THE PRODIGAL SON

Easter, Passover and Rembrandt

I am sending this week’s newsletter out a little early because I have written this edition of the Sons of Issachar Newsletter in the days approaching Good Friday and Easter. This is one of the most sacred times of the Christian calendar, and when I was a boy, this was reflected in the behaviour of society. Shops were closed on Good Friday, and even Sydney’s Royal Easter Show - (an annual celebration of agriculture that attracts one million visitors to an event that the Americans would call a “State Fair”), would close its doors on Good Friday. This sacred period in the Christian calendar in the West is now regarded as just another long holiday weekend, and the purpose behind the holiday has been lost in the mists of time.

The Easter period commemorates and celebrates Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection during the Passover in Jerusalem in approximately AD 33. The Passover is of great importance, but its link to Jesus’ crucifixion is often lost, due to the early church’s desire to disassociate itself from its Jewish roots.

The loss of the connection between the original Passover (the miraculous escape of the Hebrews from Egypt in 1451 BC ) and Jesus’ atoning death (He paid the price for our sins) on the cross, almost 1,600 years later, is one of the great travesties of the Christian church.

Early church fathers ensured Easter (which they decided would be on a Sunday) was celebrated at a different time to Passover (the Hebrew calendar) when the Council of Nicea decreed in AD 325 that Easter Day (Resurrection day) would be observed on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the northern hemisphere spring Equinox (March 21). This means that Easter Sunday can be any Sunday between 25 March and 25 April (there are differences with the Eastern Orthodox churches, that use the Julian rather than Gregorian calendars), but seldom coincides with Passover.

In contrast, Passover begins just before sundown on the 14th day of the Hebrew calendar month of Nisan, which can be any day of the week. It is the 14th day of the first full moon of spring. This year, the 14^th Nisan is on 22^nd April.

The Feasts (Appointed Times - מוֹעֲדֵ֣י) of the Lord

The annual celebration of the Passover is one of the important convocations (also translated as rehearsals (from the Hebrew word - מִקְרָא transliterated as miqrâ’) or appointed times (מוֹעֵד transliterated as mô‘êḏ) set out by God when He spoke to Moses as outlined in Chapter 23 of the Book of Leviticus.

These various appointed times or convocations were not set out by human hands but by God Himself. They signal to His people the significant events in His calendar and they were “statutes forever” (Leviticus 23:14).

The seven “appointed times of the Lord”( יְהוָ֔ה  מוֹעֲדֵ֣י ) that were to be kept as holy convocations for Israel were: The Sabbath, The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Firstfruits, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement and Feast of Tabernacles (see Leviticus 23). We often think of these (if we think about them at all, because the church has essentially disassociated itself from the seven “feasts”), as Jewish celebrations or remembrances. However, God clearly declares in Leviticus that they are His feasts (appointed times) – see Leviticus 23:1-2. God outlined the significance of His calendar, if we have eyes to see.

Many scholars have pointed to the Feasts of Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Weeks (Shavuot) as pointing to Jesus’ first coming and the latter feasts (Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles) as likely to be associated with His second coming.

The Passover

The Jews had been commanded by God to hold a holy convocation annually to remember the “Passover”, when the angel of death passed over the Hebrew dwelling places in Egypt. This miraculous event occurred when the Hebrews were slaves, after the family of 70 persons had relocated from Canaan (a geographical area that in modern geography includes : Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, and the southern parts of Syria and Lebanon) 430 years earlier. This relocation had occurred because of famine in the land of Canaan, and Joseph (the second youngest of Jacob’s sons who had been sold into slavery) found favour with Pharaoh (see these chapters of Genesis) because he had a remarkable role in saving Egypt from famine.

However, in the intervening period before the exodus from Egypt, knowledge of Joseph’s contribution to Egypt had been forgotten (“Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph.” Exodus 1:8), and the Hebrews had been enslaved. God had not forgotten them, though and in response to the cries for help by the Hebrews, He sent Moses (who was 80 years old), and who had formerly been a prince of Egypt, to demand that Pharaoh free the Hebrews so that they could worship God in the desert and be relocated to a land “flowing with milk and honey” - part of modern Israel.

