I have no place to sleep

‘I have no place to sleep!’. 

Many times in my three and a half years working with people seeking asylum in Athens I heard this sentence. Victoria Park in central Athens was ‘home’ to as many as a thousand people, mostly single men, who could not access the limited housing support available through the Greek government. 

‘I have no place to sleep!’. 

This sentence made me so uncomfortable. It was a conversation stopper! 

‘How are you doing?’ - ‘I have no place to sleep!’

Where do you go from there?

I spent much of my time in Greece teaching the Bible to people who were seeking asylum and I dreaded this sentence, this bombshell, this non-question question that would hang in the air and threaten any sense of encouragement or peace I was attempting to convey through the Scriptures. 

I remember leading a Bible study on Matthew 6:25-34, the famous ‘do not worry’ passage. I led it with such trepidation and fear because if anyone brought up the fact they had no place to sleep, or any other unmet need, I could not provide an adequate answer to satisfy them, or myself for that matter. 

‘I have no place to sleep!’.

But… What if these words were uttered by someone who had everything - all possible riches, riches which no one can begin to imagine… and chose to get rid of it and become homeless? What if these words were uttered by a man who was royalty in a faraway perfect land and chose to leave it all behind and live the precarious life of a refugee with no place to stay? Unimaginable foolishness! 

And yet… 

“I have no place to sleep!” Luke 9:58

What if the Son of Man, God incarnate, the Word made flesh, lived a life resembling that of a middle eastern person seeking asylum infinitely more than a comfortable western christian? 

Think about it…

Philippians 2:5-8 tells us how Jesus left a comfortable home in the presence of His Father and came to a strange land that was different from His place of residence in every way. 

Matthew 2:13 tells us how shortly after his birth, an angel told Joseph to flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus because Jesus’ life was in danger. They ended up a foreign land, one that had historically been hostile to jews. 

And of course Luke 9:58 where Jesus warns people who want to follow him that while birds and foxes have safe places to live, Jesus has no place to lay his head. 

Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us of a High Priest, Christ Himself, who is able to sympathise with our weakness in every way. He is able to sympathise with every experience of living in a fallen world, including seeking asylum and homelessness. 

Christ experienced loss of home, community, possessions, distance from family, rejection by loved ones and questions around his identity. And yet Christ came to bring a future, bring together family, freedom, dignity, and usher in a new kind of government where justice and peace are ever present. Every one of these is a common and heart felt cry for these same people. Every one of these is a common experience or heartfelt cry of people who come to Europe and UK seeking asylum.