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[[File:Statue of Christ the Homeless, Regis College, Toronto.JPG|thumb|alt=A photograph of a bronze statue of a person covered in a blanket and lying on a park bench all in front of a building with glass windows on a sunny day|Canadian sculptor Tim Schmalz's 2013 sculpture ''[[Jesus the Homeless]]'']]
[[File:Statue of Christ the Homeless, Regis College, Toronto.JPG|thumb|alt=A photograph of a bronze statue of a man covered in a blanket and lying on a park bench|''[[Homeless Jesus]]'', a 2013 scripture by the Canadian sculptor [[Timothy Schmalz]]]]
[[Jesus]], a 1st-century [[Judaism|Jewish]] itinerant preacher, was homeless in the entirety of his [[Ministry of Jesus|public ministry]]. This passage was briefly recounted in the [[gospel]]s of [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] and [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]]. Theologians have linked this story to the concept of ''[[kenosis]]'', the voluntary renunciation of power in order to submit to the [[will of God]]. In 2013, the Canadian sculptor [[Timothy Schmalz]] created ''[[Homeless Jesus]]'', a 2013 [[bronze sculpture]] depicting Jesus lying on a park bench covered in a blanket with his [[Five Holy Wounds|wounded]] feet protruding.


== Biblical context==
The gospels demonstrate the '''homelessness of Jesus''' lasting for the entirety of his [[Ministry of Jesus|public ministry]].<ref>Jackson (2010), p. 256.</ref> He left the [[economic security]] he had as an [[artisan]] and the [[Reciprocity (social psychology)|reciprocity]] he had with his family and wandered [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] depending on [[Charity (practice)|charity]].<ref>Fiensy (2007), p. 122.</ref> Many of the people on whom he depended for charity were women.<ref>Ryken (2012), p. 30.</ref> Because his ministry took place in the vicinity of [[Apostles in the New Testament|his disciples]]' hometowns, it is likely that the group often slept at the homes of the disciples' family members.<ref>Becker (1998), p. 26.</ref>
[[Jesus]] was a 1st-century [[Judaism|Jewish]] itinerant preacher,{{sfnm|1a1=Myles|1y=2014|1pp=xi, 4|2a1=Ratzinger|2y=2007|2p=10}} whose teachings later became the foundation of the [[Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic religion]] [[Christianity]].{{sfn|Ratzinger|2007|pp=43, 48–49}} In the [[gospel]]s of [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] and [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]], he is briefly recounted to have been homeless and encouraged his followers to do the same.{{sfn|Myles|2014|pp=1, 195}} During [[Ministry of Jesus|Jesus' ministry]], a [[sofer]] (unnamed in the Bible) came to him speaking of his desires to be his followers.{{sfnm|1a1=Carson|1y=1984|1p=208|2a1=Keener|2y=1999|2pp=328–329}} Jesus was quoted in [[Matthew 8:20]] ([[King James Version]], KJV), as saying:<ref name="homelessness">{{Cite journal |title=The Homelessness of Christ |date=1 March 1897 |last=Stewart |first=Alexander |author-link=Alexander Stewart (moderator) |work=[[The Expository Times]] |volume=8 |issue=6 |pages=221–226 |doi=10.1177/001452469700800602}}</ref>


<blockquote>"The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."</blockquote>
Of the [[Four Evangelists]], [[Luke the Evangelist|Luke]] emphasizes [[Jesus]]' [[homelessness]] the most.<ref>Denaux (2010), p. 97.</ref> {{bibleverse||Matthew|8:20|NKJV}} and {{bibleverse||Luke|9:58|NKJV}} both record a statement by Jesus in which he describes his homelessness by saying that "[[fox]]es have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the [[son of man]] has nowhere to lay his head".<ref>Stanton (2013), p. 220.</ref> The implication is that the [[scribe]] who has just offered to become a follower of Jesus should also expect the same.<ref>[http://biblehub.com/commentaries/mhc/matthew/8.htm Matthew Henry's Commentary] on Matthew 8, accessed 25 December 2016</ref> Theologian [[John Gill (theologian)|John Gill]] noted a parallel between this saying and the Jews' expectation of the [[Messiah]]: "if he (the Messiah) should come, 'there's no place in which he can sit down'.<ref>[http://biblehub.com/commentaries/gill/matthew/8.htm Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible] on Matthew 8, referring to [http://www.halakhah.com/pdf/nezikin/Sanhedrin.pdf Talmud - Mas. Sanhedrin 96b], accessed 25 December 2016:
"Send ye a messenger to the ruler of the earth [i.e., [[Nebuchadnezzar]]] [that he may come] by way of the rocks [i.e., mountains] to the
wilderness, [unto the mount of the daughter of Zion]. He sent back, ‘If I come, I have no place for encamping’."</ref>


