It happened in Cleveland:
Twenty minutes after a “homeless Jesus” sculpture was installed on the grounds of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Bay Village, someone called the cops.
Created by Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz, the sculpture depicts Jesus as a homeless person lying on a bench covered in a blanket. It was purchased by the local Community West Foundation and has been traveling to churches and other religious organizations across the region since October, 2018. It is scheduled to be on site at St. Barnabas until Dec. 1.
Fr. Alex Martin, the St. Barnabas pastor, tweeted that he had a conversation with a Bay Village police officer because someone reported a homeless person sleeping on a park bench. (St. Barnabas abuts a public park, Fr. Martin told Scene, and the statue was displayed in a high-visibility area intentionally.)
Martin said that while the police officer was “extremely professional” and eager to learn about the sculpture itself, he believed the incident could serve as a catalyst for conversation about how best to help those in need.
“[The sculpture] reminds us that, even though homelessness is a not a significant problem in our immediate neighborhood, we don’t have to drive far to find those in tremendous need,” Martin wrote in an email. “Perhaps the statue will inspire those who see it to take action and help… Seeing Jesus depicted this way reminds us that Jesus identified with the outcast and marginalized in his own day. He spent much of his time with tax collectors and prostitutes, largely to the chagrin of polite society.”
Related: A Jesus for our times: The story behind ‘Homeless Jesus’
