A statue depicting a homeless Jesus lying on a bench outside an Ohio church drew a police response the day it was installed when somebody thought it was a real person.
The statue was placed on the grounds of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Bay Village on Monday, the church announced on Twitter.
Twenty minutes later, the cops were called, according to the church’s pastor, Alex Martin.
“I was having a conversation with a very kind police officer because someone 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.”
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