The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Tenth Lecture

[ 1 ] Among the events that took place in Palestine at the beginning of our era, there is one in particular that has been mentioned repeatedly and is known as the baptism of Jesus of Nazareth by John. It has also been emphasized that, with regard to this baptism by John, all four Gospels agree on all essential points. Today, our primary concern will be to bring this baptism by John to mind once again from a certain perspective.

[ 2 ] From the way in which John’s baptism is presented in the Gospels, we have already seen that reference is made to this event of the utmost importance—an event that can also be explained by the Akashic Records—the event that must be characterized by our statement: Around the thirtieth year of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, the divine being known as the Christ entered into the three bodies of this Jesus of Nazareth.

[ 3 ] We must therefore—and this is a finding from Akashic observation regarding the life of the founder of Christianity—distinguish between two parts. First, we must consider the life of the great Initiate whom we refer to as Jesus of Nazareth. Within this Jesus of Nazareth lives an “I” of which we have shown that it has passed through many previous incarnations, has lived repeatedly on Earth, has ascended ever higher in these lives, and has gradually developed the capacity for the Great Sacrifice. This sacrifice consisted in the fact that, around the age of thirty, the I of Jesus of Nazareth was able to leave the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body—which it had purified, cleansed, and ennobled up to that point—so that a threefold human sheath remained: a pure, most noble human sheath consisting of the physical body, the etheric body, and the astral body. During the baptism by John, as the “I” of Jesus of Nazareth departed from them, these bodies received that Being who had not previously been on Earth—a Being of whom we cannot say that it had passed through previous incarnations. The Christ-essence is that entity of which we can say that it could previously be found only in the world that lies beyond our Earth. It was only at this moment of the baptism by John that this individuality united with a human body for three years and walked upon the Earth to accomplish, during those three years, what we must increasingly characterize.

[ 4 ] What I have just said is the result of clairvoyant observation. The evangelists frame this fact within what they describe as the baptism of John. What they mean to say is this: While this or that happened to the various people who received the baptism of John, what occurred in the case of Jesus of Nazareth was that the Christ sank into the three sheaths of Jesus of Nazareth. And I have already told you in the first lecture that this Christ is the very same being of whom it is said in the Old Testament: “And the Spirit of God was hovering, or ‘brooding,’ over the waters.” (Genesis 1:2). This very same Spirit—that is, the divine Spirit of our solar system—entered into the threefold body of Jesus of Nazareth.

[ 5 ] What happened back then is what we will now discuss. And I ask you to be clear from the outset that it must be difficult to understand what actually took place at the baptism of John, because it was, after all, the greatest event in Earth’s evolution. And who would not believe that the minor events of Earth’s development are easier to understand than the major ones? Who would not believe that understanding the greatest event in Earth’s development also presents the greatest difficulties! Therefore, I will now speak a few words to you that may, in some respects, come as a shock to those who are not yet prepared. But even those who are unprepared should tell themselves that the human soul is here on Earth to become ever more perfect—including in terms of knowledge—and that what initially seems shocking must, over time, come to appear as something entirely comprehensible; for otherwise, one would have to despair of the human soul’s capacity for development. But as it is, we can tell ourselves every day: No matter what I have already come to understand, my soul is to be made ever more perfect, and it will come to understand the matter ever better and better.

[ 6 ] We thus have before us a threefold human form: a physical body, an etheric body, and an astral body; and into these, so to speak, the Christ enters. This is what the words resounding from the cosmos imply: “This is my Son, filled with my love, in whom I reveal myself!” (Matt. 3:17). For this is how the words must be rendered in German. You can imagine that tremendous changes must have taken place within the threefold sheath of Jesus of Nazareth when God entered into him. Now, however, you will also find it understandable that in the ancient initiations, great changes took place with regard to the whole human being.

