Today’s gospel is one of the most beloved stories in all of Scripture. Jesus’ parable of the self-absorbed teenager who demands his inheritance from his loving father, squanders every cent on the good life and is reduced to tending pigs when the money runs out; once he realizes how foolish he has been, he is welcomed home by his thankful dad, no questions asked.
Many have imagined their own versions of the story - but perhaps the most insightful has been one artist’s interpretation on canvas. In 1669, the Dutch master Rembrandt painted “The Return of the Prodigal Son.” It was one of his last works, Rembrandt’s painting portrays the father welcoming home his son. The details of the painting are revealing:
First, there is the father. Rembrandt portrays the old man as the very picture of serenity. His face reflects tranquility and peace. He also appears to be blind; he sees his son, whose head he tenderly holds, not with his eyes but with his heart. Many have also noted the father’s hands: his left hand, the hand that pulls his son toward him has the strength and power of a father, while his right hand, caressing his son’s back, has the softness and tenderness of a mother. In Rembrandt’s portrayal, the old father mirrors the compassion of God, who loves us in the depth of our hearts, who is both mother and father to every one of us prodigals.
The figure of the prodigal, who collapses before his father, is emaciated and exhausted. His head is shaved; he is dirty and scarred; he wears only a dirty, ragged tunic and one torn sandal on his right foot. All defiance has been stripped away. The son is a picture of humility: his realization that he has wasted his life enables him to make the long, hard trek home to his father’s welcoming embrace.
And, in the shadows of the painting, is the older brother. He is angry and bitter. He looks at the scene with scorn and distrust. He knows that his younger brother’s return is going to be a hard readjustment for all of them. His bitterness and anger confines him to the darkness, outside of the light and color of his father’s joy and his brother’s gratitude.
Rembrandt’s beautiful painting invites all of us to see ourselves in each of the characters: in the father’s joy at having his boy back, in the prodigal’s facing responsibility for the hurt he has caused, in the older brother’s understandable but divisive resentment and distrust. The work of forgivenessdemands facing our culpability in hurting others, it requires putting aside our own hurts and resentments for the ultimate goal of being reunited with those from whom we are separated; and it calls for the balancing forgiveness and conversion that leads to reconciliation. May Rembrandt’s colors of forgiveness and gratitude illuminate our relationships and all the struggles we all experience in being family and friends to one another.
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