or in [[Luke 9]]:58 (KJV):{{sfn|Green|1997|p=401}}
[[Sophiology|Sophiologists]] interpreted Jesus' homelessness as the homelessness of [[Sophia (wisdom)|Sophia]].<ref>Theissen (2009), p. 117.</ref> [[New Monasticism|New Monastic]] writer [[Shane Claiborne]] refers to Jesus as "the homeless rabbi".<ref>[[Shane Claiborne|Claiborne]] (2010), p. 36.</ref> [[Catholicism|Catholic]] theologian [[Rosemary Radford Ruether]] discusses Jesus' homelessness in relation to the concept of ''[[kenosis]]'', the voluntary renunciation of power in order to submit to the [[will of God]].<ref>Perkins (2004), p. 328.</ref> In a book length study on the [[Gospel of Matthew]], Robert J. Myles has argued that the homelessness of Jesus is often romanticized in biblical interpretation in a way that obscures the destitution and lack of [[agency (sociology)|agency]] that would have likely accompanied the situation.<ref>Myles (2014)</ref>


<blockquote>"Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."</blockquote>
[[Canada|Canadian]] sculptor Tim Schmalz created ''[[Homeless Jesus|Jesus the Homeless]]'', a 2013 [[bronze sculpture]] of Jesus lying on a park bench covered in a blanket with his [[Five Holy Wounds|wounded]] feet protruding.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Homeless Jesus at Christ Church Set to Provoke Reflection|work=[[The Irish Times]]|author=Hilliard, Mark|date=May 1, 2015|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/homeless-jesus-at-christ-church-set-to-provoke-reflection-1.2197405|access-date=May 22, 2015}}</ref>


== Interpretation ==
⚫
==References==
The homelessness of Jesus has been a subject of discussion among theologians. Analysing the [[New Testament]], they believed that [[Holy Family|Jesus' family]] was likely to be economically capable since his legal father, [[Saint Joseph|Joseph]], whom married to his mother, [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Mary]], was a carpenter.{{sfnm|1a1=Myles|1y=2014|1p=40|2a1=Ratzinger|2y=2007|2p=6}} Jesus thus chose to leave his economic security by choice,{{sfnm|1a1=Myles|1y=2014|1p=14|2a1=Ruether|2y=1983|2p=137}} and wandered Israel by charity—mostly came from women.{{sfn|Stephens|1980|pp=49–50}} Since his ministry took place in the hometowns of his [[Disciple (Christianity)|disciples]], it has been assumed that Jesus and his disciples stayed at the the latter's homes.{{sfn|Becker|2013|pp=26–27}}
{{Reflist}}


The [[Baptists|Baptist]] pastor [[John Gill (theologian)|John Gill]] paralleled it with the Jews' expectations of the [[messiah]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/gill/matthew/8.htm |title=Matthew 8 |last=Gill |first=John |author-link=John Gill (theologian) |publisher=BibleHub.com |access-date=24 March 2022 |archive-date=3 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220103200827/https://biblehub.com/commentaries/gill/matthew/8.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Writing for ''[[The Expository Times]]'', the minister [[Alexander Stewart (moderator)|Alexander Stewart]] said the verses did not mean that Jesus was homeless but rather described Jesus as one with no time to rest in his own home owing to his busy ministry, writing that these teach to not use resources for oneself but for others also.<ref name="homelessness" /> The [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] theologian [[Rosemary Radford Ruether]] likened Jesus' homelessness to the concept of ''[[kenosis]]'', which is the voluntary renunciation of power in order to submit oneself to the will of God, and added:{{sfn|Ruether|1983|p=137}}
⚫
==Bibliography==

