You Can't Miss It

A Reflection on the First Reading for February 9th, 2020:
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 58:6-10

Thus says the Lord:
Is not this the fast that I choose: 
to loose the bonds of injustice, 
to undo the thongs of the yoke, 
to let the oppressed go free, 
and to break every yoke? 
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, 
and bring the homeless poor into your house; 
when you see the naked, to cover them, 
and not to hide yourself from your own kin? 


Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, 
and your healing shall spring up quickly; 
your vindicator shall go before you, 
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; 
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. 


If you remove the yoke from among you, 
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 
if you offer your food to the hungry 
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, 
then your light shall rise in the darkness 
and your gloom be like the noonday.

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The three of us had just finished talking—my pastor, a coworker and I. As we were coming to the end of puzzling our way through to a satisfying solution for our present conundrum, I had been letting my attention be pulled to the little statue on the end table at my elbow. As I got up from the comfy couch to leave his office, I told Father that I liked his statue. Doesn’t he go and lend it to me!  


Before I moved it to my end of the office, the reception area, I looked into the story of the statue. This piece of art that fits in my hand is a model. The actual statue, I could sit on. The artist is Canadian, Timothy P. Schmalz. The statue has two names.  


At first glance it seems to be a very realistic representation of a homeless man sleeping on a park bench, covered up by a blanket so I can’t really see his face. Just his feet—his bare feet. That’s when I notice the scars and realize, it’s His bare feet. At first it’s a sense of vague discomfort to see this. It seems sacrilegious to find Jesus so. As if the artist were saying Jesus is a homeless person. Homeless Jesus. That’s actually the name people gave to the statue. People who would walk by it in Toronto--the first few times thinking it was a real person on a real bench, and then noticing His feet. But that wasn’t the name the sculptor gave his work. He named it Matthew 25. And then the jolt is to the heart because what the artist is really saying is that homeless people are Jesus. 
 
And the King will answer them, 
‘Truly, I say to you as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ 
Matthew 25:40




We’ve been designed to meet each other‘s needs. That is community.


We are modelled after community—made in the image of Community. The Trinity. Each pouring Themselves out for the good of the Other. And the Three-in-One being poured out for us all—Love through and through. And I could get lost in this wonder, but that is not where my Father wants me to land. He want me to love. And love always looks like something. God the Father cannot be seen, and His love cannot be missed. And we are the Body of Christ, animated by His Breath, His love in action.


God invites us into this community. Every single one of us. He considers every single one of us His. Whether His found or His lost, we are all His. This is why He can say to us, ‘Whatever you’ve done onto the least of these you’ve done to me.’ Because He is there with that person. Who has a need. That I can meet. That you can meet. That we can meet.  
And love always looks like something.




Noreen Smith

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