Jesus Was a Homeless Bum...

As per usual, we went round the group sharing our first response to the passage, and that's when all heck broke out. I said I'd never realized before that Jesus was a homeless bum. Well, it says it right there in the scripture, Sis! "Foxes have holes... but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
Thelma shouted, "Ali, where do y'all keep the soap? I want to wash her mouth out!"
Jeannie Baker put her fingers in her ears and kept moaning, "Blasphemy! Blasphemy!"
I tell you, the place erupted. With everyone talking at once, it was hard to hear what was said, but I heard some "in all my born days" and a couple of "never heard such a thing."
What hurt was the "she." You know you're in big trouble when they stop using your name and take up with the acid pronoun!

...

You see, Sis, I'd never really thought about that before. It hadn't occurred to me that there was a time when Jesus didn't have anywhere to sleep. I'd never imagined Him sleeping outside, shivering in a park somewhere, living under a bridge. You know? No wonder He really loved Mary, Martha and Lazarus. They welcomed him into their home. When He talked about giving someone a cup of cold water in His name, He knew what it was like to be thirsty and not be able to get a drink from His kitchen. I tell you, Sis, it got me thinking.

...

http://www.wittenburgdoor.com/archives/homeless1.html

who actually follow his teachings, were either homeless or in homeless services. That's what the Gospel is about, morans!

n/t

Doesn't matter if it's coming from lefties or righties, it's just distasteful.

Jesus with the real homeless people out there, drunks and drug addicts and people who can't control themselves. I don't have sympathy for all of them. And I don't believe Jesus would be like that.

When he said "the son of man hath nowhere to lay his head," he may have meant that he was a traveling preacher who chose to go around the country. Also, "son of man" is an expression that was used to refer to the prophet Elijah. Elijah was assumed into heaven, was much revered in Jewish tradition and may have been the one after whom Christ modeled himself in his preaching years.

I am tired of this image of homeless people as cuddly, sweet people who have just been dealt some bad luck. Most of them are people you don't want within 100 miles of you. I am tired of the guilt trip.

That "guilt trip" is called conscience.

He befriended his culture's outcasts: the thieves, the lepers, the prostitutes, and everybody else who lived on the margins.

If you don't like being addicted, then don't do the behavior. That is called hating the sin. However, loving the sinner means just that, loving him or her unconditionally, whether or not s/he continues to sin in your eyes.

That's the point I see so many Christians miss.

(Remember, untreated DTs are 50% fatal. That dollar you give a stumbling wino might actually save his life for one more day, a day in which he might choose to go into detox and try to get his life together. That dollar is a chance, every time you give him one. A lecture just makes him feel like shit so he wants to drink even more.)

at a family gathering, that Jesus was unable to perform miracles in his own home town. It was something that I read in one of the gospels, I can't remember the exact passage, but it angered people beyond belief...

As far as homeless people all being drug addicts and such, that's a convenient stereotype and a cop-out for ignoring the issue, but it's not true.

I have been homeless myself. It's shockingly easy to lose everything you've worked for in our society. Viewing the homeless as an alien group may be a defense mechanism that some use to protect themselves from confronting some major flaws in our system, or it may be simple fear, but it's misguided...

The homeless are your brothers and sisters.

My time on the street was mercifully short and a very long time ago.

I have never forgotten how easily it happened and how hard it was to pull myself out of that kind of hole.

I give money to street people and I'd never consider infantilizing them by presuming to tell them how or how not to spend it.

Like I said, every dollar is a chance.

thanks for sharing that perspective.

:hi:

Most of them are people you don't want within 100 miles of you.

Well, thank god we nipped that "compassionate Democrat" thing in the bud...

who self medicate with alcohol or other substances due to the lack of services in our society.
And many of the "hidden homeless" are single mothers who have left intolerable situations or find themselves in economic straits.

Some of the homeless may be "people you don't want within 100 miles of you", but most are not.

you don't really get a damn thing the man said, do you?

'drunks and drug addicts and people who can't control themlselves'

pretty quick to cast a stone there ain'tcha?

Jesus!

I mean a cross-section. You only notice the ones who are acting out. Most of them are harmless and about like anyone else you might meet, if a bit dirtier and more haggard.

Maybe when you find yourself at the lowest point in your life you will find some gratitude and compassion, young man.



re: OP - My 'born-again' sister told my daughter that Jesus was a loser when she confronted her about her lack of humanity.

I was homeless off and on throughout my teen years due to undiagnosed severe bi-polar disorder. It was hell and NOT my fucking choice because I "couldn't control myself"!

oh brother:eyes:

You don't have sympathy for "the real homeless people out there, drunks and drug addicts and people who can't control themselves"? Most homeless people you wouldn't want to be within 100 miles of? I think you are assuming too much, are basing your thoughts on mis-information. I was a "real"homeless person for a while, but still cuddly, sweet and who had been dealt some bad luck. I guess in your opinion I either wasn't a "real" homeless person, or you have no sympathy for me and have no desire to be around me, assuming I am a drunk, drug addict, or can't control myself.

I hope you learn more.

No, wait...actually "God hates fags!" is the most Christian thing I ever heard. But your "Somehow I do not associate Jesus with the real homeless people out there, drunks and drug addicts and people who can't control themselves. I don't have sympathy for all of them." is RIGHT up there! You are REALLY livin' the values, dude! Nice work!

Oh, and if you ever hear anybody quote this line to you:

"Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me."

Just turn your pious head and keep right on truckin'!

God spare me from "Christians". :eyes:

Lepers.

Fuckers keep dropping pieces of their body off, infecting other people. Those sons of bitches can't control themselves.

There's no way Jesus would have put up with that shit.

the gall of those who can't control themselves

The horror!

that homelessness is something all of us are vunerable to.

Jesus says "the least of these"- and cites imprisonment, hunger, lack of 'basic necessities' as times when we actually 'touch him'(a place he is familiar with) with our compassion, empathy and love.

there but for 'luck'- go any one of us.

Thanks again for this link-
:hi:

I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me” are prime goals today.

IMO those make him a first rate liberal.

Francesco d'Asissi stripped naked until someone handed him an old rag for a robe and begged for everything that he then "possessed."
Seems to be a theme there, eh?

IMHO

of his Roman oppressors, which would qualify him as a "bum" to much of American society today.

Just a dirty smelly hippy who got high by helping other people.
I would have liked to have met him.I would definitely drink a beer on the front porch with him.