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Day 10: Remembering what it means to “Come Back”

Luke 15:20-24 20  And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 
21  And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 
22  But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 
23  And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 
24  For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

The Return of the Prodigal Son, painted in 1669, now in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia








Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606 – 1669) lived in the Reformation era in the Dutch Protestant region of the Northern Netherlands. In 1631 he moved to Amsterdam and set up his studio and home there. He was a Master as a portrait painter. He produced more than 300 paintings, a little under 300 etchings, and more than 2,000 drawings. 
Yet that is not all. Rembrandt was a master storyteller. Whether painting portraits, scenes from daily life, or stories from the Bible, he delved into the mind and soul of his subjects. He gave flesh to the spirit of his art.

In his painting The Return of the Prodigal Son, completed in 1669, Rembrandt focused on the dramatic welcoming home of the wayward son by the merciful father. In Jesus' parable the younger son had taken leave of his Father, along with his inheritance and gone to another place where he wasted it away, until he became destitute.

There, He makes a decision, an important one – to “return to His Father”. He is a “Prodigal” and therefore an outcast in Jewish society; but nevertheless, he decides that returning the Father and living as a “hired servant” was better than living where he was.
Jesus says, “he came to his senses”.
As the son approaches home, he has an apologetic - please forgive me and take me back speech - in mind. As the repentant son comes to the Father, he humbly kneels as an unworthy beggar seeking mercy.
Here Jesus reveals the heart of our Heavenly Father and Rembrandt paints it beautifully. Look at the painting. The compassionate father reaches with outstretched arms and the painting conveys the warm embrace of fatherly love and pardon.

The elder son stands back in the shadows, staring in disbelief and holding a knife, a suggestive image of anger, resentment, and judgement that wants punishment, not love. 
From the father's face and hands comes redemptive love – an unconditional love that pardons, heals, and restores.

Henri Nouwen, a Dutch-born Catholic priest and author of 40 books on the spiritual life, spent several days in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia to study, reflect, and draw out the spiritual significance of the painting. From that he wrote, “The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Meditation on Fathers, Brothers, and Sons” (Doubleday,1992):

"The longer I look at 'the patriarch', the clearer it becomes to me that Rembrandt has done something quite different from letting God pose as the wise old head of a family. It all began with the hands. The two are quite different. The father's left hand touching the son's shoulder is strong and muscular. The fingers are spread out and cover a large part of the prodigal son's shoulder and back. I can see a certain pressure, especially in the thumb. That hand seems not only to touch, but, with its strength, also to hold. Even though there is a gentleness in the way the father's left hand touches his son, it is not without a firm grip.
How different is the father's right hand! This hand does not hold or grasp. It is refined, soft, and very tender. The fingers are close to each other and they have an elegant quality. It lies gently upon the son's shoulder. It wants to caress, to stroke, and to offer consolation and comfort."

This is the beginning of the Gospel. We come, humbly, repentantly, to "Our Father, who is in Heaven, Hallowed be Your Name."

Peace



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