*{{Cite book|author=Becker, Jürgen|title=Jesus of Nazareth|publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter]]|year=1998|isbn=978-3110157727}}
<blockquote>"Jesus as liberator calls for a renunciation, a dissolution, of the web of status relationships by which societies have defined privilege and deprivation. He protests against the identification of this system with the favour and disfavour of God. His ability to speak as liberator does not reside in his maleness but in the fact that he has renounced this system of domination and seeks to embody in his person the new humanity of service and mutual empowerment."</blockquote>
*{{Cite book|author=Claiborne, Shane|author-link=Shane Claiborne|title=Follow Me to Freedom: Leading and Following as an Ordinary Radical|publisher=ReadHowYouWant|year=2010|isbn=978-1459607033}}

*{{Cite book|author=Denaux, Adelbert|title=Studies in the Gospel of Luke: Structure, Language and Theology|publisher=[[LIT Verlag]]|year=2010|isbn=978-3643900609}}
== In popular culture ==
*{{Cite book|author=Fiensy, David A.|title=Jesus the Galilean: Soundings in a First Century Life|publisher=[[Gorgias Press]]|year=2007|isbn=978-1593333133}}
In 2013, the Canadian sculptor [[Timothy Schmalz]] created the [[bronze sculpture]] ''[[Homeless Jesus]]'', depicting Jesus lying on a park bench with a blanket covering and his wounded feet protruding.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/homeless-jesus-sculpture-searches-for-a-home/2013/04/17/a4294b98-a7a4-11e2-9e1c-bb0fb0c2edd9_story.html |title=Homeless Jesus sculpture searches for a home |last=Csillag |first=Ron |date=17 April 2013 |work=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=21 March 2022 |archive-date=25 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325115530/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/homeless-jesus-sculpture-searches-for-a-home/2013/04/17/a4294b98-a7a4-11e2-9e1c-bb0fb0c2edd9_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
*{{Cite book|journal=The Great Commission Resurgence|author=Jackson, Al|title=The American Dream or the Great Commission Resurgence?|pages=245–264|editor1=Adam Greenway |editor2=Chuck Lawless|year=2010|isbn=978-1433672163}}

⚫
*{{Cite book|author=Myles, Robert J.|title=The Homeless Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew|publisher=[[Sheffield Phoenix Press]]|year=2014}}
⚫
== References ==
*{{Cite book|author=Perkins, Robert L.|title=Practice in Christianity|publisher=[[Mercer University Press]]|year=2004|isbn=978-0865549302}}
{{reflist}}
*{{Cite book|author=Ryken, Philip Graham|title=Grace Transforming|publisher=[[Good News Publishers]]|year=2012|isbn=978-1433534034}}

*{{Cite book|author=Stanton, Graham|title=Studies in Matthew and Early Christianity|publisher=Mohr Siebeck|year=2013|isbn=978-3161525438}}
⚫
== Bibliography ==
*{{Cite book|author=Theissen, Gerd|title=Jesus as an Itinerant Preacher: Reflections from Social History on Jesus' Roles|editor1=James H. Charlesworth |editor2=Petr Pokorny|year=2009|journal=Jesus Research: An International Perspective|isbn=978-0802863539}}
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{Cite book |title=Jesus of Nazareth |last=Becker |first=Jürgen |date=6 February 2013 |orig-year=1998 |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |isbn=978-31-10246-41-4 }}
* {{Cite book |title=The Expositor's Bible Commentary |editor-last=Gaebelein |editor-first=Frank E. |editor-link=Frank E. Gaebelein |date=1984 |publisher=[[Zondervan]] |isbn=0-310-36500-7 |last=Carson |first=D. A. |author-link=D. A. Carson |chapter=Matthew }}
* {{Cite book |title=The Gospel of Luke |last=Green |first=Joel B. |author-link=Joel B. Green |date=1997 |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company]] |isbn=0-8028-2315-7 }}
* {{Cite book |title=A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew |last=Keener |first=Craig S. |author-link=Craig S. Keener |date=1999 |publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company]] |isbn=0-8028-3821-9 }}
⚫
* {{Cite book |last=Myles |first=Robert J. |title=The Homeless Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew |publisher=[[Sheffield Phoenix Press]] |date=2014 |isbn=978-1-909697-38-6 }}
* {{Cite book |title=Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration |title-link=Jesus of Nazareth (book) |date=2007 |last=Ratzinger |first=Joseph |author-link=Pope Benedict XVI |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |isbn=978-0-385-52341-7 }}
* {{Cite book |title=Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology |last=Ruether |first=Rosemary Radford |author-link=Rosemary Radford Ruether |date=1983 |publisher=[[Beacon Press]] |isbn=0-8070-1104-5 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Stephens |first=Shirley |date=1980 |title=A New Testament View of Women |isbn=978-08-05415-24-7 |publisher=[[Broadman Press]] }}
{{refend}}


