Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion: Day 5 (Good Friday)

The content of these posts is drawn extensively from Markus Rathey’s Bach’s Major Vocal Works: Music, Drama, Liturgy (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016) and Michael Marissen’s translations in Bach’s Oratorios: The Parallel German-English Texts with Annotations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).

You can find a beautifully-filmed recording of the St. Matthew Passion by the Netherlands Bach Society here, including an English translation of the German text. NPR Classical also presents a “guided tour” through the St. Matthew Passion here.


In the cool of the evening, God walked in the Garden of Eden, and Adam hid from him. The man was ashamed, for he had fallen into sin.

In the cool of the evening, Jesus died upon the cross, accomplishing the salvation of the world. He crushed the Old Adam and brought peace between God and man.

In Bach’s St. Matthew Passion this recitative contemplates and praises the evening hour:

O schöne Zeit! O Abendstunde! Der Friedensschluß isn nun mit Gott gemacht, Denn Jesus hat sein Kreuz vollbracht.

O lovely time! O evening hour! The peace treaty is now made with God, for Jesus has accomplished his [Godly aims in dying on the] cross. (Marissen 70)

So, too, in the evening Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for Jesus’ body, that he might lay it in his own grave. The text encourages the believer to follow the example of Joseph of Arimathea:

Ach! liebe Seele, bitte du, Geh, lasse dir den toten Jesum schenken.

Oh! dear soul, ask for the favor: go, let the death-stricken Jesus be given to you. (Marissen 70)

But this interpretation of the actions of Joseph does not stop at merely asking for Jesus’ body. Like Joseph buries Jesus in his own tomb, the text of the following aria then mediates on burying Jesus in the believer’s heart. Bach’s choice of setting this for a bass voice indicates his interpretation of Joseph as a type of the believer who desires to bury Christ not within a tomb, but within his own heart: “Ich will Jesum selbst begraben.” I wish to bury Jesus himself [inside my heart] (Marissen 70). This indwelling of Christ in the heart of the believer is a union likened to marriage, a hearkening back to the opening movement of the passion where the believer is called to see the Bridegroom. It is also a reminder of Maundy Thursday and the Lord’s Supper, in which the believer, eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ, “buries” Jesus within himself.

In both this recitative and this aria, we also find the theme of rest. In the recitative: “Sein Leichnam kömmt zur Ruh”. His corpse comes to rest. In the aria: “Denne er soll nunmehr in mir Für und für Seine süße Ruhe haben”. For within me shall he now, ever and ever, have his sweet rest. Bach’s musical setting of these is peaceful; indeed, he uses the conventions of the pastoral, a type of music used to evoke scenes of peaceful nature. The drama has ended and we are left with peaceful rest.

And this is what Bach and Picander set forth in the final movements of the St. Matthew Passion. Consider this final meditative recitative and aria chorus: the recitative begins with “Nun ist der Herr zu Ruh gebracht”. Now the Lord is laid to rest (Marissen 72). In these final two movements, Jesus’ body in the tomb is likened to a slumber, aligned with the Lutheran understanding of death as a sleep. In the final chorus, the believers sit at Jesus’ grave in tears, and they call out “Ruhe sanfte, sanfte ruh!” You rest in peace, in peace rest! They tell the body of Christ “Ruht, ihr ausgesognen Glieder!” You all rest, you worn-out members!

The grave itself is likened to a pillow:

Euer Grab und Leichenstein Soll dem ängstlichen Gewissen Ein bequemes Ruhekissen Und der Seelen Ruhstatt sein. Höchst vergnügt schlummern da die Augen ein.

Your grave and tombstone shall be to our anxious conscience a comfortable resting cushion and the soul’s resting place. There with highest pleasure our eyes will fall into slumber. (Marissen 73)

The salvation of the world has been accomplished. Jesus’ work is done. He is resting. Our sins atoned for, we also rest with him as he dwells in our hearts. As in a garden God condemned the fallen Adam to strenuous toil on the face of the earth, so in a garden Jesus, the second Adam, now rests in peace having accomplished his toil on earth. So he now also grants us peaceful rest when our toil on earth is complete.

Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, meant for the Good Friday vespers service, does not end with the resurrection; however, the conclusion of the passion is not depressing, but peaceful. Bach’s music itself is a lullaby. As Jesus rests in his tomb, so we rest. This is not the “rest” of endless death, but rather a sweet slumber from which we will awaken. Our grave is merely a pillow.

On this Good Friday, we do not despair. For our salvation is accomplished. So we say with the believers, “Mein Jesu, gute Nacht! Ruhe sanfte, sanfte ruh!”

Reading questions:

1.     What time of day did Adam hide from God in the garden of Eden? What time of day was Jesus crucified and buried?

2.     How is Joseph of Arimathea a type or model for the believer?

3.     What major theme do we encounter at the conclusion of the St. Matthew Passion?

4.     What is Jesus’ burial in the tomb compared to? What is the grave itself compared to?

5.     How does Bach’s musical setting of the final movements indicate rest?

6.     What is the mood at the end of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion?