The Rudolf Steiner Archive

3. The Four Different Aspects of the Depiction of Christ in the Four Gospels

[ 1 ] The reflections presented in connection with the Gospels of John and Luke, and the mindset from which they were conceived, can only be characterized by stating that these reflections were based on the following perspective: What we refer to as the essence of Christ Jesus is—to the extent that human understanding can even grasp it in our present age—so great, so all-encompassing, and so mighty that any reflection on it cannot presume to state, in any one-sided way, who Christ Jesus was and what significance his essence holds for every individual human spirit and for every individual soul. Within the scope of our reflections, that would have appeared as a lack of reverence toward the greatest problem facing the world. Reverence and awe—these are the words that describe the attitudes from which our reflections have been presented. Awe and reverence, which might be expressed in the following spirit: Try not to place too high a value on human understanding itself when you face the greatest problem. Try never to overestimate anything—not even what the most advanced spiritual science can offer you—even if it ascends to the highest realms, when it comes to facing the greatest problem of life. And do not believe that a human word would suffice to say anything other than what characterizes this great and formidable problem from one perspective. All the lectures that have ever been given over the course of the last three years have centered on a word that appears in the Gospel of John itself. “I am the light of the world” is this word. All the lectures delivered on the Gospel of John were intended to help us understand this word from the Gospel of John. And the lectures given in connection with the Gospel of John are sufficient, if one makes them one’s own, to gradually come to understand—perhaps only intuitively—what it means in the Gospel of John itself: “I am the light of the world.”

[ 2 ] When you see a light shining, do you understand—by looking into that light—that what is shining there is a light? And once you’ve grasped something about the color and nature of this light, have you thereby understood what it is that shines? Do you know the sun because you look up at the sunlight and perceive the white sunlight as a revelation? Could you not imagine that understanding what shines might mean something other than the light within what shines? Because the Being of whom we have spoken can say of Himself, “I am the light of the world,” we were compelled to understand this word, and in doing so, we understood nothing more of that Being than this expression of His life: “I am the light of the world.” All the reflections that have been presented in connection with the Gospel of John were necessary to show that this Being, who contains within Himself the wisdom of the worlds, is the light of the world. But this Being is far more than what could be characterized in the Gospel of John. And anyone who believes that through the lectures on the Gospel of John they can understand Christ Jesus or have comprehended him is believing that they can understand the entire radiant being from a single expression of life that they intuitively recognize.

[ 3 ] Then came the lectures on the Gospel of Luke, and we gained a different perspective from them. Just as we could regard much of what has been said in all our reflections on the Gospel of John as a means of understanding the words “I am the light of the world,” so too, if we have grasped them deeply enough, the reflection on the Gospel of Luke could possibly be understood as a paraphrase of the words: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” or: “Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit.” That which Christ Jesus is—not merely as the Light of the world, but as the Being who makes the greatest sacrifice of self-surrender, who is able to unite everything within Himself without losing Himself—which has been characterized as the sacrifice of self-surrender— the Being who embodies within himself the possibility of the greatest sacrifice, the greatest conceivable self-surrender, and is thereby the source of compassion and love that flows warmly through all future human and earthly life—everything that could be encapsulated in these words—reveals a second aspect of what we call the Being of Christ Jesus.

[ 4 ] Thus, we have characterized this being as one who, through compassion, is able to make the great sacrifice, and who shines with the power of her light over all human existence. We have described light and love as they were in the essence of Christ Jesus. And whoever takes in the full scope of the reflections on the Gospels of John and Luke can, in a certain sense, gain a glimpse of what constituted “light” in Christ Jesus and what constituted “love and compassion” in him. We have sought to understand these two qualities in their universal significance as they are manifested in Christ Jesus. What can be said about Christ as the spiritual light of the world—which, as primeval wisdom, pours itself into all things to live and weave within them—can be revealed through spiritual contemplation; this, in turn, shines forth to us from the Gospel of John, and there is no wisdom that can be attained that is not, in some way, contained within the Gospel of John. All the wisdom of the world is contained in this Gospel of John, because whoever contemplates the wisdom of the world in Christ Jesus contemplates it not only as it has been realized in the distant past, but also as it will be realized in the distant future. Therefore, in the contemplations that build upon the Gospel of John, one soars high in the air like an eagle above all human existence. Thus, when one is to unfold the great ideas that make an understanding of the Gospel of John possible, one soars with these all-encompassing and comprehensive ideas above what takes place within the individual human soul. These all-encompassing ideas of the world engage that Sophia which flows to us when we engage in contemplation in connection with the Gospel of John. And then what flows from the Gospel of John appears to us as if circling at eagle’s height above all that takes place in human destiny—day by day, hour by hour, and moment by moment.

