Is that the body, Lord Jesus Christ

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Is that the body, Herr Jesu Christ , print version Würzburg 1630, largely identical to the first print

Is that the body, Lord Jesus Christ is a Catholic spiritual song for Easter and Easter time . It first appeared in 1623 in the Cologne hymn book Auserlesene Catholische Geistliche Kirchengesäng . Friedrich Spee is considered to be the author of the text . The composer of the melody is unknown. While the song was only included in diocesan parts of the Praise of God (1975) , a revised version was included in the trunk part of the Praise of God (2013) (No. 331).

content

The song is an imagined show of the body of the risen Jesus Christ , beginning with an astonished question that, as it were, does not trust one's own sensory impression. In the following the red "veins" (stanza 2; in the new version "wounds") are the only mentioned detail of an earthly body. In addition, the resurrection body as a whole has properties that go beyond all spatiotemporal limitations.

The biblical background is the reflections of the apostle Paul on identity and the infinite difference between earth and resurrection bodies ( 1 Cor 15: 35–50  EU ). From this Thomas Aquinas ( Summa theologica , Supplementum, Quaestiones 82-85) developed the four attributes impassibilitas, subtilitas, agilitas and claritas , each of which is developed in a stanza in the song. The claritas , the shadowless shine, takes the first place (stanza 2) and remains dominant in all stanzas as the allegory of the sun . “Unleidenheit”, German replica of the Latin impassibilitas , is the subject of the third stanza, subtilitas as infinite delicacy and the ability to penetrate other materials is the subject of the fourth, agilitas as being unbound by indolence and heaviness is the subject of the fifth; in the modern revision, “sun” and “world” carry out the Copernican turn , which was still fought against by teachers in Spee's time.

After the song began with the urgent invitation to come and look, it closes with a resolute warning against it, reminding of the Old Testament shyness of the glory of God - a paradoxical tension that the poet evidently in the appearance and withdrawal of the risen Christ himself sees justified, cf. the transfiguration scene Mt 17.1–9  EU .

The song acquires a dimension of meaning that is not contained in the text when, as is often the case, it is sung for the purpose of walking during Holy Mass or for worshiping the Eucharist . The visually described properties of the resurrection body come into conflict with the visual accidents of the host .

text

Wurzburg 1630

Praise to God 2013

1. Is that the body of the Lord Jesus Christ /
who is lying dead in the grave /
come / come o come / come young and old /
come shaw the beautiful body /
alleluia / alleluia.

1. Is that the body, Lord Jesus Christ,
that was dead in the grave?
Come, come, you Christians young and old,
look at the transfigured body!
Alleluia, alleluia!

2. The body is clear / clear like Christall /
the veins red / red like Corall /
the soul hereby shines nice and fine /
like a thousand times the sunshine /
alleluia / alleluia.

2. The body is clear, clear as crystal,
rubies like all wounds,
the soul shines through it light and pure
like a thousand sunshine.
Alleluia, alleluia!

3. The body is afflicted /
remains injured in eternity /
just like the sun remains clear /
so much and so many thousand years /
alleluia / alleluia.

3. The body never feels suffering,
remains unharmed in eternity,
just like so many thousands of years
the sun shines clearly.
Alleluia, alleluia!

4. O how subtle: O body how tender /
you go through steel and Eysen hard /
just as the sun goes through
the glass / since nothing withstands the stralen /
alleluia / alleluia.

4. O body, how delicate, O body, how fine,
penetrate through closed doors
as the sun goes through the glass,
since nothing opposes the rays.
Alleluia, alleluia!

5. The body is fast and it is fast /
like an arrow and like the wind /
like the sun many thousands of miles /
the world moves in faster speed /
Alleluja / Alleluja.

5. The body is swift, swift and swift,
like an arrow, like the wind,
like the world by thousands of miles,
the sun revolves in swift haste.
Alleluia, alleluia!

6. Now cover / now cover
your eyes / that the gleam does not harm you /
in the body the deity shines on /
no one / no eye can open the earth /
alleluia / alleluia.

6. Cover, O man, your eyesight!
It does not exist before this sun.
No one on this earth can
look at the splendor of the Godhead.
Alleluia, alleluia!

melody

The melody ? / i was created for Spees text after identification of the first printing. It corresponds to the style of the first text stanza with the astonished rhetorical question and the urgently repeated request. The dance-like three-bar gives it a joyful Easter character. It was soon, slightly changed, taken over by Protestant hymn poets for their own texts: “O Jesulein sweet, o Jesulein mild” (1650, cf. BWV 493), “O Holy Spirit, o holy God” (1651), “O holy God , omnipotent hero "(1651)," O glorious day, o happy time "(1714) and a. At the end of the 18th century the new Catholic text "Mighty ruler in the blessed kingdom" was created. Audio file / audio sample

literature

  • Alex Stock : Is that the body, Lord Jesus Christ . In: Geistliches Wunderhorn. Great German hymns . Ed., Presented and explained by Hansjakob Becker u. a. Munich 2001, pp. 200-206

Web links

Commons : Is that the body, Lord Jesus Christ  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Stock p. 201
  2. ↑ a b Andreas Marti : "O Holy Spirit, O Holy God"
  3. ↑ Evangelical Hymnal 131
  4. ^ Praise to God Hamburg-Hildesheim-Osnabrück 775