Rev. Tatiana Cantarella

Return of the youngest prodigal son

Luke 15:11–24

In 1983 a Catholic minister Henry Nouwen, known for his books, visited his friend and saw a reproduction of Rembrandt’s "The Return of the Prodigal Son" on his wall. In the picture stood an old man dressed in a long red cloak tenderly embracing a young man dressed in ragged clothes. A mysterious light shone on both of them. Henry Nouwen could not take his eyes of this picture, for it made a great impression on him. Later when he had the opportunity to visit Leningrad and see the painting at the Hermitage, he spent many hours in front of it contemplating and meditating.

One might ask – what can this old story say to someone who has been in church for many years? How often do we think that we've already gone through all that and that this story is for some unrepentant sinners so that they can finally understand their situation and repent? Rembrandt noticed it well, for you see in the picture not only the father and his sons but also other people standing near by and watching from the sidelines. It is a position often takes by us when we hear this story again. But are we really that far from life's journey of the prodigal son?

Both the parable and the painting are called "Return of the prodigal son” but the word "return” implies that one previously "left”.  «Return» is showing up at home after you've left that home, the joy of coming back is preceded by the sadness of leaving.  Luke tells us about this departure rather casually and we don't really grasp how unthinkable such an action was on the part of the youngest son, how offensive and hostile, rejecting completely the respected traditions of that time.  This son’s leaving his home was like an expression of his desire for his father to die. The son demands not only for the inheritance to be divided but to actually receive his part right away. After making a will for his sons the father had the right to benefit from that willed property as long as he lived. And his son’s request implies only one thing: "father, I can’t wait until you die”. His leaving was much more hostile than it seems from the first glance. Leaving he rejects that home where he was born and raised for the sake of receiving what he wants.

He also breaks up with tradition, which is honored in that home where he belongs. Luke says that he «went to a far away country» (15:3) but he didn't go in order to see the world. The point was that he didn't want to have anything in common with the way of life, of thinking and acting that was passed on from generation to generation and was expected of him.  The «far away country» is any place where we run away from the things that are considered sacred at Home.   He wanted to get as far away as possible from the things of his father's house.

The problem is that in most of our lives it's hard to find such obvious rebellion.  We don't seem to reject the values given by the Gospel and preached by our church. We don't say: «Lord, I’ve had enough of You and all the things related to you, so I will get away as far as possible and live my own life». But if we'll be completely honest with ourselves and with God we will see how in one way or another we've often preferred «the far away country» to our true home. Scripture tells us that «our citizenship is in heaven» and every time we choose to live as if there is nothing more than this earthly life we take off for a «far away country». If we know of our true home but choose to live by the rules of this world rather than by the rules of our Father’s home we choose the far away country. Every time when our life, actions or words say: «I’d be better off without all those commandments» and teachings we like that prodigal son express our desire for our father's death…for we think that life would be so much easier if we didn’t have to bother with all those things of God and we prefer to live as if there is no God in our life.

Leaving home is not just an event that takes place in space and time but also a rejection of the fact that I belong to God with my whole being, that I am created and guarded by Him. Leaving home is a refusal to accept the truth that «God knit me together in my mother’s womb”. (Ps 139:13). Leaving home is when we begin to live as if there is really no home. Home is the place where I can hear the voice of God saying to me: «my beloved son, I am so pleased in you» (Lk. 3:22).  The voice that brought life to Adam and calls out to all God's children, the voice that spoke to us in the past and calls out to us now. It's the voice of God the Father who causes light and love everywhere when it's heard. This voice will never stop calling and when I hear it, I know that I am home and God is with me and I have nothing to fear even if I have to «walk through the valley of death I will not fear evil» (Ps 23). I know that voice because of Jesus Christ to whom this voice spoke at the Jordan River. Because Jesus called us his brothers and sisters I know that I also have a Heavenly Home and a Heavenly Father.  Jesus prayed for us saying: «they are not of this world like I am not of this world. Sanctify them by your truth, Your Word is Truth» (John 17:16–18).  In these words I recognize where my true home is.

But time and again I leave that home, slip away from the loving hands of the Father and run to a far away country seeking love. That is the tragedy of our live. We become deaf to the voice that calls us his beloved children, we leave the only place where we can hear it and trying looking everywhere in order to find that which we can only find at home. We leave and we stop hearing that loving, quiet voice. But many other voices, loud and generous for promises are challenging us saying: «go ahead and show us what you are worth!» After Jesus was baptized and called «the beloved son» he heard those voices too. The devil convinced him to prove that He is worthy to be loved, to prove it by becoming successful, famous and powerful.  We know these voices well, they are always hear by, they know how to push the most touchy buttons of our heart so that we begin to doubt ourselves and the love of God. They loudly argue rejecting the truth that love is a free gift.  And we leave home every time when we stop believing the voice that calls us His beloved children and we are shocked: why did this person hurt me, why did someone say «no» to me, why did she ignore me? We don't understand what is happening and give ourselves to gloomy thoughts about other people's successes, our own loneliness and about how the world is unfair to us. Every time we start to think that we need to earn love, we leave our father's house and end up in the "far away country".

