Return of the Prodigal The hermitage St Petersberg April 2001

The Return of the Prodigal 
Harmensz van Rijn Rembrant (1606- 1669)

‘He painted father and son, God and humanity, Compassion and misery in one circle of love’ (pg7)

‘The younger brother allows himself to be held in a forgiving embrace (found) The elder brother stands back, looks at his fathers merciful gesture and yet cannot step over his anger (lost)’

‘Here is the God I want to believe in : a Father who, from the beginning of creation, has stretched out his arms in merciful blessing, never forcing himself on anyone, but always waiting, never letting his arms drops down in despair, but always hoping thatb his children will return so that he can speak words of love to them and let hs tired arms rest on their shoulders. His only desire is to bless’ (p 95/6)

Ever since I read the book, I have wanted to take the opportunity of visiting St Petersberg, and to do a ‘Henri Neuwen’. He had spent hours contemplating Rembrant’s painting and he wrote his spiritual treatise – The Return of the Prodigal Son - as a result.

There was long queue outside the Hermitage, but as always a fast track entrance was available. Once inside, I made a beeline for the Rembrant collection.

‘My heart leapt when I saw it …After my long self -exploring 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 longing for a home where I could feel safe. The son-come-home was all I was and 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 safe at home.’ (pg 5)

The Hermitage acquired the painting in 1766, from the Duke of Amezune’s collection Paris. It is based on the story of the ‘prodigal son’ in Luke 15: 20-24. The light focuses on the kneeling son and stooped father in gentle embrace, who embody repentance and forgiveness. Three other dark characters look on indifferently from the shadows. The older sons stands aloof -

‘I never had run away from home…. Never wasted my time and money in sensual pursuits and never gotten lost in ‘debauchery and drunkenness’. For my entire life, I had been quite responsible, traditional and homebound. But with all that, I may in fact have been just as lost as the younger son. I suddenly saw myself in a completely new way. I saw my jealousy, my anger, my touchiness, doggedness and sullenness and most of all my subtle self-righteousness. I saw how much of a complainer I was and how much of my thinking and feeling was ridden with resentment. For a time it became impossible to see how I could ever have thought of myself as the younger son. I was the elder son for sure, but just as lost as his younger brother, even though I had stayed ‘home’ all my life’. (pg 20)

The father has prominent hands: Neuwen suggests a strong male left and softer female right, resting on the sons back, capturing the androgyny of God. The bare head and calloused foot of the son, clothes, torn and filthy, suggest hardship and exposure. The rich red cloth on the fathers shoulders, paralleled by the elder son on the right, suggest opulence. This is reinforced by the size of the painting, maybe 10’ x 6’, in its rich gold frame. Groups stop, English, Japanese, Russian, Italian, German and spend a few minutes, with commentary from their respective guide - and then they move on. There are lots of other paintings to see. Individuals sit and read the explanation and contemplate.

It is indeed a wonderful painting, rich in biblical meaning. Neuwen expresses its message and mission so well:

‘Whether you are the younger son or the elder son, you have to realise that you are called to become the father. The time has come to claim your true vocation - to be a father who can welcome his children home without asking them any questions and without wanting anything from them in return. Not a good friend or a kind brother… a father who can claim for himself the authority of true compassion.’ (pg 22)

From your own correspondent

The Hermitage,
St Petersberg, April 2001

Jerusalem - the divided city Oct 1999 and Feb 2001

‘Jerusalem the Golden’


It was over 20 years since I first visited Israel. Then as a student, I was full of Leon Uris’s ‘Exodus’ and the Kibbutz dream. My views have changed over the years. Everything seems a lot more complicated.

Jerusalem is a divided city, with the Jewish ‘New Jerusalem’ next to the old walled city of Jerusalem. And the old city itself divided into quarters: Muslim (Arabs), Jewish (Israelis), Christian (Palestinian) and Armenian. All three major religions of the book, consider it theirs. Jerusalem the Golden, the City of Peace.

For me the Old city starts at the Damascus Gate, entrance to the Arab quarter, and on through the maze of streets, into the heart of Jerusalem along the ‘Via Dolorosa’: the Way of the Cross which leads to the Church of Holy Sepulchre, ‘the centre of the earth’ as it has been called. Emperor Constantine’s mother, Helena, found the ‘rightful site of the Crucifixion and Resurrection’, as well as relics such as wood from the True Cross, ‘with miraculous aid seldom now vouchsafed to archaeologists!’  

In many ways it is a shabby centre of Christianity. I was appalled when I saw it the first time. In those days, like all good evangelicals, I preferred the simplicity of General Gordon’s Calvary: ‘The Garden Tomb’.

Bettina Selby in ‘Riding to Jerusalem’ calls the Church of the Holy Sepulchre a

‘thoroughly unsatisfactory building’

This was at the end of a long and arduous bike ride across Europe, Turkey, Syria following the route of the Crusades It was obviously an anti-climax

‘chopped up as it is into so many chapels, with a different branch of the Christian Church jealously guarding each portion. As for peace - that was in sort supply – with flash bulbs going off in constant burst…… even in the Holy Tomb itself!’

It seemed to hold a lot more charm for me now. An Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Priest inviting me to touch the sacred stone, a Catholic Priest preaching the love of God, a Korean Anglican Communion: ‘Do this in remembrance of me’. Now such diversity speaks to me much more of the church universal.

I had promised to light some candles and pray for some Pakistani brothers, recovering addicts, in the Sepulchre itself. Something they could never contemplate doing for themselves, since Pakistan does not recognise the State of Israel. So I found a moment of quiet and lit three candles and prayed that they would be ‘lights shining in the darkness.’

I must also admit to taking some photos ‘in the Holy Tomb itself’, flash an’ all!

CMS at the Wailing Wall

From Your own correspondent

October 1999
& February 2001