christ the necessity of truly uniting with the Earth. Therefore, he later possessed Judas, and through Judas he had the means to truly lead Christ to death. And through death, the Christ-being passed into the Earth-being. What Judas did was the question posed by Ahriman that had not been fully answered. The Luciferic temptation could be overcome inwardly and spiritually. Every soul must overcome the Luciferic temptation within itself. Ahriman’s nature is such that he is overcome throughout the entire subsequent historical development of humanity, as human beings increasingly permeate themselves with and identify with the Christ-being.
[ 32 ] When one considers this third question—to which Ahriman has not fully responded—from the perspective of the Akashic Records, one is indeed looking at a profound mystery of historical development following the Mystery of Golgotha. Everything is already contained therein. And Christ now knew that he must fully unite himself with the earthly body, that he must truly become fully human.
[ 33 ] This incarnation was now the source of a further three years of suffering. For, as the Fifth Gospel in the Akashic Records tells us, the Christ-being did not immediately become completely one with the three bodies of Jesus of Nazareth. At first, when we see Christ Jesus walking on Earth, we can recognize that while the three bodies are permeated by the Christ-being, this Christ-being is not fully within them, as another “I” is within a human being, but rather it has only weakly touched these three bodies, like a powerful aura. For it is possible, and has happened countless times, that the physical body of this Christ Jesus was in one place, staying somewhere in solitude or among other people, but the Christ was far away, wandering through the land as a spiritual being. Not always, when the Christ appeared here or there, appeared to one or another apostle, was this spiritual being present in the physical body of Christ Jesus. Even back then, he appeared in a spiritual body that was so strong that one always perceived him as a physical presence. What is spoken of regarding the disciples’ being together with Christ is, according to the Fifth Gospel, not always a being together in the physical body, but often only the visionary kind of being together that rises up to the level of physical presence.
[ 34 ] The peculiar thing is that, in the early days, there was indeed only something like a loose connection between the Christ and the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth. But this connection grew ever closer and closer. The Christ-being had to sink deeper and deeper into, and unite with, the bodies of Jesus of Nazareth. Yet it was not until toward the end of the three years that the Christ-being and the bodies of Jesus of Nazareth became, so to speak, a unity—a unity that was only complete at the moment of death on the cross, immediately before the crucifixion. But this uniting with the human body was a process of successive, ever-increasing suffering. The all-encompassing, universal spiritual essence of Christ could unite with the body of Jesus of Nazareth only through unspeakable suffering. This suffering lasted another three years.
[ 35 ] When one beholds this, one truly does not become sentimental, for the impression one perceives from the spiritual world has nothing to do with sentimentality. There is scarcely any experience of suffering comparable to the union of the Christ Being with the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth. And one comes to realize what a God had to suffer so that humanity, having grown old, might experience a new rejuvenation, so that human beings might become capable of taking full possession of their own I.
[ 36 ] This development was such that, when individual disciples had already gathered around Christ Jesus, Christ Jesus was at times united with the disciples in the physical body, but as a spiritual being he was, of course, invisible to all who see only with physical eyes, so that only the disciples knew of him and recognized him among themselves because of the way he had bound them to himself.
[ 37 ] But the Akashic research of the Fifth Gospel now reveals something very peculiar. Especially in the early days, during those three years, Christ Jesus spoke very little. He worked. And he worked through his mere presence. I will return to this later. Through the special way in which the Christ-being was connected here with the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth, effects radiated from him to other human beings who were not otherwise present in Earth’s evolution, and whose reflection is called, using a completely inappropriate or today poorly understood word, “miracles.” Such effects emanated from him through the composition of his being. More on that next time. But what I want to say now is something quite peculiar.
[ 38 ] One sees the group of disciples walking about, and in certain moments one has the distinct impression: Now the physical body of Jesus of Nazareth is also among the disciples. — This is especially the case when Christ Jesus walks about in solitude with his disciples. But one often also has the impression: The physical personality of Jesus of Nazareth is far away, yet the disciples are aware that they are walking about, and among them is the Christ-being. But it can—and this is the remarkable thing—speak through each of the disciples, alternately through one or the other. And while one or the other is speaking, the entire countenance of the speaker is transformed for the listeners among the people, as if sanctified; everything is different. One among them is always transfigured, and toward the end of that time, always another. Through the most varied circumstances, the awareness had spread: There is someone who stirs up the people, who spreads something that the leading Jews of that time did not want. But no one knew who it was. It spoke once through this one, once through that one. Therefore, as the Akashic Records tell us, Judas’ betrayal was necessary.
[ 39 ] I must admit: The question of why Judas’ betrayal was necessary—why it was absolutely essential that someone from among the disciples who could have known the truth should, through the kiss of Judas, point to him as if with a finger: “This is the one!”—that actually always seemed to me like a strange statement, until I realized that one really could not know which of them it was, because he could speak through anyone; so that even when he was physically among them, one could not recognize him by his physical appearance. For anyone could be taken for him, depending on whether he spoke through one person or another. And everyone spoke! Only when one who knew—when Christ Jesus was truly present among them in the flesh—said to the Jews, “This is the one!”—only then could they seize him.
[ 40 ] It was truly a phenomenon of a very special kind that took place at that time at the focal point, at the center of Earth’s evolution. I have spoken about this on various occasions in more theoretical terms—how humanity experiences a descent and an ascent, how this Christ impulse once took hold within humanity, as it were, at its very center. This gives us, so to speak, an impression of the essential significance of the Christ impulse for Earth’s development. We gain this impression by characterizing what this impulse actually is within the whole of Earth’s development. I do not believe that if we now describe, piece by piece, in a purely narrative manner, how things present themselves to our perception, the events presented in this purely narrative way would make a lesser impression on our minds. I do not believe that any of the statements made regarding the profound significance of the Christ impulse would be diminished if we see what Jesus of Nazareth experienced when Zarathustra was in his body, how he grew through his suffering and the goodwill that flowed from this suffering, so that the Zarathustra-I was bound to the words it spoke to the mother and, in these words, surrendered itself. |
[ 41 ] When we then learn how the Christ-essence sank into this Jesus-being—who had become so free of himself through his conversation with his mother—and how this Christ-essence struggled with Ahriman and Lucifer, and how everything that follows developed out of these sufferings—when we present these details, I believe they are, in the fullest sense, a confirmation of what emerges in broad outlines from spiritual research. And as difficult as it is, especially in the present, to speak unreservedly of these things, it must be regarded as a genuine obligation to give individual souls what will become ever more necessary for the development of souls as we look toward the future. Therefore, I ask once again that these things be received and preserved with reverence.