The Wayward Child and Russia

The Return of the Prodigal Son - Rembrandt

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

So he told them this parable:... Luke 15:1-3

This past Sunday, the fourth in Lent, the lectionary gospel passage was from Luke, the only gospel to include the parable of the wayward or prodigal son. Actually, Luke 15 contains three parables unique to this gospel: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and this one. It could also be the parable of the resentful brother because the story is about both God's lavish grace and our human reluctance to extend it to others. I've noted before that surveys have found that we want to believe in God's forgiveness for us but are more inclined to believe in God's judgement for others. At the beginning of the chapter Jesus is taking heat from religious types who are critical of his unsettling (to them) willingness to eat with sinners, so he disarms them with these three stories. 

With my art history background I hear this parable and I see Rembrandt's painting The Return of the Prodigal Son. Some suggest that this work created near the end of his life was his greatest and that it may have been autobiographical. After the early years when Rembrandt was one of the most sought after painters in Holland and lived an extravagant lifestyle his life became plagued by debt and scandal and in his final years he was selling off the few possessions he had left just to have food. His beloved wife Saskia died at 29 and three of their children had died shortly after birth. It was as though the light had gone out of his life and his creativity. 

And yet... The Return of the Prodigal Son. What struck me last week was that this painting is in the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and with the current conflict God only knows how long it will be before anyone from outside the country will see it again. Will there be another extended Cold War and Iron Curtain which closes off the world from what is a devotional treasure as well as a superb work of art? The theologian and mystic Henri Nouwen was captivated by this painting and wrote a book about it. The first time he saw it he spent hours gazing at the characters. He was on his way to Russia to ponder it again when he died, suddenly. 

Who knows if or when the world will return to wayward Russian. The parable of Jesus is still a powerful story of forgiveness and reconciliation and unconditional love. 

 Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and 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.’” Luke 15: 31-32