Despite Moses’ declaration from God that Pharaoh was to let the Hebrews leave Egypt, Pharaoh refused. This resulted in God sending ten plagues (see Exodus Chapters 7-12), with the final plague being the death of all the firstborns living in Egypt. Those who painted the blood of slaughtered lambs on their house doorposts (whether they were Hebrew or Egyptian) would have their lives spared as the angel of death “passed over” their homes. Families were saved by the blood of the innocent lambs.

Pharaoh then sent the Hebrews out of Egypt in a great exodus. It has been estimated that with the remarkable growth from the original family of 70, perhaps three to five million men, women, and children left Egypt at the time of the first Passover.

The Passover, Easter, Feasts of the Lord, and Jesus

When Jesus said He “eagerly desired” to eat the Passover meal with His disciples (Luke 22:15), the Passover had been “rehearsed” annually for around 1,500 years. The story of the Passover and the angel of death passing over because of “the blood of the lamb” was told each year on the 14^th Nissan.

The association between Passover and Jesus’ appearance in Israel was clearly stated by John the Baptist when at the start of Jesus’  ministry, John declared:

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

Jesus, in sharing the Passover meal with His disciples, hours before his arrest, clearly demonstrated the relationship between the saving blood of the ancient Passover, and His crucifixion - with His blood shed for the sin of the world.

Jesus instituted a new “feast” that is called communion in the Christian church, where His followers eat bread (symbolising His body) and wine (symbolising His blood) to remember Jesus’ death as the price paid (the blood for the “passover”) for the sin of the world.

Unfortunately, the unlinking of Passover and Easter separates the once-linked “appointed time” when Jesus, the Passover Lamb, shed His blood to set the captives free (that’s us!). The Christian Church has forgotten its Jewish origins and Feasts of the Lord, and it seems that the Christian “feasts” of Easter and Christmas have more pagan roots.

This sombre association between the crucifixion and Passover is succeeded by the celebration of the Feast of First Fruits (the 16^th Nisan), which is the day that Jesus rose from the dead. After His resurrection, Jesus appeared for 40 days to many of his disciples in Galilee and then disappeared before their eyes into heaven. He told His disciples to wait to receive the Holy Spirit, which was poured out 50 days after Passover on the Feast of Shavuot (Weeks), which the Christian church refers to as Pentecost, and commemorates Moses' receipt of the Torah (Law) on Mt Sinai.

Christian traditions have resulted in obscuring the relationship of the first four Feasts of the Lord, to Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension, and provision of the Holy Spirit. This is a great loss as Jesus' appearance in Jerusalem more than 2,000 years ago is not just a random event but clearly related to God’s own calendar. In this calendar, the first four Feasts of the Lord are clearly fulfilled at the end of Jesus’ time on earth. It seems logical then to consider that the latter three feasts—Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles—will be related, in some way, to His return.

It is hard to convey to my readers the sense of wonder of this biblical history. A key event (the Passover of death, because of the blood of lambs) was celebrated for 1,500 years before John the Baptist declared:“The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:27), when Jesus appeared at the Jordan River.

After three years of ministry where Jesus predicted His death and resurrection, the key events that we Christians called Easter, occurred at the “appointed times” (מוֹעֲדֵ֣י) of God’s calendar – the four first four Feasts of the Lord.

Coincidence? I don’t think so.

God is a God who stands outside of time and has set in place the series of events that will end with Jesus' return to the earth to be the just ruler for whom we have been crying out. This is indeed good news!

I have been thinking about these remarkable events outlined in the Old Testament and brought to fruition in the New Testament. However, as we try to combine the Old Testament (lots of vengeance and death at God's hands) with the New Testament (a loving and forgiving Jesus), sometimes it is difficult for us to form a picture of who God is and His character.

I thought my readers may find it helpful during this period when we remember Jesus’ death and resurrection, and grapple to understand la condition humaine, to share the extraordinary picture of who God is. So the remainder of the newsletter concerns Jesus’ notable parable about The Prodigal Son.

The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)

Following His baptism in the Jordan by His cousin John, Jesus ministered in Galilee. He spent three years healing (including raising the dead) and teaching about the “kingdom of God”—an upside-down kingdom where serving others was the key to success.

In the last months of his three-year ministry, Jesus slowly made His way to Jerusalem, where He knew that there would be a showdown with the religious authorities who controlled Jewish life. During this time, He spoke about His death and resurrection, although it is clear that His disciples could not comprehend what He spoke about and were shocked when he was arrested and crucified.

