Sermon Fourth Sunday of Lent 2013

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who embraces us in love.

         This is Rembrandt’s Painting “Return of the Prodigal Son.” I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s probably my favorite painting. I just love the way that Rembrandt has captured the whole of the story in this one image.

         Part of my joy about his painting has to do with a book by Henrii Nouwen, a priest who spent the last years of his life living in the intentional learning disabled community of L’Arche in Montreal. It was while there that he discovered a poster of this painting on the back of a door and became enthralled with it. He then ventured to St. Petersburg in Russia to The Hermitage Museum where this painting is displayed. I have not seen it myself, but my Aunt was able to see it while on a trip with college students from the University of North Dakota. She says it’s amazing the difference you feel in person, rather than just looking at it printed or on a screen. For one, it’s massive. It’s nearly 9 feet tall and 6 ¾ feet wide. And as with many paintings any prints tend to be much darker than the painting it’s self and so the detail is grander. Nouwen travelled there and spent a good amount of time just sitting in front of the painting experiencing it. Through his studying he wrote a book, also entitled The Return of the Prodigal Son, if you are looking for a devotional, easy to read book, I highly recommend it. He looks at the painting through the three main characters. The Younger Son, The Elder Son, and the Father.

         When I look at this painting I am drawn to the younger son. It is after all the name of the painting.  

       We of course see how dirty he is, we see his shaved head, probably due to lice or disease. We see that his sandals have worn out. And we see though he former wealth. His clothes still have elements of riches to them, you can still see the rich trim to his robe which as started to tear and fade, it is no longer the rich red of his father or brother. It’s patched and ill fitting, torn and badly repaired.

      He is in a posture of complete collapse. He is kneeling, but just barely, his knees buckling under him held up by grasping his father’s cloak.

      I’m drawn to his face. There is very little detail involved. But, it’s the face of one who has come to his place of last resort. And when he reached that point, he finds himself welcomed, not turned away. He can show nothing but relief and peace after years of collapse.

      We can identify with this relief, we think well, I’ve not really put myself into such a deep hole as this man, but if he can be restored and forgiven we can as well. I find myself feeling such peace while looking at his liberation from all the pain that he caused himself. Much like we find ourselves liberated from all the pain we cause ourselves.

      But, it also brings up a couple of other emotions. I find myself jealous in a way. Yes, he fell into hard, hard times, but he experienced some tremendous times doing whatever he wanted before. Last week we talked a bit about feeling that people get what they deserve and well, it’s hard to get over the feeling that the younger son got what he deserved. And the Father welcomes him back as if nothing had happened. He disowned his father, wished him dead, and his father simply takes him back. If I would do such things would it be the same? Why did he get to do whatever he wanted and have no long term repercussions? I behave, I do the right things, sure I make mistakes every once in a while, but I don’t overstep the rules, I wait my time.

      When we look at the Elder son we right away see his riches and the comparison to his Father. They both wear the same ornate red cloak over finely made robes, you can see the richness that the Younger Son’s robe used to have. And he stands up perfectly straight. He is the tallest figure in the painting and holds sway over the entire right half.

       It’s hard for me at least to identify his expression. He gazes upon his Father welcoming his brother, but is it pity upon his brother, or admiration for his father. He seems to simply be stoic. He certainly does not seem to show the anger that we see in the midst of our text. It could be that while this scene falls in the midst of the story, Rembrandt has painted the Elder Son as if it were the end of the Story. The father has welcomed the Younger Son, and the Elder Son has expressed his anger at this, to which the Father responds, Son, you are always with me, all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life, he was lost and has been found.

      One of the issues that the Elder son has is that he believes that the Fathers love is finite. That there is only so much to go around. But, God’s love is infinite, God loving someone else does not diminish God’s love for him or us. Maybe that’s the Elder Son’s expression here. He looks upon his brother who did such wrong to himself and to his Father, and sees his Father forgiving him, and knows that his Father loves him all the same. He looks at his Father and Brother not filled with the anger we see in our story, but filled with grace knowing that the Father’s embrace is meant for him as well.

       Because that’s what is center in this Story. We call it the Prodigal Son, which means the son that spends recklessly, or sometimes it’s the lost son, or even the two sons. The story is really not about the sons at all though, it’s about a Father who loves so much that he forgives his son who declared that he was dead to him. And the Father does not just forgive, but runs to forgive him, does not even wait for him to reach him at the house, but runs to meet him on the road. And when he asks to become a servant, his father has nothing to do with it and restores him as a son.

      In the painting the father stands out, because I think Rembrandt understood the father to be the main focus of the story. When we look at the Father, we see the only figure entirely in light. The younger son is darkened, the Elder son seems to dwell in the dark corner, but the Father shines out. After the younger son, it’s where your eyes dwell. His expression, like his younger son’s, is one of relief that his son has returned.

      His hands embrace his Son, his left strong and firm, not letting his son go again, it seems to be grasping the younger son’s shoulder. The father’s right hand though seems to be the opposite, where the left seems hard and firm, the right seems gentle and soft. It is not grasping, but is in a loving caress. It holds his son here not through force, but love.

      In this story and painting we see all of life, we see our sinful nature in the younger son, which wants to declare to God to simply give us our inheritance now, we know what to do with it, and we see our jealous nature in the Elder son, who sees other doing what we wish we could and not suffering the consequences like we think they should, we find ourselves upset about God’s unending love, wishing that it was all just for us. And most importantly, we see God in the Center, God who welcomes us home, who runs to meet us where we are, who forgives us despite the sin we will continue to wreck upon the world. Who when we collapse upon the ground because we have run out of options, leans down to us and wraps us in an embrace that melts all concerns away. We are the Younger Son, and we are the Elder Son, but God is the Father who will always love us.