[ 7 ] I have already described to you what the final act of the ancient initiation was like: After the student, who had been initiated into the divine mysteries, had been prepared for a long time through study and exercises, he was placed in a death-like state for three and a half days, so that during those three and a half days his etheric body was separated from his physical body; and during that time, the fruits of the exercises that had been absorbed into the astral body were able to express themselves in the etheric body. In other words: The one being initiated rose from being a “purified” person, as they say, to an “enlightened” one who looks into the spiritual world. Such a person, however, already possessed—even in ancient times, especially back when such initiations were still possible—a certain power over his entire physical being. When he then returned to his physical body, he exercised magnificent control over that physical body with regard to certain finer elements. But perhaps you might raise the question here: When one came into the presence of such an initiate, who had attained a very special mastery over the various sheaths—even over his physical body—did one notice it, could one see it in him?—Yes, the one who had acquired the ability to see in this way could see it. To others, he generally appeared to be an ordinary, unassuming person, and they noticed nothing special about him. Why is that? Well, simply because the physical body, as seen with physical eyes, is only the outward expression of what lies behind it; and the changes pertain to the spiritual that lies behind the physical body.

[ 8 ] All the ancient initiates had, through the special procedures performed upon them, attained a certain degree of mastery over the physical body. There was only one thing that no ancient initiation had been able to bring under the dominion of the human spirit. Here, in a sense, we are touching upon the edge of a great secret or mystery. There was one aspect of human nature that the power of a pre-Christian initiate could not penetrate. And that was the subtle physical and chemical processes within the skeletal system—as strange as that may sound to you. But that is how it is.

[ 9 ] Until the baptism of Christ Jesus by John the Baptist, there had never been—in the entire history of Earth’s evolution, neither among the initiated nor among the uninitiated—a human individuality that had exerted such a powerful influence as to penetrate even the chemical and physical processes of the skeletal system. Through Christ’s entry into the body of Jesus of Nazareth, the present-day “I” of Christ became the ruler even down to the skeletal system. And the result of this was that a body once lived on Earth that was able to master its powers to such an extent that it could incorporate the form of the skeletal system, the ‘spiritual form of the skeletal system of Earth’s evolution.’ Nothing of what the human being experiences within the course of Earth’s evolution would remain if the human being could not incorporate the noble form of his skeletal system as a law of Earth’s evolution, if he did not gradually become master of this law of the skeletal system.

[ 10 ] This is connected—as is so often the case with old traditions and the occult—to what you can see in an ancient folk superstition: Certain circles depict death by representing a skeletal system. This symbolizes the fact that, when the Earth was in the early stages of its development, all the laws pertaining to the rest of the human organism had reached a stage where, by the end of the Earth’s development—transformed into a higher form—they would be present once again. But nothing from the Earth’s development would be carried over into the future unless the form of the skeletal system were carried over. The form of the skeletal system overcomes death in the physical sense. Therefore, the one who was to overcome death on Earth had to have dominion over the skeletal system, in the same way that I have indicated to you this dominion over certain physical characteristics even in relation to lesser abilities. Human beings have dominion over their circulatory system only to a very limited extent. When feeling shame, for example, he drives his blood from the inside out; that is, the soul acts upon the blood system. When startled, as when a person turns pale, he drives the blood back into his center, inward. When a person feels grief, tears well up. All of these are examples of the soul’s control over the physical. One who is initiated to a certain degree gains even greater control over the physical body: they gain the ability to voluntarily control the movements of parts of their brain in a specific way, and so on.

[ 11 ] The human being who served as the vessel for Jesus of Nazareth thus came under the dominion of Christ. And Christ’s sovereign will, his free will, penetrated with his dominion all the way into the skeletal system, so that he was able, so to speak, to act within this skeletal system for the first time. The significance of this fact, however, can be described as follows: Human beings have acquired the form they possess today through their skeletal system here on Earth, not during an earlier incarnation of our planet. But they would lose it if that spiritual power—which we call the Christ—had not come. Humanity would take nothing but the earth’s produce and fruit with it into the future if Christ’s dominion over the skeletal system had not come into being. — So it was something of immense power that, at the moment of John the Baptist’s baptism, penetrated to the very core of the threefold sheath of Jesus of Nazareth. We must picture this moment in our minds. For that is the one thing that happened.