In His teaching, Jesus used many parables, which are complex stories that conceal as much as they reveal. This is how Madison Hetzler defines a parable:

“Jesus used parables in giving instruction, and both revealing and concealing spiritual truths. The parables compared the story shared with the reality of the Kingdom of God. While the first is simple and relatable, the second is profound and consequential. The two together invite comparison that opens up windows of understanding. “

The parable that featured only in one account of Jesus’ life (the Gospel of Luke) is a story that Jesus told in response to the religious leaders' complaints that Jesus was receiving sinners (the outcasts from polite society) and even sharing meals with them. In Chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells stories about a lost sheep, a lost valuable coin, and a prodigal (prodigal = wasteful, spendthrift, extravagant) son.

The story of the prodigal son is one of Jesus’ longest parables. It has many extraordinary elements that resonate with us today. The parable has much to teach us, and I have included it in full below.

Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’

“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

“Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’

“But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

“And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ” (Luke 15:11-23).

Some Key Points of the Parable

The story of the prodigal son has such complexity and depth that it is impossible to do justice to it in this short newsletter. However, I will set out some of the key parts to the parable that tell us much about the heart of God.

The central character in the story is an arrogant and unteachable son who demands his inheritance from his father. This fact alone must have shocked his listeners, who lived in a society where elders were respected, and an inheritance only came after a father’s death and was usually given to the eldest son.

The prodigal went far away to a Las Vegas-like location, where he spent up big and was the life of the party. Of course, he ran out of money and, with the advent of a famine, found himself begging for work. The only work he could find was feeding pigs (unclean animals in Jewish society) and eating the leftovers (if any) in the pigsty.

Stripped of his dignity and last resource, Jesus tells us about the prodigal that “he came to himself”. We are told that the son had a 180 º change of mind (a word that describes this is repentance) and said to himself that he would return to his father and humble himself.

He decided he would say to his father:

“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” (Luke 15:18-19).

Now, his father (who had been waiting for a long time for his son to repent or come to his senses) saw the son returning when he was still “a long way off”. Clearly, the father never lost faith that his son would return home but was helpless to do anything because the son had to “come to his senses”. This is an important point because many times in families we want to do something or make something happen but God often uses circumstances that afflict us, to help us to come to our senses.

The son declares to the father his unworthiness and asks that he be given a job as a hired man on the farm. The father reacted with extraordinary generosity and tenderness. He welcomed him back as his son into the family and threw a feast ; “for this my son was dead and is alive again”.

This is God the Father, who waits patiently for us, to come to our senses and return to Him. As the great St Augustine said in his Confessions:

“For you (God) made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you”.

This remarkable parable told by Jesus, God’s own Son (and mysteriously Himself God), tells us of the character of a God who is ready for us to repent (change our mind) and return to Him. It also describes as an aside, the elder brother, who has done everything right and is jealous about the prodigal brother’s acceptance back into the fold.

You can read and reflect on the parable many times and gain fresh insights about God the Father and our own journey of struggle and failure. Ultimately, we need to “ come to our senses”, and return to the One who created us.

Henri Nouwen – The Return of the Prodigal Son

The story of the prodigal son has many nuances. Recently, courtesy of my father-in-law, I read a book by Henri Nouwen, who writes in detail about some of the hidden ideas in the story. He outlines these in his book The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming .

It is a personal journey of transformation through an ongoing encounter with Rembrandt’s famous painting.

Henri was a Dutch-born theologian, psychologist, and Catholic priest who has had a great influence on Christian spiritual life. He wrote a personal account of the impact of the Prodigal Son, and particularly the significance of Rembrandt's painting The Return of the Prodigal Son

Figure 1. Rembrandt’s The Return of the Prodigal Son

Nouwen died in 1996, aged 64 but made a remarkable contribution through his writings about the inner spiritual journey. He published 39 books, and probably his most famous book is: The Way of the Heart: Connecting with God Through Prayer, Wisdom and Silence.

Nouwen’s work has been described in this way by Patty Breen:

“Nouwen is a beautiful, real, authentic, messy voice telling a story I believe each of us can relate to, wherever life finds us. Regardless of race, gender, spirituality, political affiliation — our world aches for a deeper meaning. 

