A statue depicting a homeless Jesus lying on a seat outside an Ohio church drew a police reaction the day it was installed when someone thought it was a real person.
The sculpture was put on the grounds of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Bay Village on Monday, the church announced on Twitter.
After twenty minutes, the cops were called, as per the church’s pastor, Alex Martin.
“I was having a discussion with an exceptionally kind cop since somebody called to report a homeless man sleeping on a park bench. Within twenty minutes… ” Martin tweeted.
The sculpture, designed by Timothy Schmalz, has been placed at various churches and religious organizations in the area since October 2018, Cleveland Scene reported.
St. Barnabas will host the statue until Dec. 1, the report said.
Martin, in an email to Scene, explained the significance of the statue.
“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,” Martin wrote.
“He spent much of his time with tax collectors and prostitutes, largely to the chagrin of polite society.”
