Homeless Man DEAD

OUR HOMELESS FRIEND IS DEAD.

He decided it was time to return to his real home, which of course, was my imagination.

In drawing his composite I drew upon Our Lord at this time 2000 years ago.  I did it for a reason.  Read your responses, this is what you would've done for Our Lord.  A homeless, odd-looking, strange sounding man who no one wanted, who the authorities (the high priests) saw as a trouble-maker the moment he started his "babbling" (kingdoms with many mansions, I am that I am, turn the other cheek, love those who hate you, etc) the few people who followed and supported him (disciples) the many who did not (townspeople who wanted the Old Testament as it was, with no talk of a God who asks that we love our enemy) depending upon strangers for food (Jesus ate at a different home each night when invited) being arrested and coming before a judge (Pilate) who saw nothing wrong in being homeless and set him free, the fights that broke out over that deed (He's a traitor, take Him away, crucify Him).  Eventually I would've had Him appear before a judge more like Herod, and then have him sent off to a cruel death.  But that wasn't my purpose.  I wanted something very special, but it had to be genuine:  the reflection of God's own compassion shown in your words.  To me, it proved that one doesn't need to be Christian, Jew, Muslim or Buddhist to have sympathy, compassion and mercy for our fellow humans on this earth.     

Jesus was no ordinary preacher, no ordinary soul upon the earth trying to get a message out there.  Jesus endured all of it for one reason, to bring us news:  GOD LIVES!  My Father lives!  I am that I am, He said.  He exists so that He can.  How confused those people must've been.

And how incredibly fortunate am I to know people such as yourselves, each and every one of you who responded had only compassion and suggestions of help for what you saw as a fellow human in need.  LOOK AT YOUR RESPONSES FROM THE VERY START Is This Necessary? and each "Homeless Man Update" from there.  Every time something happened to "Him" you showed nothing but concern and a frustrating need to do something.

Back then, He was forced to walk "The Stations of the Cross" while being stoned, spat upon, lied about and ridiculed.  We all know the story.  One thing is clear, however, something I always believed and which YOU proved to be more true than not:  Many people died horrible, painful deaths in Our Lord's time.  Many died in far worse pain, more cruel and more bloody.  Imagine being drawn and quartered - both arms and legs tied to one of four horses who then are forced to run in separate directions.  Yes, Jesus endured horrors but my point is this:  What was His most painful torture?  What hurt most?  You helped me bring it out, as I've always thought it to be:  Notice how you all mostly spoke of the lack of compassion, how perhaps he had a mental disease and needed tender mercies...in my heart, I always felt the worst thing Our Lord had to feel was that lack of compassion, the utter rejection, the lies being told while He said nothing, couldn't defend Himself while in truth all He needed do was blink an Eye and the earth would've opened up.  It wasn't the cross, the whip, the crown of thorns, it was the people.  It was their betrayal, their rejection, leaving Him to the mob.  Their complete and obvious hatred and denial of Him.  Even His best friends ran away.  To be rejected and left alone and hurt is a crushing agony.  He endured it for me.  For you.  I'm so proud of all of you who kept up with my story with such overflowing mercy.  You couldn't seem to say enough.  You even wanted to go to this "town" and leave packages for him in jail. You are a reflection of the love He has for us.  

Here's one other little detail, a lessen in patience and friendship:  Early on in this story, a dear, long-time friend of mine, TreesRGreen78, felt a familiar tug at her heart.  She wrote me to say she recognized how similar this homeless man's story seemed to the story of Jesus.  I had to ask her to stay silent and not divulge my true meaning.  Trees, in her belief in me and to her credit, had to bite her nails and say nothing.  While I don't want to go too far, it's not much different from how Jesus was forced to say nothing as well.  

He couldn't tell Pilate who He really was, they thought Him insane enough already.  Pilate looked at Him and thought, this isn't important enough a matter for me.  Herod did not.  Herod wanted to use Him as entertainment for his court, which he did as he had Our Lord's precious body scored and bloodied, draped with a "royal" cloak and given a proper "crown" as the King He was.  All for the amusement of the crowd - they demanded it.  Just like this "town" demanded the authorities take the "dirty bum" away from their eyes.  Just be rid of him, he's not one of us, he's causing trouble, he's not our type, we work hard to live in this kind of luxury, neighbors are fighting amongst themselves and worst of all, he has the NERVE to talk to our children!  We can't have that!  In that one aspect, they weren't wrong, in their way.     

I know things are different today and real predators exist waiting only for that chance to grab one of our most precious babes.  I've no doubt whatever that such people existed 2000 years ago as well.  Then I remember the accounts of how Jesus acted when children would follow Him.  Children are always interested in what adults get riled up about, so they would follow Our Lord and pull at his robes, asking for stories and perhaps a small bit of attention.  Children.  Innocent, pure, in need of the loving smile of an adult - they got it from Our Lord, who took them on His knee and smiled into their faces with such love, such care, such genuine respect for these blameless ones.

So what does it all mean?  That we're good people?  That we care about the unseen, forgotten, rejected hungry souls out there?  If you think that isn't important enough to go to all this trouble over, I'll remind you that those who bothered to read and respond to this story were anxious to be heard, to tell their own stories, to show mercy for the homeless, the helpless, the alone.  Those who felt otherwise didn't bother to comment.  I know there are people who feel the homeless are a nuisance, they're useless people giving nothing back to the community, they have nothing to contribute and everything to take.  Those are the ones who need our prayers.  Your loving friend doesn't need them, it's your unloving enemy who does.  It's the person too cowardly to express their true feelings in print.  But they exist, I talk to them every day, so do you.  "Why don't they learn English, how did they get into this country, look at them all on welfare, crowding our jails" and on and on ...

If you saw Jesus in this story, I ask that tomorrow, the holiest day in the Christian faith, a day to celebrate rebirth and the triumph of life over death, of love over hate, to please pray for those who have no faith.  Pray for those who reject you, who leave you to the mob, who lie about you, who mock and betray you.  Pray for those who judge you.  Most of all, do it with the same genuine compassion and care and love shown in your comments about that one, solitary Man.