Guilsborough. Easter 5 2009 

Last Sunday I spoke a little about the somewhat controversial, always colourful  Jade Goody and her last months when she had her children baptised and herself became a Christian before her death on Mothering Sunday.  
So I thought today that I'd I talk today about a related subject that has a bearing on her story  -  it's the issue of repentance and reconciliation.  And for that I have a visual aid, namely the picture that has been handed out with I hope enough copies.  I'm only sorry it can be in colour but my inks wouldn't run to 30 copies. 
It is as you will have guessed a painting by Rembrant "The Return of the Prodigal Son", now in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.  Rembrant ( who so far as I know never visited this country) lived broadly in English history terms from the time of the Gunpowder plot, through the reign of Charles I and the Civil war and the Commonwealth & Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, the It Restoration and the Great Plague & Fire of London to die in 1669.
I me when I first saw a copy many years ago.   It's big, eight foot long by 6 foot high,  the last, that Rembrant painted in 1668/9, the year in which he died. 
It's theme of reconciliation, forgiveness and healing is I find deeply moving.  What manner of man, we may ask, can conjour up on canvas with a palette in his hand, and image that has such an extraordinary impact.   It comes at the end of a life that had brought Rembrant much, to us in this day and age, almost unimaginable sadness.  Before the age of 40 he lost a son, two daughters and his wife Saskia who died leaving him with a son Titus aged just 9 months.  He had an affair with Titus' nurse, who eventually goes insane. He married again and has another son and a daughter who dies a child. 
At the age of 50, though successful as a painter, his extravagant lifestyle catches up with him and  he goes bankrupt and virtually all his possessions were sold to pay his debts. Two years later in 1658 Titus marries. 
Then Rembrant's second wife dies, followed by Titus at the early age of 27 leaving Rembrant heartbroken and lonely. No old age pension, no Counsellors, no NHS, no Meals on Wheels.  Life was tough in mid seventeenth century Holland, even for a genius.  
The sad story of Rembrant's private life, is, however offset by the brilliance of his paintings. 
And this is Rembrandt's final word to us,  given in this monumental painting of the Return of the Prodigal Son. Here he interprets the Christian idea of mercy with an extraordinary solemnity, as though this were his spiritual testament to the world.  Those who know about these things much better than, say it goes beyond the works of all other artists of the period in the evocation of religious mood and human sympathy. The old man's  power ( and people were old at 62 in those days)  of realism is not diminished, but increased by psychological insight and spiritual awareness. Expressive lighting and colouring and the suggestiveness of his technique, together with a simplicity of setting, help us to feel the full impact of the event.
The main group of the father and the Prodigal Son stands out in light against an enormous dark surface. Particularly vivid are the ragged garment of the son, and the old man's sleeves,. 
The observer is roused to a feeling of some extraordinary event. The son, ruined and repellent, with his bald head and the appearance of an outcast  returns to his father's house after long wanderings and many vicissitudes. We know the story well:  He has wasted his substance on riotous in foreign lands and sunk to the condition of a swineherd. His old father, dressed in rich garments, as are the assistant figures, has hurried to meet him before the door and receives the long-lost son with the utmost fatherly love.
The occurrence is devoid of any momentary violent emotion,.  An earlier etching of the scene is, I notice, much more emotional.  This picture is of solemn calm that lends to the figures some of the qualities of statues and gives the emotions  a lasting character. 
Unforgettable is the image of the repentant sinner leaning against his father's breast and the old father bending over his son.
"The quality of mercy is not strained/ It droppeth as the gentle rain from Heaven/ upon the place beneath/  It is twice blessed/ It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
 The father's features tell of a goodness sublime and august; so do his outstretched hand..  The whole represents a symbol of all homecoming, of the darkness of human existence illuminated by tenderness, of weary and sinful mankind taking refuge in the shelter of God's mercy.  Rembrant portrays  an earthly father. But it is the Heavenly father who changes death into life. 
This picture raises the issue of how we ourselves, as individuals,  can come to God  In life we struggle, letting ambition,  quarrels,  material success take our minds off the spiritual goals.  The World's love of success is conditional, of course.  Anyone who gives a good party has plenty of fair weather friends  The further we are from God the more we become entangled with the world, liable to succumb to riotous living.   But God's love is unconditional. 
  He gives us gifts:  our health, our intellect, our emotions and too often rather like a prodigal son we waste them. 

In a sense the picture illustrates the derided idea of a born again Christian, the reconciliation of God with man. 
The son has lost almost everything: but you will notice that he still has his sword, a symbol that signifies that he is his father's son, a vestige of dignity.  
One interesting feature is that in the biblical story, the father sees the son far off and starts the celebration before he arrives.  A party has  started to celebrate the  homecoming. No signs of festivity here,. The bystanders  -  and no one really knows who they are- look like a group of party poopers.   
It seems reasonable to think, however, that the tall figure on the right is the elder brother, his stiffness emphasised by his long staff  -  a distant figure unwilling to participate in the reconciliation.  
The Elder brother has done everything that was expected of him outside, running the estate and being filial.  But he is not with his father spiritually.   He is, I feel, the epitomy of those who say that religion is all very well so long as it does not interfere with private life. His resentment that the fatted calf is about to  ( or has already been ) killed in the Prodigal's honour raises the issue of how difficult it is to be reconciled when we have resentment or jealousy inside us. 
The abuses of the benefits system, the greed of bankers and MPs who sail too near the wind of fraud, young people who get away with crimes repeatedly : why should they profit whilst I who lead a humdrum, law abiding, hardworking,  relatively blameless life  ( give or take the odd speeding fine) find myself in difficulties.? 
It's really hard being a Christian sometimes.  But like Jade Goody, I at least would argue, it's easier to turn to God after riotous living than to try to reach Him with resentment in your heart. 
As for the other two men in the picture, no one seems to know.  But it seems reasonable to suppose that the seated figure could be a representation of Rembrant himself and the more obscure figure in the background, barely visible, I like to think is the rest of mankind,  you and me.  Once the Prodigal has got up off his knees and gone to the party  it could be our turn to kneel and seek forgiveness before we join the party in the promised land.    
Dear Lord & Father of mankind forgive our foolish ways ! Reclothe us in our rightful mind / In purer lives thy service find/ In deeper reverence praise.  Amen  
 
