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Christmas and EpiphanyFrom the Past to the Future By Margarete van den BrinkTranslated by Philip Mees
Christmas is the festival of light, divine Light, that permeates the earthly darkness and brings new life. It makes visible how the world of light, the spiritual sun, the primal source of the creation, streams into humanity and the earth and brings fresh, renewing divine forces. We find the theme of light again and again at Christmas time. The Bible relates that at the beginning of our era shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks in the fields near Bethlehem. Then, it says, “the glory of the Lord” shone around them and an angel appeared. The angel said to them: Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Lk.2:10)i Suddenly around the angel all the heavenly hosts are visible. They praise God and sing: “God be revealed in the heights, and peace on earth to men of good will.” (Lk.2:14) In addition to the angel who brought the good news, now the heavenly hierarchies also appear in the fullness of their glory to the shepherds. Thus is indicated the incredibly great significance of the birth in Bethlehem. The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem takes place in the first of the twelve holy nights. Baby Jesus is not like any other human child. In him a high spiritual individuality is incarnated, an individuality who dwells in the body and soul of Jesus of Nazareth for thirty years and prepares his personality to become the bearer of the Sun Logos, God the Son—the greatest event in the history of humanity and the earth. Four GospelsEsoteric tradition says that the birth of Jesus and, a short time later, the incarnation of the Sun Logos, Christ, were so overwhelming that four gospels were needed to describe this encompassing event and do it justice.ii That is why all four gospel writers described these events each from their own perspective. By relating the four descriptions to each other, humanity received the possibility to gradually form a complete picture for itself. We become aware of the truth of this when we observe what is accentuated in each gospel. In the Gospel of St. John, Jesus Christ is described out of the creative Logos himself. It opens with the words: In the beginning was the Word, This leads us immediately to knowledge and insight regarding his high descent. All his spiritual grandeur, wisdom, and loftiness becomes clear. The Gospel of St. Luke shows Jesus Christ from a sphere of intimacy and soul warmth in the power of his love. It speaks particularly to the heart. We receive a clear picture of the way love and powers of sacrifice of the highest order stream from Jesus Christ into humanity and the world, and the intensity to which these cosmic forces of love can grow. In the Gospel of St. Mark, we can especially experience the cosmic revealing creative power that streams through the whole becoming of the world. The Gospel of St. Matthew has a completely different color. In a certain sense, it is closer to us human beings. That is because it describes Jesus Christ primarily as a human being. It begins with a genealogical register, which emphasizes the hereditary origin of Jesus of Nazareth. The blood that flows in his veins, it says, goes from generation to generation, via King David, back to the patriarch Abraham. Through the generations, properties were developed that caused a particular kind of physical body to come into being for Jesus of Nazareth. St. Matthew shows all that had to happen on the physical level so that ultimately a body could be created in which the Sun Logos, Christ could live.iii The physical properties that were needed for this could at that time only be found in the Jewish people, specifically in the descendants of patriarch Abraham. That was the reason that they became the “chosen” people. Because they gave birth to Jesus Christ, the Jewish people were of special significance for world history, and for the development of the earth and humanity. The Shining Star in the EastAgain we hear about light when the Matthew Gospel tells us about the “Three Kings from the East.” Guided by a star, they were seeking the “King of the Jews” to whom they wanted to bring honor and pay homage. In esoteric tradition these three Kings are mostly called “mages,” a word that comes from ancient Persian magu,iv which indicated a member of the priestly caste. The “Three Kings” came from Persia and were “seers,” initiates in the old Zarathustra religion, Zoroastrianism. Because they were seers they could observe “across lands and seas,” meaning across dimensions of time and space, into the spiritual world. Thus they were able, just like the initiates of ancient Zoroastrianism thousands of years before them, to behold the great Sun Aura that was approaching the earth. For what the mages saw as a shining star was in reality the radiation of the approaching Sun Logos, Christ. Their supersensory capacities told them that somewhere in the Middle East a very special human being was born, a child into whose soul an even much higher light source was poured out. And they knew that when this child had grown up, the great soul of the Sun Logos, the Christ himself, would descend into him and dwell in him. He would be the divine spirit that guides the entire development of humanity. This would be the fulfillment of the prophecies of the mysteries. EpiphanyThe Three Kings from the East beheld the “epiphany” that would one day be enacted in this human being, Jesus. Epiphany means: “Manifestation of light from the heights” that works onto the earth. This is