[ 12 ] When a normal birth takes place, that which comes from the human being’s previous incarnations unites with what the human being acquires through heredity. The human individuality that existed in previous lives unites with what the human being receives as his physical-etheric body. Thus, something that comes from the spiritual world unites with the sensory-physical. Those who have often heard my lectures know that, as far as outward appearances in the spiritual world are concerned, as soon as we enter it, everything exists as a mirror image—everything is reversed. So when someone becomes clairvoyant through rational methods, when their vision of the spiritual world opens up, they must first slowly learn to find their way in the spiritual world, for everything there appears reversed. If a number appears to them—for example, the number 345—they must not read it as they would in the physical world; that is, not 345, but 543—they must read it in reverse. Thus, you must learn, in a certain sense, to view everything in reverse—not only numbers, but everything else as well.

[ 13 ] As the Christ united with the outer body of Jesus of Nazareth, this event reveals itself in its outward form—and also in a contrasting form—to those whose spiritual eyes are open. Whereas in a physical incarnation a spiritual being descends from higher worlds and unites with the physical, that which was sacrificed in this case to receive the Christ Spirit appears above the head of Jesus of Nazareth in the form of a white dove. A spiritual entity appears as it detaches itself from the physical! This is indeed a clairvoyant observation. And it is quite incorrect to say: “This is merely meant allegorically or symbolically.” It is a real, clairvoyant, spiritual fact that truly exists for the clairvoyant faculty on the astral plane. Just as a physical birth is the drawing near of a spiritual being, so this birth was a sacrifice, a self-surrender. This made it possible for the Spirit that “hovered over the waters” at the beginning of our Earth’s evolution to unite with the threefold sheath of Jesus of Nazareth and thus to permeate and ignite it with power, as we have described.

[ 14 ] Now you will understand that, at the very moment this happened, it was not limited to the small part of space where the baptism of John took place. It would be sheer short-sightedness on the part of people to believe that something happening in relation to any being is confined within the limits visible to the eye. This is the powerful illusion to which people can succumb if they rely solely on their external senses. Where, then, do the outer senses perceive the boundary of a human being? Speaking superficially, one might see this boundary in the skin. That is where the human being ends on all sides. One might even say: If I cut off your nose, which belongs to you, then you are no longer a whole human being; from this I recognize that all of that belongs to your being. — But that is, after all, a very short-sighted view. If one limits oneself to a physical perspective, one no longer considers what belongs to a human being just a few decimeters beyond the skin. But consider that with every breath you inhale air from the entire atmosphere surrounding you. If someone cuts off your nose, you are no longer a whole human being; but if someone cuts off your air, you are not either! It is merely an arbitrary view to imagine a human being as confined to his or her skin. Everything that surrounds a person is part of that person. Even in the physical sense, it belongs to the human being. So that when something happens to a person in a specific place, it is not the case that only the space occupied by the human body is involved. If you were to try, within a one-mile radius of a person, to pollute the air so intensely that the fumes reached that person, you would very soon realize that the entire space within that one-mile radius is involved in that person’s life processes. And the entire Earth is involved in every life process. If this is already the case with physical life processes, it will not seem incomprehensible to you that, in an event such as the baptism of John, the spiritual world was involved within the widest possible sphere, and that much, much more took place to make this possible.

[ 15 ] But if there is a person within a mile’s radius whose air you are polluting to the point that their vital functions are affected, and you place another person near them, then that other person will also be affected. Perhaps this effect will be somewhat different, depending on whether the other person is closer to or farther from the sphere of influence of that one-mile radius. If, for example, they are far away, the effect will also be weaker, but an effect will still be exerted. Therefore, you will no longer find it strange when the question is raised today as to whether there were not other effects associated with the baptism of John. And here we touch upon the edge of another profound mystery that can only be spoken of today with caution and reverence. For only gradually will humanity be prepared to understand such things.

[ 16 ] At the very moment when the Spirit of Christ descended into the body of Jesus of Nazareth and a transformation took place, as we have described, an effect was also exerted upon the mother of Jesus of Nazareth. And this effect consisted in her regaining her virginity at that very moment of John’s baptism—that is to say, her inner constitution became what the female constitution is before reaching virgin maturity. The mother of Jesus of Nazareth became a virgin at the birth of Christ.

[ 17 ] These are the two most significant facts—those great, powerful effects—that the author of the Gospel of John hints at to us, albeit in a veiled way. But if we can read the Gospel of John correctly, all of this is there in a certain way. To recognize this, we must return to various points that we touched upon yesterday from different angles.

