Homeless Thursday

And Jesus said to him: Foxes have holes and birds of the air have their nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Matthew 8:20

We're told in the gospels that on the same Thursday night Jesus ate his last meal with his followers and washed their feet they went out to an olive grove called Gethsemane to "bunk down." While there Jesus was arrested and the events began to unfold that led to his death.

Gethsemane was a place used for sleep by poor pilgrims to Jerusalem who couldn't afford accommodation. Jesus and those who travelled with him were homeless and depended on the kindness of friends and strangers along the way.

This week a trial began in Toronto for three military reservists who are accused of beating a homeless man to death. He was sleeping on a park bench in the heart of the city. Evidence has already been presented that one of the three expressed his hatred of "bums" before this incident occurred. There is nothing to suggest that the man who was killed did anything to provoke the attack. To his assailants he was just a nobody who lived on a park bench with all his belongings in plastic bags.

A few years ago a New York agency created some thoughtful ads, one of which asked How can you worship a homeless man on Sunday and ignore one on Monday? Good question. I doubt that any of us would do harm to someone who lives on the street, but do we regard them as people of worth and loved by the Christ we follow?