“Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands” is Martin Luther’s hymn for Easter Day. It is still the Easter season, so we are still singing Easter hymns! The first half of stanza 1 tells us the story of Easter, how Christ who once was dead—he “lay in death’s strong bands”—now is risen and reigns at God the Father’s right hand in heaven. Luther then tells us that because of this, we should be joyful and sing Alleluia!

Luther describes death as strong—“death’s strong bands”. We certainly know this is true. Death seems scary and final. But Jesus went to suffer and die for us—“for our offenses given”. Because of Christ’s sacrifice for us, we are joyful. Death has been defeated! Jesus rose again and destroyed death’s strength. Now, even though we die, we shall live.

The tune Luther uses for this hymn may sound unusual to our modern ears. It has the sound of a minor key, something we usually associate with sadness. That seems a strange choice for a joyful Easter hymn; however, the music is actually in what we call the Dorian mode. In medieval church music, this mode (related to what we call keys in music today) was considered strong and serious—a perfect choice for the topic of Jesus defeating death and granting us eternal life.

Finally, notice how each stanza ends with our Easter A word! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Review questions:

1. Who wrote this week’s hymn?

2. Which season of the Church Year are we in?

3. How does the hymn-writer describe death?

4. Who destroyed death?

5. Why might the music of this hymn sound unusual?

6. How was the music of this hymn described in medieval times?

7. Which word ends each stanza?