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For months, residents of Davidson, N.C., have debated the merits of a bronze statue of Jesus Christ as a homeless man on a local park bench. But when news of the hobo lord hit national TV this morning, NBC's hosts had a decidedly less coherent religious experience.

The statue was installed in February on the grounds of St. Albans Episcopal Church in the upscale neighborhood outside Charlotte, and it shows a blanketed "Jesus representing the most marginalized of society," according to the church rector.

But it wasn't universally hailed, with some residents calling Christ's depiction demeaning; a recent national report on the rendering by NPR noted that one resident even called the cops to report a vagrant on the bench.

Carson Daly, Savannah Guthrie, and the rest of NBC's Today show theologians tackled the controversy in a minute's worth of deep mystical reflection this morning, in the clip above. Clearly, the hosts were struck dumb by the spirit:

Believe it or not, this is supposed to be Jesus...

What identifies that as Jesus?

Not much.

I guess it's just the thing that probably… it probably says "Jesus."

Yeah.

I think it's incredibly… thought-provoking.

It is!

At a minimum, it would get a conversation started.

It's like the Joan Osbourne song. "What if God Was One of Us?"

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's interesting to remind people about… poverty. You know, it's important.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um.

Now to a priceless reaction from actress Emma Stone. She's actually a huge fan of the Spice Girls…

Credo quia absurdum, the early church father Tertullian is traditionally (mis)quoted as saying: "I believe because it is absurd." Praise be to the brethren and sistren of Today for witnessing to us in Tertullian's spirit, with the sort of earnest pre-rational babble that proves He moves in us. On 30 Rock, I will build my church. Together, we can probe the mysteries of this Spice World, as well as the one to follow.