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{{Jesus footer}}

Revision as of 12:48, 25 March 2022

A photograph of a bronze statue of a man covered in a blanket and lying on a park bench
Homeless Jesus, a 2013 scripture by the Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz

Jesus, a 1st-century Jewish itinerant preacher, was homeless in the entirety of his public ministry. This passage was briefly recounted in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Theologians have linked this story to the concept of kenosis, the voluntary renunciation of power in order to submit to the will of God. In 2013, the Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz created Homeless Jesus, a 2013 bronze sculpture depicting Jesus lying on a park bench covered in a blanket with his wounded feet protruding.

Biblical context

Jesus was a 1st-century Jewish itinerant preacher,[1] whose teachings later became the foundation of the Abrahamic religion Christianity.[2] In the gospels of Matthew and Luke, he is briefly recounted to have been homeless and encouraged his followers to do the same.[3] During Jesus' ministry, a sofer (unnamed in the Bible) came to him speaking of his desires to be his followers.[4] Jesus was quoted in Matthew 8:20 (King James Version, KJV), as saying:[5]

"The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."

or in Luke 9:58 (KJV):[6]

"Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."

Interpretation

The homelessness of Jesus has been a subject of discussion among theologians. Analysing the New Testament, they believed that Jesus' family was likely to be economically capable since his legal father, Joseph, whom married to his mother, Mary, was a carpenter.[7] Jesus thus chose to leave his economic security by choice,[8] and wandered Israel by charity—mostly came from women.[9] Since his ministry took place in the hometowns of his disciples, it has been assumed that Jesus and his disciples stayed at the the latter's homes.[10]

The Baptist pastor John Gill paralleled it with the Jews' expectations of the messiah.[11] Writing for The Expository Times, the minister Alexander Stewart said the verses did not mean that Jesus was homeless but rather described Jesus as one with no time to rest in his own home owing to his busy ministry, writing that these teach to not use resources for oneself but for others also.[5] The Catholic theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether likened Jesus' homelessness to the concept of kenosis, which is the voluntary renunciation of power in order to submit oneself to the will of God, and added:[12]

"Jesus as liberator calls for a renunciation, a dissolution, of the web of status relationships by which societies have defined privilege and deprivation. He protests against the identification of this system with the favour and disfavour of God. His ability to speak as liberator does not reside in his maleness but in the fact that he has renounced this system of domination and seeks to embody in his person the new humanity of service and mutual empowerment."

In 2013, the Canadian sculptor Timothy Schmalz created the bronze sculpture Homeless Jesus, depicting Jesus lying on a park bench with a blanket covering and his wounded feet protruding.[13]

References

  1. ^ Myles 2014, pp. xi, 4; Ratzinger 2007, p. 10.
  2. ^ Ratzinger 2007, pp. 43, 48–49.
  3. ^ Myles 2014, pp. 1, 195.
  4. ^ Carson 1984, p. 208; Keener 1999, pp. 328–329.
  5. ^ a b Stewart, Alexander (1 March 1897). "The Homelessness of Christ". The Expository Times. 8 (6): 221–226. doi:10.1177/001452469700800602.
  6. ^ Green 1997, p. 401.
  7. ^ Myles 2014, p. 40; Ratzinger 2007, p. 6.
  8. ^ Myles 2014, p. 14; Ruether 1983, p. 137.
  9. ^ Stephens 1980, pp. 49–50.
  10. ^ Becker 2013, pp. 26–27.
  11. ^ Gill, John. "Matthew 8". BibleHub.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  12. ^ Ruether 1983, p. 137.
  13. ^ Csillag, Ron (17 April 2013). "Homeless Jesus sculpture searches for a home". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 25 March 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022.

Bibliography

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