Prodigal

Hanging in my office is a picture that haunts me everytime I look at it. The original painting by Rembrandt hangs in The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia and is entitled, The Return of the Prodigal. Painted in 1662, it captures the love of the waiting father and the distance of his sons.

Yesterday I shared both the painting and the story by the Master Storyteller found in Luke 15.

I posed the question....who is the prodigal?

Both sons distanced themselves from their father's concerns in different ways.

Both sons resented their father's control of the farm and felt limited in what they could do.

Both sons seemed to prefer hanging out with friends rather than time at the fathers table.

I posed the question...who is the prodigal?

Several years ago I read Henri Nouwens book, The Return of the Prodigal Son influenced by his time in The Hermitage looking at Rembrandt's painting. He says Jesus is the prodigal son...

Stunning.....Consider his words....

"He left the house of his heavenly Father, came to a foreign country, gave away all that he had, and returned through his cross to his Father's home. All of this he did, not as a rebellious son but as the obedient son, sent out to bring home all the lost children of God

Jesus is the prodigal son of the prodigal Father who gave away everything the Father had entrusted to him so that I could, so that you could, so that we could become like him and return with him to his Father's house. It is an example of extravagant grace."

What an example of "extravagant grace."