I was surprised, walking into this church from which the last Crusades departed, to see Rembrandt's painting. First, because I knew this story is today's Gospel and I am always surprised by those coincidences. (If you want to read it, it is in Luke 15). Second, because it signifies repentance to me -- the repentance of the younger son and the prodigal love of the father -- I wonder why it is in this church. Are we repenting of the Crusades, or of "losing" the Holy Land, or are we welcoming a heretic back into the fold, or is it just that someone liked this painting? Third, this is a reproduction of only a portion of the painting. It is only the father and younger son. You can't see the elder son moping in the darkened doorway, or the two other men looking on. For the full painting, click below.
https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/return-of-the-prodigal-son/5QFIEhic3owZ-A?hl=fr
This is the parable that keeps on giving. Depending on where you are in your life, you are drawn to a different element of the story, or you identify with a different character. We see what we want to see, or what we are equipped to see, at that moment. As I type this, all I see is the son's feet -- one with a sole of a shoe on it and one naked. There is a whole sermon just in there.
One of my favorite things to do when I tour old fortifications is to take pictures through the holes in the walls -- holes meant for arrows or other weapons. How they narrow our vision so that we only see a part of the whole.
Whoever was at this position had one job - to keep unauthorized personnel away from the tower. This is on the inside of the rampart. There were other people looking outside, over the gates and into the fields beyond. This guy really hoped the guys on the outside did their jobs well.
We rarely see the whole picture. Jesus shared this parable with religious folks who were criticizing him for eating and drinking with sinners. Their view of God's love was narrow - one had to repent (using the right rituals) before one could be welcomed by God. But Jesus knew that God's love is infinite, that it is in welcoming lies the possibility of transformation. These two perspectives on God's love persist in our religions today. Is it the fear of being cast out that leads us to relationship with God, or is it the power of love that draws us into God's heart, away from sin? I think the answer is yes. But sometimes we have to step back to see both.
What you see depends on where you are. What walls are you peeking through? Who might you talk to today to see a different perspective and gain a better understanding of the whole picture?
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