What is it that actually lies hidden within the concept of Christmas? Well, the purely outward structure is well known to all people in the Christian nations. It is the story of a little child who was born in Bethlehem and who was laid in a manger, and of the angels who appeared to the shepherds in the fields telling them to rise up and go to Bethlehem where they would find the saviour of the world, through whom there would come about peace on Earth and goodwill would be bestowed on all men. And we also read how no fewer than three kings came to Bethlehem to worship the new-born king, under whom all generations of the Earth would be blessed. To the modern materialistically-minded person this narrative would probably not have any special significance. In fact, there will even be people who completely deny that this event ever took place and that Jesus ever existed. They consider themselves fortunately not so naïve as to allow themselves to be enveloped in such superstition. But it makes absolutely no difference that thousands of people deny the biblical account that has been handed down, because the truth lying hidden within the form of its words is becoming more and more apparent.

The birth of Christ is continually taking place and the singing of the angels is drawing nearer and nearer. Despite all the wars and dark traditions, Christmas is wholly pervaded by the sound of angels. What kind of wonderful mental power is it that spreads out over the Earth in the days around the 24^th December? Is it not the sound from Bethlehem, is it not the singing of the angels that still rings out throughout the world? Is it not the message of love from Palestine that "it is more blessed to give than to receive", that we are trying to bring into effect? Is it not the case that millions and millions of Christmas presents are building up in the post offices in all countries, requiring them to double their staff in order to be able to deliver all these gifts, parcels, letters and cards before Christmas Eve? Why are people in a more genial mood on this evening? Who can have the heart to be angry or brutal when their room is filled with presents, letters and loving greetings from relatives and friends, in fact sometimes with greetings from the other side of the globe? Can one not sense that on this evening there is merriment and joy in all homes? Who harbours the wish that there should not be joy in every home, in every mind especially on this evening? Is this not the reason why nearly everyone feels compelled to help to make Christmas a time of joy for all those many people who are weighed down to the ground by sorrow, illness and poverty? Just imagine if this generosity, this Christmas spirit were to be concentrated with just as powerful a force all the other days of the year as on the days around Christmas Eve. Do you not think that "the kingdom of Heaven" would be very close to the Earth? So it means absolutely nothing these days whether the Jesus of the Bible ever really did exist or whether the heavenly hosts ever really did sing for the Palestinian shepherds. The fact of the matter, and what really concerns us today, is that Christmas is tantamount to an immense wave of neighbourly love that spreads out over the Earth. But a wave of neighbourly love that is a living fact today, is certainly worth much more than a handed-down account of an event that took place centuries ago and whose "historical" value for many people is therefore wavering and dubious.

Those people who are sceptical about the biblical account of Christmas only have to look at the event of Christmas as it expresses itself today. Here they can in fact gain a far larger view of neighbourly love. When all is said and done, what the Christmas gospel is all about is nothing more than the development and growth of neighbourly love. And if the Christmas of the present day demonstrates an expression of neighbourly love the like of which has never been seen before in the history of the Earth, why place so much importance on whether the biblical traditional account of Christmas is true or not? To look for knowledge about Christmas in the Bethlehem of the past is a bit like "crossing the river to fetch water" (making unnecessary effort) when, as things stand, we have the greatest sign of Christmas manifested as fact in the very flesh and blood of our own time, in fact to a far greater extent than it ever was in Bethlehem. Perhaps at this point one will claim that giving Christmas presents is not actually a sign of real love; it is only something we feel obliged to do because we have been given gifts ourselves. When other people give us a gift we feel we have to give them a gift in return. Perhaps in certain cases it is true that a gift is more the paying back of a loan than it is a real gift, but in no way is that a justification for looking on all gifts in this way. Only those very unloving people who are unable to imagine giving a gift altruistically, can treat all gifts in such a cold business-like manner. And even though there is in the Christmas wave of love a certain slight tendency in this direction, this does not prevent Christmas from being the cosmic, physical wave of joy that it after all most certainly is for both old and young.

This all-embracing wave of love is therefore an absolutely unshakable solid fact in the world today. And is not neighbourly love exactly what it is the Christmas gospel's mission to create? Was it not in neighbourly love that Jesus was "king"? Did he not say that his kingdom was not of this world? He certainly was not a king in the sense that he was in charge of the military, or that he was the commander-in-chief of a fleet or an army. No, was he not quite the opposite? Was it not his mission precisely to be a servant of servants? Did he not say that he did not come to this world to be served but to serve? And did he not also say that all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword? Equally did he not urge people to be humble? Was it not the meek and pure in heart who were blessed? The world redeemer was therefore a "king", he was a master, a genius at expressing "neighbourly love". Wherever he travelled over the Earth, his footprints would shine brightly. And is it not precisely these "footprints", this light, that in the form of the wave of love, is a fact and that at midwinter or Christmas Eve for a few hours forms a circle around the whole world from east to west and from north to south? Like radiant sunshine in the form of gifts, parcels, letters and greetings, this wave of love pours from its actual centre spreading out over the globe. Over oceans and continents, over the frozen seas and icy wastes of the polar regions, just as much as over the baking deserts, the wildernesses and jungles of the tropics, its warm-heartedness reaches whoever it is addressed to. When the psalmist wrote that "Christmas rings with the sound of angels", he was expressing a truth so great that it possibly quite exceeds what he himself had had in mind and seen. And this is really the crux of the matter, especially when what we are talking about is a gospel.

