How Deep and Long and Wide

On Sunday morning, February 5, 2012, I let my dog outside and noticed a jet exhaust line stretched out as far as the east is from the west. Other planes in the air had short exhaust tails that dissipated quickly. I thought—what kind of plane makes that long a line? A half hour later, the line was still there.

Later in the day, another jet line crossed the valley—this time north to south. Both lines, the same day. Such a curious thing! I wondered about it, because that particular day, I was studying Zechariah 2. I also read Matthew Henry’s Commentary to help me understand such a mystical Old Testament book. What struck me was this:

Zechariah 2: 1-4, talks about a man with a measuring line in his hands…

Then I looked up, and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand. I asked, “Where are you going?” He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.” While the angel who was speaking to me was leaving, another angel came to meet him and said to him: “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it. And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will be its glory within.’” (NIV)

Jesus, the Master Builder, is building room for multitudes. He is drawing up the plans and measuring out the perimeters for the “church”—how long and how wide (From Matthew Henry’s Commentary). The jet streams I saw in the sky completely stirred me. Perhaps God was saying something over our valley through these verses.

This background information has a purpose. Stay with me…wait for it!

A few weeks ago, I was traveling by boat up the Danube River with my father, my sister Nancy, my brother Rick, and his wife Sheryl. On a seemingly ordinary Thursday, we stopped in Passau Germany, a town of 50,000. The tour director announced that all the stores would be closed due to a religious holiday called Corpus Christi.

Corpus Christi, Latin for “Body of Christ,” is a minor feast of the Catholic Church, but for many European believers it is an annual event. It celebrates Communion, reflecting The Last Supper and identifying the belief in Christ’s bodily death and resurrection. Holy Week is generally a time of repentance and sorrow, pondering the last days of Christ. Corpus Christi was instituted to be a feast of celebration.

Rick, Sheryl, and I decided to venture into town to see what was happening. Street after street was lined with birch saplings. It had the feel of Palm Sunday though the celebration is 60 days after Easter.

On the town square, a banner made entirely of flowers said, “Jesus our center.”

Then all at once, we heard the thunderous peal of eight giant bells.

It was heart-stopping.

Next came numerous processions of people, young and old, male and female, led by clergy down various streets. Some carried birch branches. The priest declared something, and the people responded in liturgical style as they walked. You’d have to know German.

Eventually the various processions formed into one long stream that strolled toward Saint Stephen’s Cathedral on the town’s square, a masterpiece of Italian Baroque style. The church has long held the largest church pipe organ in the world until recently.

Rick, Sheryl, and I followed the others into the church at the end of the line. We couldn’t resist.

The congregation sang boldly while the organ, made of 17,774 pipes, filled the church with a breathtaking sound. To experience what this was like, click here.

After the hymn, a benediction was given and eventually everyone filed out. Apparently the people had gone to mass in their own individual churches prior to the procession.

I saw many smiling faces.

Up at the very front of the cathedral, a large altar carved by Josef Henselmann depicts the stoning of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr who was also a Jew. The sculpture was placed in the church in 1953. Our guide said that people in his town needed to remember this story in Acts in light of WWII and the mass killing of Jews…that they would rid themselves completely of the wickedness that overtook their hearts. To see an excellent photo of this altar by Adrian D. Smith, click here.

Although most of Europe was profoundly impacted by the war, it is worth mentioning that Hitler as a young child lived with his family in Passau for several years. And during the WWII, Passau housed three sub-camps of the infamous Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp. The horror was in their backyard.

While I was just an observer, I’d say some true repentance had happened in that place in the 70 years since. You could see the joy…you could feel the presence of God. They were celebrating that Jesus died and rose on their behalf.

And that means forgiveness from God is real.

For anyone who has looked into the darkness of the human heart, their own heart—forgiveness of sin means everything.

I went back out on the square and watched a jet make a line overhead. “Yes!” I said out loud. Jesus, the man with the measuring line has stretched it out over Passau. Though many have said that Europe is spiritually dark or even dead, in this community I found otherwise. The perimeters of the Church will be long and wide, because the love of God is so unfathomably deep.