the reason why Three Kings Day, January 6, is also called Epiphany. Traditionally, the festival of the Three Kings is celebrated on January 6 in Christendom. This festival developed in the fourth century after Christ in Eastern Christianity. There it is even today considered to be the actual day of the birth of Christ, the manifestation of God on earth in a human body. In the course of time the Roman Catholic Church more and more celebrated the birth of Jesus on December 25. As a result, on January 6 only the worship by the Three Kings was commemorated. Esoteric Christianity views Christmas on December 25 as relating to the birth of Jesus. On Epiphany, however, the birth of Christ, the Sun Being, took place. The Christmas festival takes place in the old year and has to do with the past. The birth of Jesus from the descendants of his forefathers is the culmination of an old path of development that had its origin in the past. In Christ, the Sun Logos, everything is future. He is the divine being in the universe whose being is what is becoming, what is always developing. In his book quoted above, Emil Bock calls him the everlasting future.v This becoming aspect is something you have to learn to recognize, he says there. Although in the gospels you may see situations that seem to belong to the past, you also have to learn to see in every scene the Christ aspect in addition to the Jesus aspect. Then only can you discover the everlasting future, the ongoing epiphany, the increasing revelation of the “Light that comes from the heights.” The Baptism in the JordanFor esoteric Christianity—just as for Eastern Christendom—the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, thirty years after his birth, is the actual moment of the “birth” of the Sun Logos, Christ on earth. At that moment, the Godhead, God the Son, the Sun Logos, connects himself with Jesus of Nazareth. “The Light that comes from the heights” descends into a human being: Epiphany. St. Matthew describes the baptism in the River Jordan as follows: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. But John refused and said: “It is I who need to be baptized by you—and you come to me?” (Mat.4:13-14) Jesus insists and John baptizes him in the river. Matthew then says—and again we can experience the light of revelation from heavenly heights: When Jesus had received the baptism and was already coming out of the water again, see, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending in the form of a dove and hovering over him. And see, a voice spoke out of the heavens: “This is my Son whom I love, in him will I reveal myself.” (Mat. 4:16-17) That which stood as great epiphany behind the “star,” the Sun Logos, descends into the human being Jesus of Nazareth. From that moment Jesus is Jesus Christ, God and human being at the same time. John the Baptist knew who was standing before him. That is clear from the following words: “He it is of whom I said: After me comes one who was before me, for he is greater than I.” (Jn.1:30) Next, he testified to the divinity of the Christ Spirit that descended into Jesus: I saw how the Spirit descended like a dove from heaven upon him and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me: ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend, so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I saw this, and so I testify that this is the Son of God. (Jn.1:32-34) The Transfiguration on Mount TaborIn the three years that Christ lived in Jesus of Nazareth, the light of the “star” continued to work. When Jesus is later on Mount Tabor with three of his disciples, suddenly the radiant light of the divine Sun Spirit shines through his human figure. Matthew: “And he was transformed before them. His countenance shone like the sun, and his garments became shining white like light itself.” (Mat. 17:2) And as it were to confirm this manifestation of divinity, here again the voice from heavenly heights sounds: “This is my Son whom I love. In him I have been revealed. Listen to him!” (Mat.17:5) During this event on Mount Tabor, everything earthly is lifted up by the light shining from Jesus Christ into a supernatural radiance. It shows that the epiphany is continuing. The Osiris FestivalJanuary 6 has for many peoples in antiquity always been a festival of the highest order. In the old Middle East it was the festival of Osiris.vi In the name of Osiris, the myth of the twilight of the gods—the process of the withdrawal of the divine world—was summed up. The myth says that the sun genius Osiris is killed by his dark opponent Seth, and that pieces of him are buried in every human being on earth. One day, it was known, Osiris will rise. That will be when the star of love that shines in higher worlds will descend to the earth. The earthly passions of human beings will then gradually be ennobled by heavenly love. We might say that the three Kings from the Orient saw that the fulfillment was drawing near of what they had kept alive in their Osiris festival as messianic hope and expectation for the future. From the Past to the FutureIn our time we can, by feeling and living into this, become conscious of the deep secrets that are connected with the birth of Jesus and the descent to the earth of the high Sun Being. Only very gradually, as our eyes are opened by the spirit, will we begin to comprehend something of this mystery. Probably Epiphany will then, as the festival of the future, become more important than the Christmas festival that we now celebrate on December 25.
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The Birth of Jesus Christi (Anthrowiki)
