[Church of Ireland] The striking and moving seven-foot wide sculpture of Jesus depicted as a homeless man, was dedicated and blessed by the Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic Archbishops of Dublin, the Most Rev. Michael Geoffrey, St. Aubyn Jackson and the Most Rev. Diarmuid Martin. The sculpture was presented to the people of Dublin by an anonymous North American benefactor and the sculptor, Tim Schmalz, flew in from Canada to unveil it.
Speaking during the short service in the cathedral before the unveiling, Archbishop Jackson said that the people of Dublin were both honored and chastened to receive the Homeless Jesus sculpture. He noted the “scandalous fact that the relentlessness of homelessness and the statistics of individual homeless people in Dublin in 2015 still merit such a sculpture as a reminder and as a memorial.”
The Archbishop said that Scripture spoke of Jesus saying: “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” The sculpture gave everyone who passed an opportunity to reflect on this facet of the narrative of Christianity, the birth, crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“Throughout the world of today human beings are subjected to indignity, homelessness, trafficking and death simply for being alive and getting under the ideological skin of their oppressors. Every day for them is a Good Friday. They wait for the Day of Resurrection in hope and in fear, in trust and in betrayal, in darkness and in light. Homeless people draw us into their world – and rightly; we dare not abandon them here or abroad. The twenty–first century is not yet an improvement on the twentieth century. The Homeless Jesus is a reminder of their plight and terror, whatever their nationality or creed – and an icon of solidarity with them. Evil and exclusion make few distinctions of subtlety as they sweep forward in giddy destructiveness,” Archbishop Jackson stated.
“This image of The Homeless Jesus is a reminder to the entire community [and] people of faith and people of none – that as long as there are people who cannot find a suitable roof over their head and families without a place where they can live with dignity, then none of us can roll over in our comfortable beds with an easy conscience. Conscience, public opinion and political commitment must be kept alert every day and never settle back into thinking we have done enough,” Archbishop Martin said.
For Christians, he continued, the homeless were not just statistics. Their plight is our plight, he said. The image of the Homeless Jesus reminds us of the demands of belief in Jesus Christ. He said that the sculpture was not just a normal statue. It was not created to be looked at and admired, it was an image which should draw the viewer’s glance to the many park benches, doorways and sheltered corners where Jesus lay homeless every day and every night.
Casts of the much talked about Homeless Jesus sculpture have been installed in cities in North America, Canada and Europe. Following a competition among prospective Dublin sites, Christ Church Cathedral was chosen to be the location by Tim Schmalz. The bronze sculpture depicts a park bench with a faceless cloaked figure lying on it. Passers–by realize that the sculpture depicts Jesus only when they notice the holes in the feet. The piece is located in front of the cathedral in full view of the public.