[ 5 ] And when one then looks more closely and considers the individual human life hour by hour, day by day, year by year, century by century, millennium by millennium—and when one considers in particular those forces that are called human love—then one sees this love surging and weaving through the living human hearts and souls over millennia. Then one sees how this love, on the one hand, accomplishes the greatest, most significant, and most heroic deeds within humanity; then one sees how humanity’s greatest sacrifices have flowed from love for this or that being, for this or that cause. Then one sees how this love accomplishes the highest in human hearts, yet how, at the same time, it is something like a double-edged sword: Take a mother, for example; she loves her child dearly, deeply. The child commits some misdeed; the mother loves her child, and in her deep, fervent love, she cannot bring herself to punish the child. And the child commits a second misdeed, and once again, in her deep love, the mother cannot bring herself to punish the child. And so it goes on, and the child grows up, becomes useless, a troublemaker in life. When addressing such significant matters, it is not good to draw on examples from the present, and so a more distant example shall be cited. In the first half of the 19th century, there was a mother who loved her child deeply, deeply. It must be stated explicitly: nothing can praise this love highly enough; under all circumstances, love is one of the highest human qualities. Now, that mother loved her child and could not bring herself to punish her child for a petty theft the child had committed within the family. Then the child committed a second theft, and again she could not bring herself to punish it—the child became a notorious poisoner. She became so because of a mother’s love that was not guided by wisdom. Love accomplishes the greatest deeds when it is imbued with wisdom. But that was precisely the significance of the love that flowed from Golgotha into the world: that it is united in one being with the Light of the World, with wisdom. Therefore, when we look to Christ Jesus and consider these two qualities, we recognize that love is the highest thing in the world, but at the same time we recognize how love and wisdom belong together in the deepest sense.

[ 6 ] But what have we understood after considering all these reflections on the Gospels of John and Luke? We have understood nothing more than that quality of Christ Jesus which can be called the universal light of wisdom, the universal warmth of love—qualities that flowed within him as in no other being in the world, and which can never be accessible to any human power of cognition. And while, in connection with the Gospel of John, we speak of great, mighty ideas that soar above human heads like eagles, in the Gospel of Luke we find that which speaks to every single human heart at every moment. This is the significance of the Gospel of Luke: that it fills us with such warmth—which is the outward expression of love—and with an understanding of that love which is ready for the greatest sacrifice, which is ready to give itself up and desires nothing more than to give itself.

[ 7 ] Maan feels something like this—if one wants to have a picture of that mood, of that state of mind one is in when contemplating the Gospel of Luke, if one considers it in its proper sense—that which confronts us in those Mithras images, where one sees the sacrificial bull rushing forward. Seated upon it is the human being, with the course of great world events above and the course of earthly events below. The human being plunges his axe into the body of the bleeding sacrificial bull, which gives up its life so that the human being can overcome what he must overcome. When one contemplates this sacrificial bull beneath the human being—which must be sacrificed so that the human being can walk his path through life—one experiences roughly the emotional and spiritual state that provides the proper underlying mood for a meditation based on the Gospel of Luke. What the sacrificial bull has always been to those who have understood what lies within it—in the expression of love to be deepened within oneself—such people understand something of the description of the qualities of love that is to be conveyed through a contemplation of the Gospel of Luke. For nothing other than a second quality of Christ Jesus is to be described. But does the one who knows two attributes of a being know the whole being? Because the greatest mystery confronts us in this being, the explanations regarding the understanding of these two attributes have been necessary. Yet no one should presume to be able to grasp this being itself merely from the contemplation of these two attributes.

[ 8 ] We have described two attributes of Christ Jesus and have spared no effort to do everything that might lead us to a tentative understanding of the profound significance of these two attributes. But we have too much reverence and awe for this Being Himself to believe that we have already grasped anything of the other attributes that this Being still holds within Himself. Now, a third attribute might be possible, and since this third attribute ties in with something that has not yet been addressed in the reflections within our movement, it can only be characterized in general terms. One could say: When one describes the Christ of the Gospel of John, one depicts him as acting, indeed, as a lofty being, but as a being who makes use of the realm of the wise cherubim. Thus, in the spirit of the Gospel of John, he is depicted with the mood evoked by the cherubim soaring at eagle’s heights. If one portrays him in the spirit of the Gospel of Luke, one portrays what wells up from the heart of Christ as the warm fire of love. One portrays what he was to the world by working at that height where the seraphim dwell. The seraphim’s fire of love flows through the world, and it was imparted to our Earth through Christ Jesus.

