Patterico's Pontifications

10/20/2019

Sunday Music: Bach Cantata BWV 157

Filed under: Bach Cantatas,General,Music — Patterico @ 9:06 am



It is the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Today’s Bach cantata is “Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn” (I will not let you go, except you bless me):

Today’s Gospel reading is Luke 18:1-8:

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

The text of today’s piece is available here. It contains these words — an ode to the rewards of persistent faith:

I will not let You go, therefore bless me!

I hold my Jesus tightly,
I will not let Him go now or ever.
He alone is my resting-place,
therefore my faith forcefully grasps
His countenance full of blessing;
for this comfort is indeed the best.

. . . .

Yes, yes, I hold Jesus tightly,
therefore I will also enter into heaven,
O lovely place!
Come, gentle death, and lead me away,
where God and the guests of His Lamb
are crowned for the wedding.

. . . .

I will not let go of my Jesus,
I will walk beside Him forever;
Christ shall for ever and ever have me
guided to the springs of life.
Blessed, whoever says with me:
I will not let go of my Jesus.

Happy listening! Soli Deo gloria.

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]

2 Responses to “Sunday Music: Bach Cantata BWV 157”

  1. Listening right now in another window. Thanks, as always. These posts are greatly appreciated. As a friend loves to say, “Jesus is the one, the only one.”

    I know that spending time in prayer, both alone and in the company of one’s family, tends top make one humble, but I would be very interested in knowing your personal thoughts on what the Gospel reading means to you. It might spur others to share their own thoughts.

    felipe (023cc9)

  2. felipe,

    I just saw your comment. Some of the parables in Luke flummox me. This is one of them, a bit. I can only sum up my reaction the way I did in the post: with a reference to the persistence of faith and the rewards it brings.

    Patterico (115b1f)


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