Twice in One Day

Luke 15:20-32
We read the story of the prodigal son like re-reading an old love letter we already know by heart. In our listening we first paid attention to the saga of the son who went away, did bad things, and came home desperate. Along the way we began to discover the part about the Elder Brother. It dawned on us that sometimes we church members were uncomfortably like this brother in the objective mood who did not know how to celebrate and enjoy his religion.
More recently scholars urge us to discover that the parable is more about the father, the main character who shows up in both chapters of the story. After all, the very first words of the parable are “a certain man had two sons.” Scholars invite us to see the loving father or the waiting father or perhaps the forgiving father. Why not take a clue from them and pay more attention to the father in the story but with an angle?
One day while going over this beloved story I put two things together I never had. When it first hit me my admiration for the father in the story soared. This father, on the very same day, reached out to both of his sons with a fistful of grace and love for each of them.
This father loved both of his sons! God loves disreputable sinners and reputable sinners. Our appreciation of God expands exponentially. So many sermons lately appeal to our selfish desires. If you are up for it, why don’t we say a good word about God this time. Let’s get started.
First Movement: Going Out to the Prodigal (Luke 15:20a-24).
He was last seen in a pigsty, smelly and dirty. See his mangled hair unwashed and matted, his slept-in clothes, no shower or hair dryer. He must have looked like a tramp when he showed up at the old home place. For the second time in the story the word “far” is used, the first time to describe the distant place where the young man wanted to go. This time the waiting father sees his lost boy feared dead while he was still a distance from the house. The father, overtaken by strong feelings of compassion, started running, throwing dignity to the wind.
Strikingly and meaningfully the great artists single out the warm embrace of this singular father, throwing his arms around his returning son. The great painter Rembrandt toiled over his painting, “The Return of the Prodigal,” found nearly finished in his studio when he died. Rembrandt pictures the expressive hands of the father tenderly touching his son’s shoulders, perhaps one hand more feminine, the other more masculine. These hands do not clutch in oppression. Rather these kingly hands accept and understand.

The chapel at Montreat, North Carolina features a mural on the front wall celebrating this moment when the father welcomes his son home. The mural manages to catch the large cast of players. The great sculptor Rodin also singled out this embrace of grace through his considerable skills with stone. The English painter Millais, author of very many paintings of parables, gives us his interpretation with a certain simplicity and more emotion. We feel the warmth of the father on his knees hugging.