“We often live as if our happiness depended on having,” he wrote. “But I don't know anyone who is really happy because of what he or she has. True joy, happiness, and inner peace come from the giving of ourselves to others. A happy life is a life for others. That truth, however, is usually discovered when we are confronted with our brokenness.”

Henri Nouwen’s life and writings offer hope and consolation to the many questions that make life hard and messy. He beckons us to wrestle with God, ask deep questions, and find the sacred hidden in the ordinary.”

His book, The Return of the Prodigal Son, is a book that everyone should have on their bookshelf. It contains many insights about the character of God and insights about the spiritual journey of life. Nouwen first encounters Rembrandt’s famous painting as a poster at a friend’s house.

 I have included an extended section of the first part of the book to provide a flavour of Nouwen’s writing. He describes the impact of encountering the painting as follows:

“The story begins in the fall of 1983 in the village of Trosly, France, where I was spending a few months at L’Arche, a community that offers a home to people with mental handicaps. Founded in 1964 by a Canadian, Jean Vanier, the Trosly community is the first of more than ninety L’Arche communities spread throughout the world. One day I went to visit my friend Simone Landrien in the community’s small documentation center. As we spoke, my eyes fell on a large poster pinned on her door. I saw a man in a great red cloak tenderly touching the shoulders of a disheveled boy kneeling before him. I could not take my eyes away. I felt drawn by the intimacy between the two figures, the warm red of the man’s cloak, the golden yellow of the boy’s tunic, and the mysterious light engulfing them both. But, most of all, it was the hands—the old man’s hands—as they touched the boy’s shoulders that reached me in a place where I had never been reached before.

Realizing that I was no longer paying much attention to the conversation, I said to Simone, “Tell me about that poster.” She said, “Oh, that’s a reproduction of Rembrandt’s Prodigal Son. Do you like it?” I kept staring at the poster and finally stuttered, “It’s beautiful, more than beautiful…it makes me want to cry and laugh at the same time…I can’t tell you what I feel as I look at it, but it touches me deeply.” Simone said, “Maybe you should have your own copy. You can buy it in Paris.” “Yes,” I said, “I must have a copy.”

The Younger Son

“When I first saw the Prodigal Son, I had just finished an exhausting six-week lecturing trip through the United States, calling Christian communities to do anything they possibly could to prevent violence and war in Central America. I was dead tired, so much so that I could barely walk. I was anxious, lonely, restless, and very needy. During the trip I had felt like a strong fighter for justice and peace, able to face the dark world without fear. But after it was all over I felt like a vulnerable little child who wanted to crawl onto its mother’s lap and cry. As soon as the cheering or cursing crowds were gone, I experienced a devastating loneliness and could easily have surrendered myself to the seductive voices that promised emotional and physical rest.

It was in this condition that I first encountered Rembrandt’s Prodigal Son on the door of Simone’s office. My heart leapt when I saw it. After my long self-exposing journey, the tender embrace of father and son expressed everything I desired at that moment. I was, indeed, the son exhausted from long travels; I wanted to be embraced; I was looking for a home where I could feel safe. The son-come-home was all I was and all that I wanted to be. For so long I had been going from place to place: confronting, beseeching, admonishing, and consoling. Now I desired only to rest safely in a place where I could feel a sense of belonging, a place where I could feel at home.” Nouwen, Henri J. M.. The Return of the Prodigal Son Anniversary Edition: A Special Two-in-One Volume, including Home Tonight (pp. 5-6). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

The painting's impact was so significant that Nouwen eventually visits the Hermitage in St Petersburg, where he spends hours looking at the original. In his writing, Nouwen beautifully captures the sense that we all want to rest safely in a place where we feel a sense of belonging; where we can feel we are home.

