Each month we highlight a hymnwriter who authored one or more of the well-loved hymns that we sing today.
A frequent visitor to Sunday services remarked that many of the hymns that we Lutherans sing are very old. The hymn “Jesus, Priceless Treasure” (TLH 347) by Johann Franck is a good example, dated 1655.
The visitor’s observation seemed to imply the question, “Why are you still singing those dated, centuries-old hymns?” To which we can reply that those hymns, though very old, are by no means dated. They are expressions of the timeless message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as helpful to worshiping Christians today as they were when first written. And they were composed during an age when the Lord poured out extraordinary poetic and musical gifts for His church.
We do, however, need to acknowledge that the circumstances under which those old hymns were written often differed greatly from ours today. The severe trials of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) in Germany surely shaped Franck’s poetry, as did also the blessings that he experienced during that time. When he suffered the loss of his father at the age of two, Frank was adopted by his uncle, who paid for his education. He was able to study law at the University of Koenigsberg, which was the only university in Germany left undisturbed by the war. While there, he also had the opportunity to develop his gift for poetry by studying under Simon Dach, another of the great hymnwriters of that age and author of “Through Jesus’ Blood and Merit.” (TLH 372) But his studies were also interrupted when he needed to return to his home to help his mother cope with the presence of both Swedish and Saxon troops in his hometown of Guben. Those soldiers made life difficult for the townspeople by using threats to extort money and food from them.
But though the life circumstances and experiences of the hymnwriters of long ago were different from ours, we find their hymns relevant to our lives today. This is so because their lives were in many ways not unlike our own. They dealt with the same afflictions that we experience, such as pain, weakness, and weariness. We can imagine that their human relationships were no more free from troubles than ours are. They faced the same temptations that trouble us. Above all, their Christian faith was the same as ours. In their life’s struggles they found help in the same Lord Jesus Who comforts us.
We see these things in Franck’s great hymn, “Jesus, Priceless Treasure.”
"Thou art mine, O Lamb divine! I will suffer naught to hide Thee, Naught I ask beside Thee."
The author confesses Jesus Christ as his priceless Treasure, One who has been his truest Friend throughout his life. He calls Jesus the Lamb divine, a name that expresses Jesus’ unique identity as the incarnate Son of God Who offered Himself as sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world. To have Him is to have all that one needs (stanza 1). To believe and trust in Jesus as Savior is to rest in the safety of His arms. It is to have refuge from the troubles of life in this world (stanza 2). With Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we can defy the mightiest and most terrifying of enemies: Satan, death, and fear. Jesus is Lord over them all (stanza 3). Jesus frees us from spending our lives in the futile pursuit of “earthly treasure” and “empty glory” (stanza 4). He reveals the vanity of this world and the deceitfulness of sin (stanza 5). In Jesus, the believer has peace within, even in the midst of the storms of life (stanza 6).
These thoughts are helpful to believers in every age, regardless of their particular circumstances. We have no trouble applying them to our own turbulent age and personal individual lives. No matter how chaotic and troubled our world, no matter how bleak and seemingly hopeless our circumstances, we have Jesus. And because we have Jesus, nothing else need worry us, because in Him we have the forgiveness of sins, peace with God, the privilege of prayer, and the certain hope of eternal life.
is a retired pastor. He lives in Watertown, South Dakota.