02/09/2024
Seeing Jesus in everyone
I work in Glasgow City Centre twice a week, and I enjoy walking around taking in the sights and sounds of the city. Recently I’ve started to take photographs of public art around the city, and one piece in particular struck me, one which I’d totally forgotten about. Homeless Jesus (by Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz) is a piece of art at the back of St George’s Tron church at Nelson Mandela Square, very close to the bustling shopping boulevard of Buchanan Street. Yet it feels a million miles from there. Not too many people walk past it, and probably even less notice that it’s even something significant at all.
An image of Homeless Jesus in Glasgow
It depicts the figure of a person sleeping on a bench. You would only know it’s meant to portray Jesus because the holes in his feet are prominent. Following his crucifixion and then resurrection, Jesus before he ascended to heaven still had the marks in his hands and feet to show his followers that it was really him:
Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
Luke 24:3
In the research I did about the history of the art work, it appears that it was offered to a few churches who weren’t interested before it ended up here in Glasgow. Many people find it uncomfortable, perhaps even offensive. This is perhaps understandable to a certain extent, and yet we know that Jesus was himself in many ways homeless. During his 3 year ministry he wasn’t paid, he was looked after by his disciples. On one occasion Jesus even used language in a way to suggest that he was homeless, although as with many things he said, this was said to make a point and to make his followers think more about their own situation and conduct, not to show himself as any kind of victim.
Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
Matthew 8:20
Jesus’ good network of disciples and friends enabled him to preach as he travelled around from town to town, whereas we know that the modern day issues regarding homelessness very often afflict those who have suffered relationship difficulties and who don’t have a family or friendship group they can rely upon to give them somewhere safe to sleep at night. Without this, lives can quickly fall apart, it becomes very difficult to find work, it becomes a vicious cycle which can be incredibly difficult to get away from without external help.
I’ve written previously about homelessness (link here) so I don’t want to repeat myself, you can read that blog article yourselves if you want to. Instead, I want to look specifically at one aspect brought out by the artist, who referenced Matthew chapter 25.
In the wider context of the passage, Jesus is giving an example of how he will righteously judge when he returns to set up God’s Kingdom on Earth, and as part of that he welcomes in those who he said fed and watered him when he was hungry and thirsty, welcomed him when he was a stranger, clothed him when he was naked and visited him to take care of him when he was sick and in prison. These people honestly state that they didn’t do these things for Jesus, but he says that because they did it for others, they were actually doing it for him and he commends and rewards them for this.
Then when he turns to those who are to be condemned, he uses these words:
“…I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”
Matthew 25.42-45
Obviously, this is the opposite scenario, and yet it somehow feels a lot more real. And the artwork of homeless Jesus in Glasgow City Centre, a place so like many others around the world, where there are real people sleeping on the streets, should cause us to feel uncomfortable, because if we take Jesus’ words seriously, then ignoring people in need is in effect, to treat Jesus in the same way.
Another blog post I wrote recently was about seeing all humans as being made in the image of God (link here) as the creation story in Genesis says, and I think Jesus is making this exact point too in Matthew 25. The way we treat anyone and everyone else is incredibly important, and we need to get into such a habit of doing this that we don’t even think about doing it just to please God, but purely because it is the right thing to do. This is a very high bar set for us, we will inevitably fail, and that is where God’s grace and mercy comes into play, courtesy of Jesus’ sacrifice which covers our sins. But our response to this act of love from God and his son Jesus is that we should in turn be reflecting this love to everyone we come into contact with. If everyone did this then I’m sure we can all agree that the world would be a much better place, and ultimately this is a vision of how the future Kingdom on Earth will be perfected by love.
All references are taken from the NRSV Bible.
I work in Glasgow City Centre twice a week, and I enjoy walking around taking in the sights and sounds of the city. Recently I’ve started to take photographs of public art around the city, and one …