[ 9 ] Now we must describe a third aspect: what the Christ has become for the earthly world by virtue of the fact that he was not only the light of wisdom, the warmth of love, not only the cherubic and seraphic element within earthly existence, but that he “was” and “is” in our earthly existence—when we contemplate Him in all His power—what may be described as “acting through the realm of the Thrones,” through which all strength and power come into the world to carry out what is in the spirit of wisdom and in the spirit of love. These are the three highest of the spiritual hierarchies: Cherubim, Seraphim, and Thrones. The Seraphim lead us into the depths of the human heart with their love; the Cherubim lead us up to the heights of the eagle. Wisdom radiates from the realm of the Cherubim. Self-sacrificing love becomes a sacrifice—this is symbolized for us by the sacrificial bull. Strength that pulses through the world, strength that develops the power to bring everything into being, creative power that pulses through the world—this is symbolized for us, in all its symbolism, by the lion. That strength which has been drawn into our earth through Christ Jesus, that strength which orders and judges all things, which represents the highest power when it is developed: this is described to us as the third attribute of Christ Jesus by the writer of the Gospel of Mark.

[ 10 ] When we speak, in the spirit of the Gospel of John, of the exalted solar being whom we call the Christ, as the light of the earthly sun in a spiritual sense—when we speak, in the spirit of the Gospel of Luke, of the warmth of love that wells up from the earthly sun of Christ—then, when we speak in the spirit of the Gospel of Mark, we are speaking of the power of the earthly sun in a spiritual sense itself. All the forces present in the earth—the secret and open earthly forces and powers that weave here and there—would come before us in a contemplation based on the Gospel of Mark. If one dares—even if only intuitively—to understand the ideas that have come to Earth as the earthly thoughts of Christ, when one lifts oneself up to him in the spirit of the Gospel of John; if one can feel the warm breath of sacrificial love when one allows the warmth of the Gospel of Luke to flow through oneself; if one can sense the thinking of Christ in the Gospel of John; the feeling of Christ through the Gospel of Luke—then one comes to know the will of Christ through the Gospel of Mark. There one comes to know the individual powers through which he realizes love and wisdom.

[ 11 ] One would have intuitively grasped three characteristics if one had added the reflections on the Gospel of Mark to the reflections on the Gospels of John and Luke. One would then say: With reverence we have drawn near to You and have gained a glimpse of Your thinking, feeling, and will, as these three qualities of Your soul stand before us as the greatest earthly models.

[ 12 ] We have thus conducted our reflections, as if we were observing a human being on a very small scale and saying that he consists of the soul of sensation, the soul of understanding, and the soul of consciousness; and we now consider the characteristics of the soul of sensation, the soul of understanding (or the soul of the emotions), and the soul of consciousness. When we apply the term “soul of consciousness” to Christ, we can say: it is revealed to us in a foreshadowing way in the Gospel of John; the soul of the mind of Christ: it is revealed to us through the Gospel of Luke; the sensory soul with all its powers of will: through the Gospel of Mark. Once we are able to contemplate this, it will shed light on the open and hidden forces of nature that exist in our world, concentrated in the unique individuality of Christ; it will shed light on the nature of all the forces that exist in the world. In the Gospel of John we have delved into the thoughts of this being, and in the Gospel of Luke into its feelings; and because here the human being need not penetrate so deeply into this individuality, these contemplations are simple in comparison to what we encounter in the Gospel of Mark—as the system of all the hidden natural and spiritual forces of the world. All of this is recorded in the Akashic Records. All of this will be reflected back to us when we allow the mighty document of the Gospel of Mark to take effect within us. Then we will intuitively understand what is concentrated in the individual being of Christ: that which is otherwise distributed among the individual beings of the world. We will be able to understand—and it will appear to us in a higher radiance and light—what we have come to know as the fundamental and guiding principles of the various beings. When we allow the Gospel of Mark—which contains the mysteries of the entire world will—to be revealed to us, we approach with reverence the center of the world, Christ Jesus, as we gradually grasp his thinking, feeling, and willing.

[ 13 ] When we consider thinking, feeling, and willing as interacting with one another, this gives us a rough picture of the whole human being. But we cannot help but also consider thinking, feeling, and willing separately in the individual human being. If we take everything together, our perspective will still not be sufficient here to take in the whole picture. While we make our task relatively easier by considering the three qualities separately, one by one, our picture fades when we consider these three qualities collectively within the human soul. We do this for our own sake, because our strength is not sufficient to consider everything together; for when we consider the qualities collectively, the picture fades.

[ 14 ] If one has considered the three Gospels—those of John, Luke, and Mark—and thereby gained some insight into the thoughts, feelings, and will of Christ Jesus, then one can summarize what can, in turn, bring these three qualities into harmony. The image will then necessarily become blurred and faint, for no human power can adequately summarize what we have kept separate. For in essence there is unity and no separation; only in the end may we summarize it into a unity. But then it will fade before us. Instead, what will ultimately stand before us is what Christ Jesus was first and foremost as an earthly human being, as a human being.

