Nathan Jesus

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Guido Reni: The Adoration of the Shepherds ;c. 1640, National Gallery (London)

Nathan Jesus or Nathanian Jesus is the name given in anthroposophy to the Jesus boy reported in the Gospel of Luke. Rudolf Steiner's spiritual-scientific research led him to the view that not only one, but two Jesus boys were born at the turn of the time. In fact, on closer examination, the Gospels also point in this direction. The birth narrative in Luke's Gospel differs in essential points from that in Matthew's Gospel; in particular, the two Gospels also give clearly different lines of descent. The Jesus boy described in Luke's Gospel comes from the priestly Nathanian line of the house of David, which - unlike in the case of the Solomon Jesus - is traced back to Adam - and "he was of God". What both Jesus boys have in common is that their parents are called Joseph and Mary in the New Testament - names that were widely used in Palestine at the time. The adoration of the shepherds visiting the Nathanian Jesus boy lying in a poor stable in a manger between an ox and a donkey has been a popular motif in Christian art since the Middle Ages. Occasionally the scene is mistakenly mixed with the Adoration of the Magi, which, however, refers to the Solomon Jesus, the reborn Zarathustra.

According to Rudolf Steiner, the Nathanian Jesus is the pure sister-soul of Adam, untouched by Luciferic temptation, who remained in the soul world after the Fall of man as an Angelic or Archangel-like being. From the beginning, she stood in close relationship to the Christ, who worked through her and was thus able to accomplish the preliminary stages of the Mystery of Golgotha. Shortly before the dawn of the Kali-Yuga, the dark age in which natural clairvoyance was extinguished in most people, she appeared in the form of Krishna, through whom Vishnu-Christ revealed himself. At the turn of the age, she was born on earth as the Nathanian Jesus boy, whose bodily wrappings made possible the bodily incarnation of the Christ with the the Jordan baptism. At birth, his astral body was overlighted by the Nirmanakaya of the Buddha. It was also through the light of this sister soul of Adam that Paul of Tarsus recognised the Risen Christ during his Damascus experience.

The Report of the Gospel of Luke

The Jesus boy described in the Gospel of Luke comes from the Nathanian line of the House of David and is traced back to Adam, who was "the son of God".

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

23 Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel,[5] the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

„Let us take the facts. The writer of the Gospel of Matthew describes that the birth of the Creator of Christianity is foretold, that this birth takes place, that magi come from the East who have perceived the star, that the star has led them to the place where the Redeemer is born. He also describes that Herod is made aware of this and that, in order to escape Herod's measure, which consists of the Bethlehemite infanticide, the parents of the Redeemer flee with the child to Egypt. When Herod was dead, Joseph, the father of Jesus, was told that he could return, and he did not return to Bethlehem for fear of Herod's successor, but went to Nazareth. - Today I want to refrain from the announcement of the Baptist. But I would like to point out that if we compare the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of Matthew with each other, in the two Gospels the proclamation of Jesus of Nazareth is made quite differently: in one case it is made to Joseph, in the other to Mary. We then see from Luke's Gospel how the parents of Jesus of Nazareth originally live in Nazareth and then go to Bethlehem on one occasion, namely for the census. While they are there, the Jesus is born. Then after eight days the circumcision takes place - nothing of a flight to Egypt - ; and after some time, which is not far after, the child is presented in the temple. We see that the sacrifice is offered, which is customary, and that afterwards the parents go back with the child to Nazareth and live there. And then we are told of a strange procession, the procession of how the twelve-year-old Jesus stays behind in the temple during a visit that his parents have made to Jerusalem, how they search for him, how they then find him again in the temple among those who interpret the Scriptures, how he confronts them there as an expert in the interpretation of the Scriptures, how he appears intelligent and wise in the circle of the scribes. Then we are told how they take the child home again, how he grows up; and we hear nothing more special about him until John's baptism. There we have two stories of Jesus of Nazareth before the reception of the Christ.“ (Lit.:GA 114, p. 27f)

Rudolf Steiner explains further:

„This entity, which worked in the Nathanian Jesus boy, had for the first time entered into a physical embodiment in the Jesus of Bethlehem. Before that it had taken part in the development of humanity from the spiritual world, but had never lived in a physical human body. She had lived through the times when the human shells were created, through the Saturnian period in which the germ of the physical body was formed, through the solar and lunar periods when the etheric and astral bodies were formed, and through the smaller stages which repeated the great periods of time. But when the human I, in Lemurian times, descended into the three sheaths, this being, as it were, remained in the spiritual worlds as a part of the divine human being and did not take part in the development of the I in the three sheaths and its seduction by the Luciferic-Ahrimanic influence. This part of the divine human being, this spiritual being, which had held itself back in the spiritual worlds, descended for the first time into a physical body as the Nathanian Jesus boy, in order to be illuminated by the Christ. The baptism of John represents the penetration of Jesus by the Christ-Spirit.“ (Lit.:GA 152, p. 93)

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.
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