Homeless Jesus

I came across this amazing sculpture entitled Homeless Jesus in the April issue of Third Way.

Apparently, it has been installed with a plague featuring words from Matthew 25:40:

Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.

What this picture doesn’t show is that the artist Timothy Schmalz (shown below) left room for one person to sit next to Homeless Jesus.

I have since discovered the following pictures of the sculpture in the rain and snow, which make it even more poignant.

It appears that the sculpture had to be moved from its original location because of objections by residents. One such objection is quoted in Third Way:

My complaint is not about the art-worthiness or the meaning behind the sculpture. It is about people driving into our beautiful, reasonably upscale neighborhood and seeing an ugly homeless person sleeping on a park bench.

Hmm, there’s a lesson in there somewhere …