Holy Night 13 – Epiphany 2018

This night we stand on the cusp of one of the greatest events in the Universe. This event marks the point where a mighty God entered into a human body for the first time. No other being in the Universe, apart from human beings, had ever experienced entering into a physical body. Because spiritual beings are not encapsulated in physical bodies, when this entrance happened every being in the spiritual worlds experienced it – for the first time – ever! This is the baptism of Jesus by John.

In the lecture series, “From Jesus to Christ” Rudolf Steiner explains how two Jesus individualities merge together and the merged being is then baptised by John to begin the infusion of the Christ which takes a little over three years and culminates with the resurrection.

“Since these two Jesus-figures were such significant individualities, Jesus of Nazareth certainly stands high; but not in the same way as an Adept does, for the Adept goes forward continuously from incarnation to incarnation. And apart from this: in the thirtieth year, when the Christ-Individuality enters into the body of Jesus of Nazareth, this very Jesus of Nazareth forsakes his body, and from the moment of the Baptism by John — even if we do not now speak of the Christ — we have to do with a human being who must be designated in the truest sense of the word as a ‘mere man’, save that he is the bearer of the Christ. But we must distinguish between the bearer of the Christ and the Christ Himself.

Once the body which was to be the bearer of the Christ had been forsaken by the Zarathustra-individuality, there dwelt in it no human individuality who had attained any specially high development. The stage of development shown by Jesus of Nazareth sprang from the fact that the Zarathustra-individuality dwelt in him. As we know, however, this human nature was forsaken by the Zarathustra-individuality. Thus it was that this human nature, directly the Christ-Individuality had taken possession of it, brought against Him all that otherwise comes forth from human nature — the Tempter. That is why the Christ could go through the extremities of despair and sorrow, as shown to us in the happenings on the Mount of Olives.

Anyone who leaves out of account these essential points cannot come to a real knowledge of the Being of the Christ. The Christ-bearer was truly man — not an Adept. Recognition of this fact will open for us a first glimpse into the whole nature of the events of Golgotha, the events of Palestine.” From Jesus to Christ Lecture 3

This is the journey we all must take, and we do it in small ways each year. Again, if we are unsure of what will take place within us then we can talk to Christ who knows all about it.

You may be interested to read more about the two Jesus’s in this post

Thank you for travelling with me through the thirteen Holy Nights. We will do it again next year I am sure. I will repost the appropriate night’s meditation as it applies to each month of 2018.

The Baptism of Christ  Aert de Gelder 1710