[ 18 ] We said that in ancient times, people lived under the influence of “close marriage.” This means that marriages took place within the same bloodline, within the same tribe. It was only as time went on that people began to marry outside their tribe into other tribal bloodlines. The further back we go in history, the more we find that people were under the influence of this blood kinship. Because tribal blood flowed through people’s veins, those heightened magical powers were possible in ancient times. A person who lived in ancient times, who could trace their lineage far back and see only tribal kinship, had magical powers at work in their blood, so that soul-to-soul interactions—as described yesterday—were possible. But people in the past knew this; even the simplest people knew it. Now, however, it would be entirely wrong to conclude from this that if marriages between blood relatives were to take place today, similar conditions would arise and magical powers would manifest. You would then fall back into the same error that the lily of the valley would fall into if it suddenly said: “I no longer want to bloom in May; from now on, I will bloom in October!” It cannot bloom in October, because the necessary conditions for the lily of the valley are not present then. The same is true of magical powers. Magical powers cannot develop at a time when the conditions for them no longer exist. Now, in our time, magical powers must develop in a different way. What has been described applies only to ancient times. Of course, the crude naturalist scholar cannot understand at all that the laws of development might have changed; he believes that what he experiences today in his physics laboratory must always have happened that way. But that is nonsense, for laws do change. And people who base their beliefs on modern natural science would have marveled at what happened in Palestine, as described in the Gospel of John, as something extraordinary. But those who lived in the time of Jesus Christ, when the living traditions of an era in which such things were entirely possible still existed, were not particularly astonished by it. That is why I was able to suggest yesterday that people were actually not particularly astonished by what happened as a sign at the wedding at Cana. And why should they have been amazed by it? Outwardly, it was, after all, a repetition of what they knew had been observed time and time again. Read 2 Kings, chapter 4, verses 42–44:

“But a man came from Baal-Salisa and brought the man of God some firstfruits—twenty barley loaves and some fresh grain in his cloak. Then he said, ‘Give it to the people to eat!’

His servant replied, “How can I serve this to a hundred men?” But he said, “Give it to the people to eat! For this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat, and there will be some left over.’ So he set it before them, and they ate; and there was some left over, just as the Lord had said.”

[ 19 ] Here, in the Old Testament, the account is given of the feeding of the five thousand in ancient times. How could those people be amazed by such a sign when their own records stated that this was not the first time it had happened! It is essential that we understand this.

[ 20 ] But what happened to the one who had been initiated in the old sense? He was granted access to the spiritual world; his eyes were opened to the spiritually active forces—that is, he saw into the connection between blood and spiritually active forces. The others had only a vague inkling of this. But the one who was initiated could look all the way back to the first of the ancestors from whom the blood flowed down. Such a person could say to himself: This is how the blood flows down through the generations, and in this blood the entire national ego is expressed, just as the individual ego is expressed in the blood of each individual. - Thus, such an initiate looked back to the beginning of the stream of blood that flowed through the generations, and he felt his soul to be one with the entire national spirit, which had its physiognomy in the blood of the entire people. One who felt at one with the blood of the entire people was, to a certain degree, initiated, and to a certain degree, he was master of certain magical powers in the ancient sense.

[ 21 ] Now there is one more thing we must keep in mind. The masculine and the feminine interact in the reproduction of the human race in a way that we can briefly characterize as follows.

[ 22 ] If the feminine were to have sole dominance, human beings would develop in such a way that similar characteristics would emerge in them over and over again. A child would always resemble its parents, grandparents, and so on. All the forces that bring about this resemblance are associated with the feminine. Everything that alters this similarity—that creates differences—is associated with the masculine. If, within a community, you see a number of faces that look alike, that is due to the feminine. But there are still certain differences in these faces, allowing you to distinguish between individual people. That is the influence of the masculine. If only the feminine were at work, you would not be able to distinguish individual people from one another. And if, conversely, only the masculine were at work, you would never be able to recognize a group of people as belonging to a single tribe. Thus, the masculine and the feminine work together in such a way that we can say: The masculine has an individualizing, specializing, and separating effect; the feminine, on the other hand, has a generalizing effect. In which forces, then, does that which belongs to the entire people lie primarily? That which belongs to the entire people is attached, above all, to the feminine. We can also say: Through the power of the woman, that which is otherwise expressed by flowing through the blood from generation to generation is carried on from generation to generation. Anyone who wished to characterize even more precisely what the magical forces inherent in the bonds of blood are actually attached to would have to say: They are attached to the feminine principle that permeates the entire people and lives in all members of the people. So if someone had risen through initiation to become a person who could, so to speak, wield the forces that had been instilled in the blood flowing through the generations by the feminine element of the people, what was the essential nature of such a person?

