Patterico's Pontifications

9/29/2018

Sunday Music: Bach Cantata BWV 73

Filed under: Bach Cantatas,General,Music — Patterico @ 11:01 pm



It is the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost. The title of today’s Bach cantata is “Herr, wie du willt, so schicks mit mir” (Lord, as you will, so let it be done with me).

Today’s Gospel reading is Mark 9:38-50 and sounds like an inversion of the famous George W. Bush line about the terrorists:

Whoever Is Not Against Us Is for Us

“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”

“Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.

Causing to Stumble

“If anyone causes one of these little ones — those who believe in me — to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where

“‘the worms that eat them do not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’

Everyone will be salted with fire.

“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

The text of today’s piece is available here. It contains these words:

Ah, our will remains perverted,
quickly contrary, quickly dashed,
never considering death;
but a Christian, educated in God’s spirit,
teaches itself to sink into God’s will
and says:

Lord, as You will,
then squeeze, you pangs of death,
the sobs out of my heart,
if my prayer is only acceptable before You.

Lord, as You will,
then lay my limbs
down in dust and ashes,
this most corrupted image of sin.

Happy listening!

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]

4 Responses to “Sunday Music: Bach Cantata BWV 73”

  1. It is good that you remind us of the eternal.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  2. One of my favorite psalms. Psalm 3:

    A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.
    1 LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me!
    2 Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.”
    3 But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
    4 I call out to the LORD, and he answers me from his holy mountain.
    5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
    6 I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.
    7 Arise, LORD! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.
    8 From the LORD comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  3. I need memory aids as I age, so you might notice a pattern.

    A song. A psalm of Asaph.
    1 O God, do not remain silent; do not turn a deaf ear, do not stand aloof, O God.
    2 See how your enemies growl, how your foes rear their heads.
    3 With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish.
    4 “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”
    5 With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against you—
    6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites,
    7 Byblos, Ammon and Amalek, Philistia, with the people of Tyre.
    8 Even Assyria has joined them to reinforce Lot’s descendants.
    9 Do to them as you did to Midian, as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
    10 who perished at Endor and became like dung on the ground.
    11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
    12 who said, “Let us take possession of the pasturelands of God.”
    13 Make them like tumbleweed, my God, like chaff before the wind.
    14 As fire consumes the forest or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
    15 so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your storm.
    16 Cover their faces with shame, LORD, so that they will seek your name.
    17 May they ever be ashamed and dismayed; may they perish in disgrace.
    18 Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD— that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  4. Evil will not triumph. Not just on my watch. Rest easy, mate. Not on His watch.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)


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