I was profoundly impacted by this first section of the book, where Nouwen describes his experience, identifying as the younger son. Interestingly, as he talks to others about the painting over time, he is challenged to see himself as different characters in the story and painting. He realizes that rather than the younger son, he has much in common with the older son. He writes that various experiences help him to see the:

“…Return of the Prodigal Son as a work that summarizes the great spiritual battle and the great choices this battle demands. By painting not only the younger son in the arms of his father, but also the elder son who can still choose for or against the love that is offered to him, Rembrandt presents me with the “inner drama of the soul”—his as well as my own. Just as the parable of the prodigal son encapsulates the core message of the Gospel and calls the listeners to make their own choices in the face of it, so, too, does Rembrandt’s painting sum up his own spiritual struggle and invite his viewers to make a personal decision about their lives. Thus Rembrandt’s bystanders make his painting a work that engages the viewer in a very personal way. In the fall of 1983, when I first saw the poster showing the central part of the painting, I immediately felt that I was personally called to something. Now that I am better acquainted with the whole painting and especially with the meaning of the prominent witness on the right, I am more than ever convinced of what an enormous spiritual challenge this painting represents.”

Later in the chapter, Nouwen concludes in reference to the older brother:

The Elder Son

“Rembrandt is as much the elder son of the parable as he is the younger. When, during the last years of his life, he painted both sons in his Return of the Prodigal Son, he had lived a life in which neither the lostness of the younger son nor the lostness of the elder son was alien to him. Both needed healing and forgiveness. Both needed to come home. Both needed the embrace of a forgiving father. But from the story itself, as well as from Rembrandt’s painting, it is clear that the hardest conversion to go through is the conversion of the one who stayed home. Nouwen, Henri J. M.. The Return of the Prodigal Son Anniversary Edition: A Special Two-in-One Volume, including Home Tonight (p. 74 -77). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

The complaints of the elder son are very recognisable to each of us who can feel that we never received our just deserts. Nouwen writes:

“When I listen carefully to the words with which the elder son attacks his father—self-righteous, self-pitying, jealous words—I hear a deeper complaint. It is the complaint that comes from a heart that feels it never received what it was due. It is the complaint expressed in countless subtle and not-so-subtle ways, forming a bedrock of human resentment. It is the complaint that cries out: “I tried so hard, worked so long, did so much, and still I have not received what others get so easily. Why do people not thank me, not invite me, not play with me, not honor me, while they pay so much attention to those who take life so easily and so casually?” It is in this spoken or unspoken complaint that I recognize the elder son in me. Nouwen, Henri J. M.. The Return of the Prodigal Son Anniversary Edition: A Special Two-in-One Volume, including Home Tonight (pp. 83-84). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Finally, as he absorbs the details of Rembrandt’s famous painting in The Hermitage gallery, he realizes the centrality and significance of the father. Nouwen writes:

The Father

“Instead of its being called Return of the Prodigal Son, it could easily have been called “The Welcome by the Compassionate Father.” The emphasis is less on the son than on the father. The parable is in truth a “Parable of the Father’s Love” (my emphasis). Looking at the way in which Rembrandt portrays the father, there came to me a whole new interior understanding of tenderness, mercy, and forgiveness. Seldom, if ever, has God’s immense, compassionate love been expressed in such a poignant way. Every detail of the father’s figure—his facial expression, his posture, the colors of his dress, and, most of all, the still gesture of his hands—speaks of the divine love for humanity that existed from the beginning and ever will be. Everything comes together here: Rembrandt’s story, humanity’s story, and God’s story. Time and eternity intersect; approaching death and everlasting life touch each other. Sin and forgiveness embrace; the human and the divine become one. Nouwen, Henri J. M.. The Return of the Prodigal Son Anniversary Edition: A Special Two-in-One Volume, including Home Tonight (pp. 107-108). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Some Conclusions

I hope you have been able to follow this meandering journey from Easter and Passover and the extraordinary events in Jerusalem more than 2,000 years ago, to the story Jesus depicts in His parable of the Prodigal Son.

Jesus came not only to save us but also to help us understand who God is. A key part of God's character is that of a loving father who waits for us to return to Him—the One who made us.

Henri Nouwen’s book takes us on his journey of discovery as he examines Rembrandt’s famous painting and integrates it with the parable outlined in Luke Chapter 15. Read and reflect on the parable during this Easter period (and coming Passover, which starts Monday 22^nd April) and consider your own life from the perspectives of the two sons and the father. Read Nouwen’s wonderful book.

Each of us can learn and reflect on our own life journey and understand that God is a God who is waiting with outstretched arms, once we “come to our senses” and return to Him. After all, the price for our acceptance has been paid in full.