[ 23 ] In the ancient initiation—if we are to use terms from the Persian initiation—a distinction was made between certain stages in the ascent to the spiritual heights. These stages are designated by specific names. One of these names will be of particular interest to us. The first degree of the Persian initiation was designated by the term “Raven,” the second by the term “Occult,” the third degree was called that of the “Warrior,” and the fourth that of the “Lion.” The fifth degree was designated by each people with the name of that people, so that when a Persian ascended to the fifth degree of initiation, he was said to be a “Persian.”

[ 24 ] At first, the initiate became a raven. This meant that he could make his observations in the outer world; there, he served those who were in the spiritual world and carried news from the physical world into the spiritual world. Hence the symbol of the raven as a mediator between the physical world and the spiritual world, from the ravens of Elijah to the ravens of Barbarossa. Whoever has reached the second degree is already within the spiritual world. The initiate in the third degree has advanced beyond the second; therefore, he is given the mission to advocate for the truths of occultism: he becomes a champion. An initiate in the second degree was not permitted to advocate for the truths of the spiritual world. The fourth degree of initiation is one in which a certain consolidation of the individual within the truths of the spiritual world has already taken place. And the fifth degree is the one of which I have said that the individual has learned to master everything that has flowed through the blood of generations in the forces that flow down through the blood with the feminine element of procreation. So what was one to call an initiate who had undergone his initiation within the Israelite people? He was called an “Israelite,” just as in Persia he was called a “Persian.” And now consider the following.

[ 25 ] One of the first to be led to Christ Jesus, as described in the Gospel of John, was Nathanael. The others, who were already followers of Christ Jesus, said to Nathanael: “We have found the Master, the one who dwells in Jesus of Nazareth!” To which Nathanael replies, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” But when Nathanael is brought before Christ, Christ says to him, “Behold, a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit!”

[ 26 ] A true Israelite, in whom the truth dwells! He says this because he knows to what extent Nathanael is initiated. And then Nathanael realizes that he is dealing with someone who knows just as much as he does—indeed, someone who sees through him, who knows more than he does. And Christ says to him, to further indicate that this is indeed a matter of initiation: “I did not see you only when you came to me, but even before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you!” (1:4ff.)

[ 27 ] And the word “fig tree” is used here in exactly the same sense as it is with Buddha: the fig tree is the Bodhi tree. This is the sign of initiation. Christ says to him: “I recognize you as one initiated to the fifth degree!” From this you can see how the author of the Gospel of John implies that Christ looks upon one who is initiated up to the fifth degree. The author of the Gospel of John leads us step by step, showing that within the body of Jesus of Nazareth dwells one who looks upon a person initiated to the fifth degree.

[ 28 ] And furthermore. We have just seen that the initiate of the fifth degree masters the occult-magical forces that flow through the blood of generations. He has, as it were, become one with the national soul. And above, we saw that this national soul expresses itself in the powers of the woman. Thus, one who is initiated into the fifth degree will have to deal—in an ancient way—with the powers of the woman. You must imagine all of this in your mind.

[ 29 ] But Christ relates to woman in an entirely new way. He relates to the woman who has become a virgin again through the baptism of John, who once more possesses within herself the fresh, sprouting powers of virginity. This was the new insight that the writer of the Gospel of John sought to convey when he said that a certain current flows from the Son to the Mother. The fact that the Son, if he had been initiated only to the fifth degree, had the ability to use magically the forces of the people—which find expression in the maternal element—was well known to all who possessed occult knowledge at that time. Christ, however, revealed in a spiritually higher way the powers of the woman who had become a virgin once more.

