Every year, many churches celebrate the Protestant Reformation with special services focusing on the central doctrines that were brought into sharper focus as they were re-discovered in the 16th century. While we remember especially Martin Luther and his 95 Theses posted on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517, we recognize that many additional evangelical doctrines were brought to the forefront, and remain so today. Among those are “The Five Solas:” Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Solus Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria. In addition to Martin Luther, we are indebted to men like William Tyndale, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, John Knox, Heinrich Bullinger, and many others whose names we ought to remember.
Christianity has always been a faith based on history and understood through doctrines. The 20th century Presbyterian theologian and author R. C. Sproul is remembered not only for his dozens of books, DVD courses, and conference lectures (and frequent expressions in Latin!). He is also remembered for reminding people that great doctrinal knowledge about Jesus is not enough, unless it is joined with a sincere and genuine love and affection for Jesus. In other words (as R. C. expressed it), the question is not just “Do you know Jesus?” but “Do you love Jesus?” After all, didn’t Jesus say that the first and greatest commandment is that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind (Matthew 22:37)?
That kind of love is fostered by such classic disciplines of the Christian life as the disciplines of Scripture, prayer, worship, fellowship, sacraments, self-examination, journaling, and fasting. We should highlight among them the discipline of meditation, slow introspective thought; not the meditation of eastern religion that seeks to empty the mind, but the kind of meditation that we read about in Psalm 1. There the godly man (the one most perfectly exemplified in the Lord Jesus Himself!) meditates on God’s law, day and night. The Hebrew word there for “meditate” (hagah) is a word that describes someone musing over a text, even muttering to one’s self, mulling the words and ideas over and over in the mind to get them rooted in the heart.
One way in which the disciplines of Scripture, prayer and meditation come together to help the Christian grow in love for Jesus is to sing hymns that are directed to Him as love songs. We have many in our hymnals. One that stands out as especially rich is the hymn “Jesus, Priceless Treasure,” written in 1655 by Johann Franck (1618-1677). He was born the same year that history recognizes as the beginning of the tragic Thirty Years’ War in Germany (1618-1648), in which as many as 8 million soldiers and civilians died, half the population of the country, before the Peace of Westphalia brought the conflict to a close. Like so many of the hymns of that period, the lyrics speak of a deep love for Jesus that seems almost incomprehensible in the midst of such profound physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering. But the history of the Christian faith has shown repeatedly over the centuries that love for Jesus grows amazingly strong amid such suffering.
We also live in a dangerous, cruel and merciless world. It is a world without peace in which many people die because of disease, money, drugs, power, oil, sexual perversity, criminal brutality, poverty, exploitation … and yes, even still today, from war. One can never ultimately rely on human beings. Humans fail, pretend to be somebody they are not, are weak, die, are dependent and are not masters of their own lives. What is reliable in such a world? Is there anybody or anything that can give us hope? Hope is one of the three Christian virtues, faith, hope, love, about which the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13. We find in “Jesus, Priceless Treasure” one on whom we can ultimately rely: God’s son, Jesus Christ, precious to those who belong to Him!
The German title of Franck’s hymn “Jesu, meine Freude,” literally means “Jesus, my joy.” Franck was born in Guben, a small town in Brandenburg, 79 miles southeast of Berlin. His father, a lawyer and judge also named Johann, died when his son was only two years old. The boy was brought up by an uncle named Adam Tielke, who was the City Judge. After visiting the Latin school in Guben, he attended schools in Cottbuds and Stettin, as well as the gymnasium in Thorn. After studying law at the University of Königsberg, the only university left untouched by the war, he became a councillor in his native town of Guben, later becoming its mayor in 1661, and died there.
Franck was a significant poet, second only to Paul Gerhardt in his day, writing some 110 hymns, many of which were published by his friend Johann Crüger in various editions of the famous “Praxis Pietatis Melica.” His secular poems are forgotten, but about forty of his religious songs, hymns, and psalms have been kept in the hymnals of the German Protestant Church. Among them are the hymn for Communion (“Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness”), and this hymn to Jesus, which is best known as being the basis of Bach’s 1723 funeral motet, “Jesu, meine Freude” (BWV 227). In honor of Franck, a simple monument has been erected at the south wall of the Guben parish church, and a rendering of him is included in a stained glass window in the church.
As a hymn writer he holds a high rank and is distinguished for unfeigned and firm faith, deep earnestness, finished form, and noble, pithy, simplicity of expression. His hymns go deeper than the objectivity and congregational character of the older German hymns, and have a more personal, individual tone, especially the longing for the inward and mystical union of Christ with the soul as in his “Jesu, meine Freude.”