[ 15 ] A consideration of who Christ Jesus was as a human being, and how he acted as a human being during the thirty-three years of his earthly life, can be developed in connection with the Gospel of Matthew. What is contained in the Gospel of Matthew gives us a harmonious picture of humanity. Whereas in the Gospel of John we have described a cosmic God-man belonging to the entire universe, and in the Gospel of Luke we had to portray a self-sacrificing individual being of love, and in the Gospel of Mark we had to portray the will of the universe in a single individual, then in the Gospel of Matthew we have the true form of the individual human being from Palestine—that person who lived there for thirty-three years—in whom there is a unity of all that we can gain through our contemplation of the other three Gospels. In connection with the Gospel of Matthew, the figure of Christ Jesus appears to us in a wholly human way, as the individual earthly human being—whom, however, one cannot understand unless the other contemplations have preceded it. Even if the individual earthly human being then fades into the background, what has been gained through the other contemplations is nonetheless reflected in this pale image. Only a meditation that builds upon the Gospel of Matthew can provide a picture of the personality of Christ.

[ 16 ] This is how the matter now presents itself—a matter we had to characterize differently when we first approached the first Gospel. Now that we have completed our examination of the two Gospels, we can describe the inner relationship between them and explain how we can only gain a true picture of Christ Jesus when, having been properly prepared, we approach the human being who came into being on earth through Christ Jesus. The God-man comes to meet us in these meditations, building upon the Gospel of John, and—building upon the Gospel of Luke—that being who unites within himself the currents that flowed from all sides into what developed on earth in Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and the teachings of compassion and love. Everything that existed before came before us as we approached the meditations with regard to the Gospel of Luke. When we consider the Gospel of Matthew, what will meet us most intimately and precisely is that which is born out of his own people, out of the ancient Hebrew people: the human being Jesus, as he is rooted in his people; the human being Jesus, as he had to be precisely within the ancient Hebrew people. And we will come to understand why the blood of the ancient Hebrew people had to be used in a very specific way in order to contribute this very blood of Christ Jesus to the people of the earth.

[ 17 ] As we contemplate the Gospel of Matthew, we will encounter the essence of ancient Hebrew culture; but not only the essence of ancient Hebrew culture, but also the mission of this people for the whole world, the birth of a new era, and the birth of Christianity out of the ancient Hebrew world. And if one can learn great, significant, and comprehensive ideas through the Gospel of John, if one can gain a sense of the warmest, boundlessly warm, self-sacrificing love through the Gospel of Luke, if one can gain an understanding of the forces of all beings and realms through contemplation of the Gospel of Mark, then one gains an understanding and a sense of what lives within humanity and within human evolution on Earth through Christ Jesus in Palestine. What Christ Jesus was as a human being, what he is as a human being—all the mysteries of human history and human evolution are contained in the Gospel of Matthew. Just as the Gospel of Mark contains the mysteries of all realms and beings of the Earth and the cosmos that belongs to the Earth, so too are the mysteries of human history to be found in the Gospel of Matthew. Just as one learns about the ideas of Sophia through the Gospel of John, the mysteries of sacrifice and love through the Gospel of Luke, and the forces of the Earth and the world through the Gospel of Mark, so too does one come to understand human life, human history, and human destiny through contemplation of the Gospel of Matthew.

[ 18 ] If, during the seven years of our spiritual science movement, four years had been devoted to working through the guiding principles and three years to deepening our understanding of them—as a light to be shed on the various areas of life—then we could now proceed to a study of the Gospel of Mark. Then, finally, the entire edifice could have been crowned by a contemplation of Christ Jesus in light of the Gospel of Matthew. But since human life is imperfect, and that was not the case—at least not for everyone involved in the spiritual science movement—it is not possible to proceed immediately to a contemplation of the Gospel of Mark without giving rise to misunderstanding. One would completely misjudge the figure of Christ if one believed that any knowledge of the nature of Christ Jesus could be derived from a study of the Gospel of John or Luke. One would, in turn, believe that one could apply everything that ought to be said regarding the Gospel of Mark in a one-sided manner. And the misunderstandings would be even greater than they already have been. Therefore, in light of this, the other path must be chosen. What must follow now, as best as possible, in the near future, is a study of the Gospel of Matthew. This means, for the time being, setting aside the great depths of the Gospel of Mark; however, it will prevent anyone from believing once again that a single characteristic is sufficient to describe the whole person. This will make it possible to clear up misunderstandings. And we will first undertake a study, as far as possible, of the emergence of Christ Jesus from the ancient Hebrew people—of what might be called the birth of Christianity in Palestine. Our reflections will focus on this in the near future with regard to the Gospel of Matthew, thereby preventing the confusion of a single characteristic with the consideration of the entire being. Then it will be easier to follow what will be discussed with regard to the Gospel of Mark.