04 Jan 06 113638462400095462
More thoughts (again?) from The Return of The Prodigal Son. Here’s what Nouwen says about the younger son.
The younger son sinned in a way we can easily identify. His lostness is quite obvious. He misused his money, his time, his friends, his own body. What he did was wrong; not only his family and friends knew it, but he himself as well. He rebelled against morality and allowed himself to be swept away by his own lust and greed. There is something very clear-cut about his misbehavior.
The rebellion of the younger son is laid bare on the table for all to see. By contrast, the other son’s rebellion runs deep underneath the surface.
The lostness of the elder son, however, is much harder to identify. After all, he did all the right things. He was obedient, dutiful, law-abiding, and hardworking. People respected him, admired him, praised him, and likely considered him a model son. Outwardly, the elder son was faultless. But when confronted by his father’s joy at the return of his younger brother, a dark power erupts in him and boils to the surface. Suddenly, there becomes glaringly visible a resentful, proud, unkind, selfish person, one that had remained deeply hidden, even though it had been growing stronger and more powerful over the years.
Steve, blogged about this a month or so ago and made some great observations from this particular quote that I agree with. I also agree with Nouwen’s portrayal of the heart condition of both sons.
Most of us grow up thinking how glamorous it must be to experience the lostness of the younger. To sow the wild oats and have a chance to come back and be forgiven is certainly an attractive prospect. Most of us have been living, all the while, the lostness of the older son.
I have to admit, however, I’m having some difficulty with a few of Nouwen’s interpretations. He makes some leaps and stretches from a painting of a fictional story. I’m especially having difficulty with who he claims the older son to be, as portrayed in the painting. Here’s a picture of the painting.
You tell me, based on the story, who most resembles the older son and why. I’ll add more thoughts to the comments later.
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I certainly identify with the older son. I’ve actually probably been in both places. But I’ve always had some empathy for the older, especially. Jealousy and resentment are terrible things and can lead to just about anything else bad that we can think of. As in Cain and Abel………
I maintain the parable could be referred to as “The Prodigal Sons” since the elder brother wasted time by, at least, not celebrating being a son. He also did nothing to help his younger brother. (Maybe that’s the parental part of me thinking the older ones have an obligation to help out?)
I think in addition to representing Jews writ large, the elder brother represents heartless (gutless?) Christianity. Or perhaps that side of Christianity that has forgotten that the sick need a physician.
I think the guy not in the picture is the eldest son. After all, he was out in the fields when his brother came home and only found out about it later.
Jesus told the story, didn’t he, because of the older brother, and because of the Father’s joy.
I like the painting, as I wrote before, it’s up in our “sanctuary”. There are logistical problems. My mind’s eye has them on the road at the edge of the property. As for the older son, he’s got to be the unhappy one‚Ķ
I would say the younger of the 3 men (Prodigal son and father are obvious)who is standing in the middle of the picture. He also seems the most removed emotionally from the scene although Greg may have nailed it by saying the eldest son wouldn’t have been in the picture.
Perhaps the painting needs more iymbyjh to be clearer?
Allegorical painters of the period usually dressed their subjects in togas and robes of the Roman and Greek eras. Allegorical paintings were considered of the highest order by the Academies in Europe. But Rembrandt clothed the subjects in his paintings in the clothes of contemporary times, even those subjects from Biblical sources.
Holland was a colonial power and trade with the East was the majority of the country’s income. The robes and clothes from the east that Rembrandt would have seen at the markets are represented in “Return of the Prodigal Son”. The man standing to the right in the painting has robes similar to the father. His nose is shaped liked the father’s and he wears a beard, also similar to the father’s beard.
Rembrandt was a good painter, but what made him a master was the way he presented his subjects and his stories, playing with our senses, our sensibilites and our psychology. The chiaroscuro Rembrandt developed was to bring drama and intrigue to his paintings. Yes, he shows us with masterful strokes and forms what is in the light, but we’re more concerned with what lurks in the dark.
Late breaking bulletin:
I just watched the “mouse video.” It was hilarious and that was definitely a rat! Better “rat” than never.
Cecil, do you think that video was authentic? I’m beginning to wonder. After all, I’m the one who swallowed a story a few years ago about Sinko de Mayo - having to do with a boatload of mayonaisse! It WAS funny, though.
Here’s a new twist. Maybe the painting is that of the older son after learning the compasion of the father towrad the younger. The man standing is the younger son after the robe has been brought to him and the ring has been put on his finger. Maybe this is the painting of the “rest of the story” as seen in the painter’s mind and the younger son is seen as the one who forgives after the older has become angry, left home, and returned. Maybe it could be called “The Return of the Sonth!” Or “The Prodigal Too!” Am I too dramatic or what?! I think I have finally become iratjkcf!!
I too saw the mouse video for the first time. That is just too smart! The mouse knew what was about to happen. That little rodent has some real mfjmk!
Thanks for all the good comments (as usual). As some of you have mentioned as far as the actual story goes the older son is not even around when the younger son is welcomed home.
If for some reason I had to choose a figure in the painting to represent the older son it would not be, as Nouwen painstakingly suggests the bearded man on the right side of the platform.
My money is on the figure in the shadows behind the father. (The one holding the odlvnod.)