[ 30 ] Thus we see how the wedding at Cana was prepared. We see that what happened there could only have been done by an initiate who oversaw those initiated into the fifth degree. We are shown that this also has something to do with the folk forces associated with the feminine personality. The writer of the Gospel of John wonderfully prepares us for what is shown there. — As already mentioned, we will address the concept of miracles in a different way later on. - Now, however, you can easily imagine that freshly drawn water is something different from water that has been standing for a while, just as a plant that has just been freshly picked is different from one that has already wilted for three days. A materialistic view, of course, does not make such distinctions. The water that was just moments ago connected to the forces of the earth is something different from that which is used later. Drawing upon the forces still present in the freshly drawn water, one who is so initiated can work through the forces that are now bound to the spiritual relationship—such as that of Christ to the Mother who had just become a virgin. He continues what the Earth is capable of. The Earth can transform water into wine in the vine. Christ, who has drawn near to the Earth, who has become the Spirit of the Earth, is the spiritual force that otherwise works throughout the entire Earth’s body. If he is Christ, he must be able to do the same thing the Earth can do, what the Earth does in the vine: it transforms water into wine.

[ 31 ] Thus, the first miracle performed by Christ Jesus, as described in the Gospel of John, is a miracle that, so to speak, builds upon what you have just seen in the Book of Kings—something that could have happened in ancient times through an initiate who mastered the forces extending through the bloodlines of generations.

[ 32 ] But now the strengthening of those forces continues which the Christ is developing within the body of Jesus of Nazareth—not those which the Christ possesses within himself! Therefore, do not ask: “Does the Christ need to develop first?” Certainly, he does not. But what had to be developed by the Christ was—even though it was already purified and ennobled—the body of Jesus of Nazareth. He had to guide it from stage to stage. For it was into this body that the forces were to be poured, forces that were to come into play in the time to come.

[ 33 ] The next miracle is the healing of the royal centurion’s son, and the one following that is the healing of the man who had been ill for thirty-eight years at the Pool of Bethesda. What kind of increase in the powers through which Christ “worked” here on earth was evident in these events? The increase consisted in the fact that Christ could now work not only on the people standing around him, whom he had in a certain physical presence around him. With the people at the wedding in Cana, he worked in such a way that when they drank the water, it was wine. There, then, he worked upon the etheric bodies of the people standing nearby. For by allowing his power to flow out into the etheric bodies of those standing nearby, this effect caused the water to become wine in the mouths of those who drank it—that is, the water was enjoyed as wine. Now, however, the effect was not to be limited to the physical body, but was to penetrate to the very depths of the soul. For only in this way could he, through the mediation of the Father, act upon the son of the royal official. And only in this way could he act upon the sinful soul of the man who had been ill for thirty-eight years. Had he merely allowed his powers to flow into the etheric body, that would not have been sufficient. The astral body had to be addressed, for it is the astral body that commits sin. One can turn water into wine by acting upon the etheric body, but one must intervene at a deeper level if one wishes to continue working upon the other personality. To this end, it was necessary for Christ to continue working upon the threefold body of Jesus of Nazareth.

[ 34 ] Note well: Christ does not thereby become someone else—but he works upon the threefold sheath of Jesus of Nazareth. And in the time to come, he will work upon them in such a way that the etheric body can become freer from the physical body than it was before.

[ 35 ] So there came a time when, within the threefold body of Jesus of Nazareth, the etheric body became freer and more detached from the physical body. As a result, however, he gained greater control over the physical body. He was able, so to speak, to perform even more powerful deeds in this physical body than before; that is, he could truly draw upon powerful forces right down into the physical body. The foundation for this had been laid with the baptism by John. Now this foundation was to be developed in a very special way. All of this, however, was to take place from the spiritual realm. The astral body was to act so powerfully within the threefold body of Jesus of Nazareth that the etheric body would gain such power over the physical body.

