under bridges

Under Bridges – Brave Saint Saturn. As we approach the end of this Lenton season, this song has been on my mind. There is little that is complete about this song. It’s not the best, it was a short-time hit on Christian radio but few remember it (I think). It’s not encouraging to those who find themselves having never wanted or in need of the necessities of life. Many, my church included, would probably have a hard time with this picture of Jesus.

And yet.

This song reminds me that here, on this earth that lives too often in Good/Broken Friday, Jesus is hard to recognize. This is not a fault of His but it is upon us. Why, even Peter and Judas have a hard time recognizing who Jesus is. Good Friday, the day we proved how blind we were to Jesus; the day we claimed, “We would know Him if we saw Him”; the day we killed Jesus. I love this song because even as Jesus is Savior, Jesus is the one we refuse to recognize; the one we crucify. Death is our answer. Death is our curse.

And so we are damned.

Yesterday while walking,
Beneath an overpass,
I saw the figure of Jesus,
Standing barefoot on broken glass.
His beard was graying,
The smell of urine filled the air,
Asking if I had some change,
Anything that I could spare.

Emaciated,
His shaking fists balled up,
Influenza and pneumonia,
Begging God to take his cup.
So different from his pictures,
Breathing air through yellowed tubes,
Jesus Christ, dying of AIDS,
Can look right through you.

And all have hated,
Crucified and walked away,
The Savior of the prostitutes,
Drunkards, rapists, and the gays.

Under bridges,
With hands raised,
From the ghettos they praise his name.
Broke and crippled in the dark of night,
Raise your voices to Jesus Christ,
Hallelujah.