J.S. Bach’s Sunday Canata: Jubilate
Johann Sebastian Bach (aged 61) in a portrait by Elias Gottlob Haussmann, second version of his 1746 canvas. Bach is holding a copy of the six-part canon BWV 1076.
Johann Sebastian Bach composed weekly cantatas to accompany the Sundays and feast days of the Historic Lectionary—a cycle of Scripture readings used by Christians for centuries. This lectionary shaped the worship life of the Western Church, including Roman Catholics until the reforms of Vatican II, and remains in use today among many Lutheran congregations, including our own here at St. Thomas.
These cantatas are not merely concerts—they are sermons in music. Each one beautifully unites Scripture, sacred poetry, and hymnody, often incorporating chorales that are still sung in our services today. Bach’s music proclaims the Word of God with emotional depth and theological clarity, offering both comfort and exhortation to the faithful.
The English translation and textual notes for this week’s cantata are drawn from bachcantatatexts.org. We pray that the Word of Christ, communicated through this sacred music, strengthens your faith and prepares your heart to hear God’s Word preached this Jubilate Sunday.
Readings for Jubilate Sunday
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 1 Peter 2:11-20
“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. John 16:16-22
Performance Recording
English Translation
Sinfonia
Weeping, lamenting,
Worries, faintheartedness,
Anguish and distress
Are the bread-of-tears1 of Christians,
Those who bear the [brand-]mark2 of Jesus.We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.3
Cross and victory wreaths are bound together,
Contest and prize medal are united.6
Christians may have, at every hour,
Their sorrow and their enemy,
Yet Christ’s wounds are their comfort.I follow Christ;
I will not let go of him7
In well-being and in affliction,
In life and in [deathly] pallor.
I kiss Christ’s humiliation;
I will embrace his cross.
I follow Christ; I will not let go of him.Be faithful; all pain
Will indeed be but a little while.8
After rain,
Blessing blooms;9
Every storm passes; Be faithful, be faithful.What God does is done well —
I will abide by this;
If distress, death, and sorrow may
Drive me on the rough course [of life],
Then God will,
Most paternally,
Hold me in his arms;
That is why I just let him rule.
(transl. Michael Marissen & Daniel R. Melamed)
Scripture References
Psalm 80:5
"You have fed them with the bread of tears, And given them tears to drink in great measure."
Referenced in: “Are the bread-of-tears of Christians.”
Galatians 6:17
"From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus."
Referenced in: “Those who bear the [brand-]mark of Jesus.”
Acts 14:22
"...strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, 'We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.'”
Quoted directly: “We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
2 Timothy 4:7–8
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness..."
Referenced in: “Cross and victory wreaths are bound together, contest and prize medal are united.”
Philippians 3:10
"...that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death..."
Referenced in: “I kiss Christ’s humiliation; I will embrace His cross.”
Romans 8:17
"…if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."
Reflected in: “In well-being and in affliction… I follow Christ.”
1 Peter 1:6–7
"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith… may be found to praise, honor, and glory..."
Referenced in: “Be faithful; all pain will indeed be but a little while.”
Job 5:10 / Hosea 6:3
(Job) "He gives rain on the earth, And sends waters on the fields."
(Hosea) "He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth."
Echoed in: “After rain, blessing blooms.”
Psalm 31:15 / Romans 8:28
(Psalm) "My times are in Your hand..."
(Romans) "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God..."
Implied in: “Then God will, most paternally, hold me in His arms… I just let Him rule.”
Hymns We Still Sing
Lutheran Service Book 760, “What God Ordains Is Always Good”
What God ordains is always good:
His will is just and holy.
As He directs my life for me,
I follow meek and lowly.
My God indeed
In ev’ry need
Knows well how He will shield me;
To Him, then, I will yield me.What God ordains is always good:
He never will deceive me;
He leads me in His righteous way,
And never will He leave me.
I take content
What He has sent;
His hand that sends me sadness
Will turn my tears to gladness.What God ordains is always good:
His loving thought attends me;
No poison can be in the cup
That my physician sends me.
My God is true;
Each morning new
I trust His grace unending,
My life to Him commending.What God ordains is always good:
He is my friend and Father;
He suffers naught to do me harm
Though many storms may gather.