[ 36 ] How, then, can the astral body exert such a powerful influence? By acquiring the right feelings, by surrendering to the right feelings in relation to what is happening in our environment, and above all, by establishing the right relationship to human selfishness. Did Christ do this with the body of Jesus of Nazareth? Did he act in such a way that he established a proper relationship to all the selfishness in his surroundings, so that the fundamentally selfish nature of the souls became apparent? Yes, Christ did. The author of the Gospel of John tells us how he acted as the purifier of the temple toward those who indulged in selfishness and desecrated the temple by selling all manner of things within it. Through this, he gains the ability to say that he has now made his astral body so powerful that, should his physical body decay, he would be able to rebuild it in three days. The author of the Gospel of John also hints at this:

“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’

The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you are going to raise it up in three days?”

But he was speaking about the temple of his body.” (2:19–21)

[ 37 ] This suggests that this shell, which has been sacrificed to him, now has the power to direct this physical body in such a way that it reigns supreme within it. But then this body, now thus liberated, can also move anywhere independently of the laws of the physical world; then this body, regardless of the other laws of the spatial world, can bring about and direct events in the spiritual world. Does it do so? Yes. This is indicated to us in the chapter that follows the chapter on the cleansing of the temple.

“Now there was a man among the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him...” (3:1–2)

[ 38 ] Why does it say “at night” here? Of course, the most trivial explanation possible is that the Jew was simply afraid to come to Jesus in broad daylight and therefore sneaked in through the window at night. Anyone, of course, can offer such an explanation. “At night” here means nothing other than that this meeting between Christ and Nicodemus took place in the astral world, in the spiritual world, and not in the environment in which one exists in ordinary daytime consciousness. That is to say: Christ was now able to converse with Nicodemus outside the physical body, “at night,” when the physical body is not present, when the astral body is separate from the physical body and the etheric body.

[ 39 ] Thus, the threefold body of Jesus of Nazareth was prepared by the Christ who dwelt within it for the next deeds, for working into souls. The soul within the threefold body of Jesus of Nazareth had to be so free that it could work its way into other bodies. But there is something else—something entirely different—in working into another soul than in working as we saw yesterday. This is the next stage: the feeding of the five thousand and the walking on the sea. There was something else involved: that Christ, without being physically present, was seen in the flesh—not only by the disciples, but—so great was the power already present in the body of Jesus of Nazareth at that time—also by those who were not his disciples. But here, too, we must read the Gospel of John correctly, for someone might say: “I’m willing to believe that about the disciples, but not about others.”

“The next day, the crowd standing on the shore saw that there was no other boat there except the one in which his disciples had boarded, and that Jesus had not boarded the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples alone had set out. However, other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread, because the Lord had exalted the memory of God.

When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they also got into the boats and went to Capernaum to look for Jesus.”

[ 40 ] I would like to explicitly point out that the people are seeking Jesus, and that it is then said:

“And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you get here?’” (6:22–26)

[ 41 ] This means exactly the same thing as it does in the case of the disciples. It does not say that every ordinary eye saw him, but rather that those who sought him saw him, and found him through the elevation of their soul power. When it is said, “Someone saw another,” this is quite different from saying, “The other stood there as a spatial, physical form visible to the physical eye.” What is commonly called “taking the Gospel literally” in everyday life is, in fact, the very opposite of taking the Gospel literally. And if you note that here, essentially everywhere, there is again a process of intensification, you will find it understandable that something else must have preceded it.

[ 42 ] Once again, something had to precede this that describes to us how Christ, within the threefold shell of Jesus of Nazareth, worked in such a way that the power of this threefold shell became ever more and more powerful. He worked through healing; that is, he was able to pour his power into another soul. He could do this only by acting in the way he himself describes in his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well: “I am the living water!” Earlier, at the wedding in Cana, he had described himself as one initiated to the fifth degree, as one who has dominion over the elements. Now he describes himself as one who is himself within these elements, who lives within them. And furthermore, he shows that he is one with the forces at work throughout the earth, one with the forces at work in the entire world. This takes place in the chapter on “Jesus, Who Has Power Over Life and Death” (Chapter 9)—over life and death—in that he can control the forces at work in the physical body. This chapter therefore precedes the sign in which that power must be further strengthened.