What then is a gospel? A gospel is an eternal truth told in the form of a physical event. It differs from all everyday accounts, for example current newspaper articles, in that these are merely physical events clothed in intellectual interpretations. A gospel is thus intellectuality interpreted with the help of an understandable physical event, whereas a newspaper article or other current account is a physical event related through the use of intellectuality. So there is a fundamental difference between these two ways of narrating. While the purpose of the current newspaper article is to present the physical event as historical data, the purpose of the gospel is definitely not to present the physical event as "historical data". A gospel will on the other hand only ever bring an eternally existing fact, something infinite, something immortal, to the knowledge of the individual. But because the individual can sense only temporal things, the eternal facts can be made tangible for the being only through being interpreted as if they were temporal phenomena. We call this mode of interpretation symbolism. The gospel is a symbol of eternity whereas a current newspaper article is a demonstration of something temporal, something that really did take place on a certain date. One therefore understands that a newspaper article to an unusual degree has to make a point of giving physical proof that is able to confirm the account as physical fact. A gospel on the other hand has no need whatsoever to be based on purely physical data because it is not an actual physical event that the gospel expressed or tells about, but solely something eternally existing.

The physical event in the gospel therefore definitely does not need to be "historical reality", it is quite enough for it to be merely "fiction", as long as this fiction is in harmony with the laws within which physical phenomena take place. So we can now understand that even if the Christmas gospel were just a fairy tale made up by some ingenious writer, its interpretation of the eternal truth, that it is the Christmas gospel's purpose to implant in the terrestrial mentality, would be exactly the same. Exactly the same thing would apply to the Easter gospel. Had the story of the Passion of Jesus been nothing more than an ingeniously made up narrative, this narrative's interpretation of the cosmic truth that is embodied in the Easter gospel, would be precisely just as perfect as if the Passion had really taken place. So it is of relatively little importance whether the physical events that make up the symbols of the gospels, are historical facts or are just made-up narratives. People who long to gain information about whether these events are genuine, whether they are fact, have merely an archaeological interest, that is to say a kind of physical curiosity, which the gospels are definitely not designed to satisfy. Neither will such a being gain any satisfaction from their research. The higher cosmic narrative that the gospel has implanted into the physical event remains a mystery to the material researcher. The handed-down account thus constitutes a language that he is completely unable to make sense of. So, at most, he will arrive at the point of seeing that it is possibly completely without historical basis and has thereby no meaning for him. He was not looking for the eternal truth and did not find it. He was looking for something temporal and at best found only something temporal, namely the belief that the account was false, that is was superstition. But from this we can see that only he who is of the truth can hear the voice of truth or can understand the language of truth.

But to offer some comfort and encouragement, it is a remarkable fact that the initiate regards the main gospels, those of Christmas and Easter, nevertheless as historical, physical events that really did take place. These events were so spiritual in structure that, besides being an expression of actual physical facts, they have at the same time become accounts that almost a hundred percent express the eternal truths, the eternal world picture, to those who have now grown up to have "the ears to hear with" and the "eyes to see with". But the physical reality of these events is only revealed to beings to the extent that the gospel behind them has disclosed itself.

With respect to this disclosure of the gospel, we have at present the previously mentioned wave of love, that Christmas has become to the Christian world. The cosmic mystery of the Christmas gospel as well as the Easter gospel is nothing more than to love one's neighbour as oneself. This is therefore life's very greatest mystery, a mystery that is all the greater for it being the fulfilment of all the laws, and thereby the one and only way to the kingdom of Heaven. The Christmas and Easter gospels that are the foundation of the New Testament, therefore reveal the cosmic mystery that forms the basis of all Christmas cheer, of all development of humanity and neighbourly love, which in turn is the only way in which all forms of war can disappear from nations and states as much as from each and every individual. And just think, the event in Bethlehem will then happen once again, Christ will be born in the individual's own heart. And to the extent that the state is made up of citizens with this birth, it will be a state of Christ beings or human beings in the image of God. Then there will be peace on Earth and on men there will be bestowed an all-encompassing radiant goodwill.