The English translation was made by Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878), the most famous translator of German hymns into English. It was first published in her 1855 Chorale Book for England, though she revised it in 1863 and again in 1869, so several different versions exist. Originally Winkworth translated only five stanzas, but later she added the sixth. Winkworth’s translation is not literal, but it is very well written in English and expresses the mood, capturing the German version very well. The descriptions are very vivid. This “sweetly devotional” hymn is very introspective, based on 1 Peter 2:6, ““Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.” Though an individualistic sentiment dominates, it is certainly also well-suited for the gathered congregation to express their joint affection for the Lord Jesus, who is indeed “precious” to our souls. (For this reason, some hymnals have changed the first person singular pronouns (“I” and “my”), and in their place inserted the third person plural “we” and “our”).
Stanza 1 describes Jesus as our Friend. Jesus is the source or fount of purest pleasure because we can rejoice always in Him (Philippians 4:4). Therefore, He is the truest friend to us (John 15:13). However, to have this pleasure from such a good Friend, we must hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matthew 5:6)/
Jesus, priceless treasure, source of purest pleasure, truest Friend to me:
Ah, how long in anguish shall my spirit languish, yearning, Lord, for Thee?
Thine I am, O spotless Lamb!
I will suffer naught to hide Thee, naught I ask beside Thee.
Stanza 2 describes Jesus as our Rest. Jesus calls us to come to Him for rest (Matthew 11:28-30). The rest that He gives us will help us be more than conquerors over all foes (Romans 8:37-39). In this way, through His love He dispels our fear (1 John 4:18).
In Thine arms I rest me; foes who would molest me cannot reach me here.
Though the earth be shaken, ev’ry heart be quaking, Jesus calms my fear.
Lightnings flash and thunders crash;
Yet, though sin and hell assail me, Jesus will not fail me.
Stanza 3 describes Jesus as our Power. We can resist Satan, the devil, so that he will flee from us (James 4:7). We can overcome the world through faith (1 John 5:4). The means by which we do these things is God’s great power manifested through the gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:16).
Satan, I defy thee: death, I now decry thee; Fear, I bid thee cease,
World, thou shalt not harm me nor thy threats alarm me while I sing of peace.
God’s great pow’r guards ev’ry hour;
Earth and all its depths adore Him, silent bow before Him.
Stanza 4 describes Jesus as our greatest Choice. Wealth or treasure should not be our greatest choice (Matthew 6:19-20). Rather, Jesus must be our greatest choice, for if we do not choose Him we are against Him (Matthew 12:30). We must choose to deny self, take up the cross, and follow Him (Matthew 16:24).
Hence with earthly treasure! Thou art all my pleasure, Jesus, all my choice.
Hence, thou empty glory! Naught to me thy story, told with tempting voice.
Pain or loss or shame or cross,
Shall not from my Savior move me, since He deigns to love me.
Stanza 5 describes Jesus as our Protection. We are tempted by the evil of this world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:15-17). If we yield to temptation and sin, it binds us so that we become slaves of sin (Romans 6:16). However, Jesus protects us and gives us strength to sever those bonds by making a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Evil world, I leave thee; Thou canst not deceive me, Thine appeal is vain.
Sin that once did blind me, Get thee far behind me, Come not forth again.
Past thy hour, O pride and pow’r;
Sinful life, thy bonds I sever, Leave thee now forever.
Stanza 6 describes Jesus as our Peace. Jesus wants to enter into our hearts (John 14:23). To have Him in our hearts, we must love the Father with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:29-30). If we do this, then we can let the peace of God rule in our hearts (Colossians 3:15).
Hence, all fear and sadness! For the Lord of gladness, Jesus, enters in.
Those who love the Father, though the storms may gather, still have peace within.
Yea, whate’er I here must bear,
Thou art still my purest pleasure, Jesus, priceless treasure.
The famous tune of JESU, MEINE FREUDE that normally appears in C minor today was composed by Johann Crüger (1598-1662), who also wrote many tunes for the poems of Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676), a famous Lutheran pastor. The tune and text were first published in 1653. The war was over by then, but we can be sure that that the times were not easy, because such vast numbers of people had died in the war or because of the plague or famine. Entire areas had been left unpopulated in Germany.
The usual minor tune was said to be a “traditional German melody,” some think perhaps adapted by Crüger from plainsong origin, when published with the hymn in Crüger’s book, but it is usually attributed to Crüger himself. It was arranged in 1655 by Franck’s friend Christoph Peter for his “Andachts Zymbeln” (devotional cymbels). It was further arranged and harmonized in 1723 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
Here is a link to listen to this wonderful hymn.