What Would Jesus See

At a busy intersection on 3rd Street Bridge Road in Polk City, Iowa, an image has appeared on the trunk of a tree. A six-foot tall image that people think looks like the Virgin Mary, though some think it looks more like Jesus. Others think it’s Mary holding the baby Jesus. Whatever it is, people have been flocking there to see it. No one seems to know how it got there, just when it appeared, or even whose land it stands on. Mysteries abound.

Brian Quirk of Amelia Court in North Providence, Rhode Island, had returned from a visit to his father’s grave on the sixth anniversary of his death when he decided to relax by doing some yard work. There, in a small growth on a silver maple tree, he spotted a 3″ x 2″ image of Jesus Christ on the cross. “Curiously, it is in the same area where my father would sit outside during his last few months before losing his battle with cancer,” Quirk said. Area residents say they’ve been inspired by the image while Quirk has made my job easier by calling it a “quirk of fate.”

Chef Jermarcus Brady was slicing eggplants at Gino’s Restaurant in Baton Rouge on Monday when, as he puts it, “I saw a miraculous image formed by the seeds. It spelled out the word ‘God’!” The restaurant’s co-owner, Gino Marino, who has been in business for nearly 50 years, said, “You could cut one million eggplants and you’d probably never see that again, it’s that rare.” Maybe even rarer. Brady and his coworkers took photos to preserve the memory. No word on whether they’ve tried to preserve the slice of eggplant or whether it was salted and sauteed along with the rest.

David Duran of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was making a batch of apple butter using his great-great-grandmother’s recipe when he noticed that one of the Fuji apples he was about to peel had an image on the outside he thought looked like Jesus holding a lamb. He took the apple to the local Sacred Heart church, where a priest blessed and anointed it. Since then, neighbors and area residents have been stopping by to get a glimpse of the unique fruit.

“Maybe it’s a sign from the Lord that maybe we need to change our ways and maybe look at things to be more positive in this world,” he told a local TV station.

Well, maybe.

Volunteers were cutting lumber while restoring the San Antonio de Padua Church in Questa, New Mexico, on April 28 when someone noticed a knot in the wood that looked like the Virgin Mary with a lamb. Mark Sideris, project coordinator for the restoration, sees a lamb, his daughter sees Christ, some think Mary’s holding the baby Jesus, and still others think it looks like the 14th Station of the Cross where Jesus is laid in the tomb.

Tim Symonds of Venice, Florida, likes to make tie dye T-shirts. He knows that with tie dye it’s not all under his control. “I have a basic idea of what the shirt’s going to look like,” he says, “but I tell everyone God does the real art work because where the shirt folds and how the dye runs is up to him and it often makes different images.” Recently he unfolded a finished shirt and noticed an image of the Virgin Mary in the center “by the heart.” He’s not alone, another person says, “I saw it and in a split second I knew exactly what it was.” Symonds says the image is making him think hard about his religious beliefs. And no, he hasn’t decided what to do with the shirt yet.