The main question is: «whom do I belong to? Do I belong to God or to this world?” Most of our life will indicate that we belong more to this world. A slight criticism makes us loose our peace, any rejection depresses us.  We accept from our Heavenly Father many gifts – health, talents, potential but what for? We continue to use them in order to impress people, to gain their respect, their support, to prove our right to be loved, instead of perfecting and developing those gifts for the glory of God. When we live this way we sort of try to prove to this world and to ourselves that we don't really need God's love because we can take care of our lives on our own and we desire to be completely independent. We seek love but we seek it in the world that says: «I love you if you are good looking, smart, successful and rich or if you have a good education, good job and the right connections». Worldly love consists of many «ifs». And every time when we take off looking for unconditional love in places where it cannot be found we get lost and we become «prodigal sons and daughters».  Prodigal son was like Adam having said «no» to the father, having rejected God's love which brought him to existence. And we all come from Adam and participate in this rebellion but just like that son we also can find forgiveness. Our Father's hands are always reaching out to us; He never changed His mind about blessing us and never ceased to call us His beloved.  But just like the father in that parable could not make his son to stay at home, force his love upon him, God also lets us go free, knowing fair well how much suffering it will mean for Him and for us.   

This painting leaves no doubts that the young man ended up in a horrible situation. His head is shaved, like that of a convict whose name has been replaced with a number. And while the beautiful clothes of those who are standing near by tell us about their dignity, his body is barely covered by a ragged dress and worn out sandals that testify to his suffering and poverty. What happened to this son in that far away country, what did this leaving his home do to his soul? Having left his home he stopped hearing the loving voice of God and began hearing more and more the voices of this world, trying hard to be liked and to be accepted. That's how we often live. And when something doesn't go well we become jealous towards those who are got it all together. Or if we are successful we have to deal with the envy and hatred of those around us. This world teaches us to be on guard and trust no one, not to believe that someone might actually love us. The younger son learned the bitterness of total loneliness when no one around cared for him at all. He was only needed as long as he had money and could be useful. But when money ran out, gifts were all gone he became an outcast… experience the full depth of his estrangment, alienation.  But it was this sense of his own nothingness that returned him to life and allowed him to see that he was on the way to destruction. So what helped him to then make a choice for life and to return home despite all his guilt, fear and pride?

It was the fact that while he lost everything – money, friends, reputation, self-respect, joy of life and inner peace – he was still his father's son! Rembrandt also reflected that in his painting – the returned prodigal has only one thing left – a knife that was the only sign of his noble origins.  Even under his circumstances he was trying not to forget whose son he is, otherwise he would have sold that precious knife too. It was the memory of his origins that helped him to return home. "How many of my father’s hired men live in abundance and I am starving. I will rise and go to my father and I will say to him: father! I’ve sinned again heavens and against you” (15:17–18). Each one of us wasted our Heavenly Father's gifts and riches when we left his Home. Often times we don't even have strength to pray, we loose interest in our job, in people, in ministry. Our thoughts lead us towards destructive behavior… Oh, how we need at such a moment to listen carefully to the voice that quietly says to us that not a single person in this world can give that love that we need – neither friendship, nor the most intimate relationships, nor society can help our rebellious heart to fulfill its deepest desires. Only the voice that calls us from home: «my beloved son, in you I am pleased» (3:22).  And no one can take that away.

Sometimes when we decide to come back we (not unlike the prodigal son) prepare a speech, imagining the encounter and how we will explain our behavior, talk about our achievements or ask for pardon, tell stories trying to defend oneself, to make the Father feel sorry for you or to show that we still deserve respect and praise…We still think that God's love will require us to explain ourselves.  But we are still the children of our Father, yet we are only thinking of coming back as hired servants. Nouwen wrote (sorry for re-translation – I only have this book in Russian): «this is a regret but not repentance in the light of the eternal and great love of our merciful God. We regret our actions but we continue to feel immensely guilty and unworthy. But one of the greatest achievements in a spiritual life is to accept forgiveness given by God and to become again his daughter or his son, to allow the Father to purify us, our past and to begin living again». Sometimes we seem to try to prove to God that the dark side in me is irresistible and we insist on being his servant. But God desires that we accept with our whole heart his forgiveness, healing renewal and new birth becoming his child again!

This parable calls each one of us to make a choice.  God's word says: ”I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you …may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life” (Deut. 30:19–20).  What will we choose today, the faithlessness of this world that easily becomes our prison or slavery or the freedom that we can only have in being God's children? The choice is ours. We all left our Father's home but who will return to find life? Judas betrayed Jesus, Peter rejected him – both were prodigal sons. Judas could not live with the fact that he was still God's son and he killed himself.    Peter in tears and torment returned remembering whose son he is. The same choice is ours.  Let us not remain as someone watching from the sidelines – like those people in the shadows of the painting.  It is easier to remain in the shadow while criticizing what is going on around. But for those who desire to have true Life - the place is at the center of the picture, on their knees, in the arms of the father, in the midst of His light and His glory.