[ 43 ] And then we see how this power continues to grow. Yesterday we pointed out how, in the passage described here as the healing of the man born blind, Christ intervenes not only in what lies between birth and death, but also in what passes from life to life as the individuality of the human soul. Because the divine individuality was revealed in its works, he was born blind; he is to become sighted when Christ pours such a power into him that what was not brought about by the personality between birth and death—nor by heredity—but what he brought about as an individual is undone.

[ 44 ] I have often pointed out that Goethe’s beautiful saying—which arose from a deep understanding of the Rosicrucian initiation—has a profoundly occult basis: The eye is formed by the light for the light. I have pointed out that while it is true, as Schopenhauer says, that “without the eye, there is no light,” the question remains: Where does the eye come from? Goethe says quite correctly: If there were no light, then a light-sensitive organ—an eye—would never have come into being. — The eye is created by light. You can see this from one example: When animals endowed with eyes migrate into dark caves, they soon lose their sight due to the lack of light. Light has formed the eye.

[ 45 ] If Christ is to infuse a power into the individuality of a human being, through which that individuality can acquire the ability to transform the eye into a light-sensitive organ—which it was not before—then Christ must possess the spiritual power that is in the light. This must be implied in the Gospel of John. However, the healing of the man born blind in the Gospel of John is preceded by the chapter where it says:

“Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world.’” (8:12)

[ 46 ] The healing of the man born blind is not mentioned until after the following statement has been made: “I am the light of the world.” Now consider the last chapter before the raising of Lazarus, and try to bring a few words from that chapter to mind. All you need to do is recall the passage where it says:

“This is why my Father loves me: because I lay down my life, only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have the power to lay it down, ...

If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me;...» (10:17ff. and 37)

[ 47 ] Everything said there about the “Good Shepherd” is meant to indicate that Christ feels: “I and the Father are one!”—that he no longer wishes to speak of himself in any other way than by receiving the Father’s power into himself. Whereas he had previously said, “I am the light of the world,” he now says: I surrender my “I”-power by receiving the Father into myself, so that the Father may work within me, that the primordial principle may flow within me and flow out into another human being. I lay down my life so that I may receive it anew.—This precedes the raising of Lazarus.

[ 48 ] And now, having made all these observations, try to grasp the Gospel of John in terms of its composition. Notice how, up to the raising of Lazarus, not only is a marvelous progression implied in the development of the powers within the body of Jesus of Nazareth, but how, before each progression, it is explicitly explained to us what is at work in relation to the body of Jesus of Nazareth. Oh, everything in the Gospel of John is so tightly woven that not a single sentence could be removed—if only one understood it. And it is so wonderfully composed because it was written by one who, as we have said, was initiated by Christ Jesus himself.

[ 49 ] Today we began with the question: What happened at the baptism of John? And we saw how the potential to overcome death entered the world with the descent of the Christ into the threefold form of Jesus of Nazareth. We have seen how the mother of Jesus of Nazareth was transformed when Christ descended, and how the effect exerted upon her at John’s baptism was such that she became a virgin once more. So indeed, the word is true that had to flow from the confession of the Gospel of John: When, at the baptism by John, the Christ was born into the body of Jesus of Nazareth, the mother of Jesus of Nazareth became a virgin!

[ 50 ] There you have the starting point of the Gospel of John. And if you understand it in light of that tremendous cosmic event that took place at the Jordan at that time, then you will also understand that only the one who had been initiated by Christ himself—the resurrected Lazarus, “whom the Lord loved,” of whom we are henceforth always told: “the disciple whom the Lord loved.” The resurrected Lazarus brought the Gospel to us, and he alone was able to weave every passage in the Gospel so firmly together, because he had received the greatest impulse from the greatest Initiator, from Christ. He alone could point to what Paul, in a certain sense, later grasped through his own initiation: that the seed for overcoming death had been planted in the Earth’s evolution at that time. Hence the significant words concerning the one who hung on the cross: “You shall not break any of his legs!” Why not? Because they were not permitted to interfere with the form over which Christ had to retain control. Had they broken his leg, a lower human force would have interfered with the power that Christ had to exert right down into the bones of Jesus of Nazareth. No one was to interfere with this form! For it was to be entirely subject to the dominion of Christ.

[ 51 ] We can now take this as our starting point tomorrow for our reflection on the death of Christ.