In Matthew 25:40, Jesus told the crowd, “Amen, I say to you, whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, you do unto me.” Inspired by these words, sculptor Timothy Schmalz created a bronze statue of Jesus-- homeless and asleep on a park bench, which now sits outside of the headquarters of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington.
On Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18, just before the Catholic Charities dinner van began handing out salad and fish filets in front of the agency’s headquarters in Washington, Cardinal Wuerl blessed both the meal and the new statue, which he said reminds all who see it that “even if we’re homeless, we’re still God’s child and God loves us.”
The cardinal also said, “When we honor this image, let us lift up our eyes to Christ, who reigns forever and ever with the Father.” The crowd of homeless dinner guests and the volunteers about to serve them then responded, “Amen!”
Cardinal Wuerl returned the night before the blessing from a trip to Rome, where a replica of the same homeless Jesus statue sits outside of the oldest hospital in the city and was once blessed by Pope Francis. The cardinal said that he hopes to send the pope a picture of the Washington version once the statue is “duly blessed with all of the people for whom this statue has a very special message. And that message is-- Jesus lives in each one of us,” the cardinal told the crowd.
Cardinal Wuerl emailed Catholic Charities of Washington president and CEO, Msgr. John Enzler, about a year earlier with a picture of the statue, asking if it would be a good memento to the people whom Catholic Charities serves, recalled Msgr. Enzler. “I love the conversation it invites,” he said in a press release. “We’ve become numb to homelessness, and all of its causes.” Msgr. Enzler told those gathered that in his eyes, Cardinal Wuerl is “Pope Francis in Washington, the one who lives out Pope Francis’ call to the poor.”
A frequent visitor to the Wednesday food truck, Robert Crawford was first taken aback by the realistic appearance of the statue. “It kind of threw me off guard,” he said. “I thought it was somebody sleeping on the bench for a minute. When I went on the other side, I realized who it was when I saw the holes in the feet,” he said, referencing the marks of crucifixion that reveal that the figure is Christ.
To Crawford, the statue is a visual representation not only that Christ is in all of us, but that he became man to share in the joys and sorrows of humanity. “He’s been there and done that; that’s how you get to people,” said Crawford. “It isn’t about what you tell them, it’s about what they see you’ve been through.”
Homelessness affects men and women are not only in Washington and the United States, said Crawford, but especially in war-torn regions around the world. “They’re going through the same thing we’re going through, except over here I think we eat a little better and have more avenues where you can get food [and] clothing; over there I know they don’t have that,” he said. “So I thank God everyday I get to wake up.”
For Msgr. Enzler, the statue is a reminder of Catholic Charities’ mission to give help that empowers and hope that lasts. “This is a beautiful sculpture that reminds us of our everyday existence, which is saying ‘yes’ to every person who comes through our doors,” he said. Homeless men and women are good people who have had a great struggle, acknowledged Msgr. Enzler, and he noted that they are children of God and part of the community.
Beside the homeless Jesus sculpture, titled “Whatsoever You Do,” Catholic Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz has dozens of other original religious creations based on the Gospel, theology of the body and pro-life themes, as well as secular memorials honoring veterans and firefighters. He hopes his modern art builds on the Church’s great history of religious artwork and describes his work as “visual prayer.”
In a video on his website, Schmalz said that he dreams the statue will perpetually preach the Gospel to those who walk by. “When we see the homeless, when we see the marginalized, we should see Christ,” he said.