Now I may know
Both joy and woe;
Someday I shall see clearly
That He has loved me dearly.What God ordains is always good:
Though I the cup am drinking
Which savors now of bitterness,
I take it without shrinking.
For after grief
God gives relief,
My heart with comfort filling
And all my sorrow stilling.What God ordains is always good:
This truth remains unshaken.
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
I shall not be forsaken.
I fear no harm,
For with His arm
He shall embrace and shield me;
So to my God I yield me.
Text: Public domain
Translation Notes
1 “Bread of tears” may sound strange, but the expression comes from Psalm 80:5, as rendered in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day, “Du speisest sie mit Tränenbrot” (“You [i.e., God] feed them [i.e., your people] with bread-of-tears”).
2 The “mark of Jesus” is, more specifically, a “brand-mark” burned into the skin, according to Galatians 6:17, as rendered in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day, “Hinfort mache mir niemand weiter Mühe, denn ich trage die Malzeichen des HErrn JEsu an meinem Leibe” (“Henceforth no one may further give me trouble, for I [as a slave/servant of Christ] bear on my body the brand-marks of”[my owner] the Lord Jesus”). In the ancient world, brand-marks were burned into the skin of enslaved people to prove that they belonged to a particular owner. Luther says concerning Galatians 6:17, “Die Malzeichen, so ich an meinem Leibe trage, . . . zeigen gnugsam an, wes Knecht ich sei” (“The [metaphorical] brand-marks [of suffering that] I bear on my body indicate sufficiently whose servant I am”).
3 A slight adaptation of Acts 14:22, as rendered in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day, “und [Paulus] ermahneten sie, dass sie im Glauben blieben, und dass wir durch viel Trübsal müssen in das Reich Gottes gehen” (“and [the Apostle Paul] exhorted them [i.e., the new followers of Jesus], that they might abide in the faith, and [he also exhorted them, saying] that we must through much tribulation go into the kingdom of God”).
4 Most editions of the cantata give the singular (“Krone”) here, but Bach’s original materials clearly have the plural.
5 Unusually, Bach repeats the opening lines of the aria within the “B” section of his da capo setting.
6 Translations typically stray from the apparently intended meaning of these lines, which draw heavily upon Luther’s rendering of 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, “Wisset ihr nicht, dass die, so in den Schranken laufen, die laufen alle, aber Einer erlanget das Kleinod? Laufet nun also, dass ihr es ergreifet. Ein jeglicher aber, der da kämpfet, enthält sich alles Dinges: jene also, dass sie eine vergängliche Krone empfangen; wir aber eine unvergängliche.” (“Do you not know that they who run in the race-course, run all; but [only] one gets the [prize-]medal? Now then, run, that you may obtain it [i.e., the prize medal]. But each man who competes, abstains from all things: those men [will exercise this self control], then, that they may receive a perishable crown [i.e., a victory wreath, whose leaves decay eventually]; but we [abstain so that we may receive] an imperishable one.”) All four nouns in lines 1–2 of this aria are united in German by starting with a “K” (and they are presumably also meant to be linked, by this same initial consonantal sound, to the words “Christen,” “Qual,” and “Christi” in lines 3–5).
7 This is an allusion to Genesis 32:26, the story of Jacob’s wrestling with God at Peniel. God says to Jacob, as rendered in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day, “Lass mich gehen” (“Let me go”), and Jacob answers, “Ich lasse dich nicht [gehen], du segnest mich denn” (“I will not let you [go], unless you bless me”). According to Luther’s radically Christocentric reading of the Hebrew Scriptures, it was actually Christ himself with whom Jacob wrestled at Peniel.
8 The idea here, apparently, is not that the pain is “only a small thing”; rather, the idea is that it will last “only a little while.” The Luther Bibles of Bach’s day employ the expression “ein Kleines” to mean “a little while,” for example, in John 14:19 and 16:16-19 (this passage is part of the Gospel reading specified for Cantata 12’s liturgical occasion), and in Haggai 2:6.
9 A looser rendering might be “April showers bring May flowers.”
10 A stanza of the hymn “Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan.”
