A Chance Encounter
This was Joseph – someone I first met as I returned from a day’s teaching in a London school more than 25 years ago. I was climbing up the steps to street level from the tube station and there was Joseph on the top step, swaying precariously. In either hand, he had a large black bin bag. It was a choice between letting him fall backwards or putting an arm out to stop him falling. I soon discovered those bin bags contained a mixture of clothes, half-eaten sandwiches, cans of beer and several bibles.
***
‘All your money and all your fancy clothes won’t get you into the Kingdom of Heaven.’
Joseph’s sassy comment was made a few months after that first meeting. We were chatting on the street, sitting on the pavement to be exact. I remember he had a good portion of spaghetti bolognese (his favourite) spattered down his grimy coat. I also remember he prefaced his comment by loudly naming the leader from a local church who, at the time, was stepping out of a limo, wearing a smart suit and tie. It seemed a little harsh to me, as members of this church had not only provided Joseph with food, cash and friendship but had also rekindled his childhood faith.
‘Your money and your fancy clothes. They won’t get YOU into the Kingdom of Heaven.’
Joseph was right, of course, that neither our dignity nor our path to Heaven is dependent on external appearance, money, popularity or success. But there were other lessons I learnt in getting to know Joseph personally.
To be clear, this was Joseph’s initiative. Since that fateful meeting at the tube station he had somehow decided I had saved him from death. He would spot me across the street and shout my name. He would chat to me. Usually he was drunk and at times obnoxious, scarcely able to stand. Often, he would recite a Bible verse, or tell me about his life. Once, he broke down in tears to tell me how, as a teenager, he had walked into the living room to find his mum had taken her life. He was funny, aggressive, childlike and stubborn. He was also a chronic alcoholic. He told me the drink helped him keep the bad memories at bay.
An Unlikely Friendship
Joseph’s life was, in one sense, so undignified. But through his friendship, I saw the dignity that lay beneath. I still remember the RE teaching I had received in my own (non-Catholic) secondary school about humans having intrinsic worth. It had struck a deep chord within me. Now, encountering Joseph made it tangible. I saw that he was truly ‘made in God’s image’ and that God truly was present and involved in his somewhat chaotic life.
The Image of God Through the Prism of Joseph
In the same way, the teaching we offer and the stories we tell in our Life to the Full programme are about laying a foundation for life that may only make sense later on. This is particularly true of concepts like ‘Image of God’ which contains so many layers of meaning. Here are some thoughts on what I learnt about ‘Image of God’, seen through the prism of Joseph and the story of his life.
1. Perhaps the first thing I saw is that we have a dignity that comes from God and which nothing can obliterate. Rich or poor, sober or drunk, we retain our dignity. As the Catechism puts it:
2. Another thing I saw was that Joseph had a sense that, in spite of everything, he was loved by God. He would often say with a slightly drunken slur: ‘Jesus loves me’. Joseph didn’t think of his life as a failure or an accident, but, in some way, he knew that as Pope Benedict XVI says, ‘Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary’. He knew that he was not a something, but a someone, known personally to God.
3. Linked to this, Joseph believed that he was more than flesh and bone. He often spoke about his soul and about Heaven. He wanted to go there. He’d tell me in his broad Glaswegian accent: ‘I’m a mess. But my heart’s with God.’ Joseph knew that he was both a spiritual and material being. In some way, he knew that he was meant for greater things, even if as he put it, ‘I’m in the gutter right now’. In some way, he knew that he was created out of love and for love. Again as the Catechism puts it,
Broken and Restored
But there is one more vital dimension to this concept that Joseph showed me – and that is that God’s image in us is deeply broken. Yes, it was clear that Joseph had a lot of brokenness in his life – things that he had suffered. But he was also, like all of us, far from perfect. He was prone to violence, fits of rage and he admitted he had an addiction to pornography. Being imperfect, we bear an image of God that is imperfect. Some theologians suggest we retain God’s image but we have lost His likeness.
Perhaps this is one of the gifts that we discover in those who are suffering from addictions, not to mention pupils (or dare I say even colleagues) whose behaviour stretches us to the limits of our patience. In encountering the brokenness of others, we encounter our own brokenness. We are reminded that we are far from being a perfect likeness of God. As our new ‘10 Principles’ video explains, God’s image is in all of us, wounded and tarnished by original sin and our personal sins. We all experience alienation and disharmony within ourselves, in relation to others and in relation to God.
In our Life to the Full content, we don’t shy away from speaking about those destructive tendencies that can so easily govern our relationships and our sexual behaviour – selfishness, greed, resentment, jealousy, pride and lust. It’s in acknowledging the bad news, that we can speak of the good news – Jesus – who is the radiant light and perfect image of God, who comes to heal us and restore us.
‘Image of God’ reminds us not just of who we are, but of who we are called to be, by God’s grace. Joseph was that reminder for me. In his adult years even in the midst of homelessness and alcoholism, he had discovered the identity he had received at Baptism – that he was truly a child of God.
There’s a passage from the prophet Isaiah that beautifully captures so much of this. I remember it, because it’s one that Joseph’s Pentecostal friends helped him learn by heart:
Through our Life to the Full content, we invite children and young people to discover this for themselves.
10 Key Principles for Catholic RSHE
Watch our new video, 10 key principles for Catholic RSHE which unpacks more about ‘Image of God’. The full 9 minute video is available for use in staff CPD and can also be accessed by all staff on the Programme Coordinator’s page under Onboarding New Staff.
Attribution
Stock footage by Freepik.
Music:
Airae / Energized Morning / Courtesy of Epidemic Sound / https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/xF2ADhIuB9/
Oman / Brand New Beginning / Courtesy of Epidemic Sound / https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/SlNPdKAis1/
Airae/ Perfect in Every Way / Courtesy of Epidemic Sound / https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/UDE8OeBNj8/
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