Gallery statistics report that the average time a person spends looking at a particular work of art is three seconds. To those who spend their lives caring for the great art museums of the world, I imagine this is a disheartening sight to behold day after day. It would have been interesting to hear the thoughts of the St. Petersburg curators who watched as Henri Nouwen sat before Rembrandt’s Return of the Prodigal Son for more than four hours. 

 I wonder how often I am more like the three-second viewer than a captivated Nouwen, moving through every sight of the day with my eyes barely open. How often might I be surrounded by the presence of God, but unaware and unseeing—missing, in my absence, the bigger picture? One of my favorite poems begins with the lines, “Lord, not you, it is I who am absent.”(1)     

The parable of the prodigal son is typically understood as a story that speaks to those who feel they have wandered away from God in belief or obedience. Or it is perhaps a story we apply to a specific time in our lives—a momentous return to faith, a homecoming back to the church, a particular event that caused us to remember God’s mercy personally and powerfully. The phrase “prodigal son” is in fact so well known that even void of its spiritual context it is employed to suggest a return to rightness after a time of foolishness. It is a parable that at one time or another describes many of us. Perhaps it is also a parable that describes us daily.  In the daily struggle to see, the constant battle to be present and conscious of the presence of God in this place, we all come and go like prodigals.

 The parable tells us that the wayward child had a plan for returning to his father’s house: he would confess his sin against heaven and against his father, and then he would ask to be treated as one of the hired servants. He would work his way back into his father’s life. But the father doesn’t even give him a chance to fully present the offer. Upon seeing his son, he says to his slaves, “‘Quickly 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 fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.'”(2) With every symbol of restoration, the father who was waiting embraces the son who was lost. 

 Gripped by the intensity of the massive painting before him, Henri Nouwen found himself becoming “more and more part of the story that Jesus once told and Rembrandt once painted.” Yet in Rembrandt’s painting we do not find the father eagerly rushing out to greet his wayward son as it is described in the Gospel of Luke. Rather, viewers find stillness; we find the parable’s characters at rest.  Rembrandt slows flickering minds to the scene that captures a thousand words for a daily walk in faith: “Lord, not you, it is I who am absent.” In this scene, the son has returned, and he is kneeling before his father in his ragged shoes and torn clothes exactly as he is: the one who insisted upon defining himself apart from his father, the one who was absent. In pursuit of life beyond his father, the child lost sight of life itself. 

 In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus bids us to slow down and be present, to taste and see, to be still and know: the Father is near. God is here, though we are absent. The Father waits, though we put off Him off. God grieves over our wandering hearts and minds, moving in grace to embrace those who long to see. God is a God who runs to greet his wavering child, and it is a sight to behold always. 

 Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

 (1) Denise Levertov, “Flickering Mind,” The Stream and the Sapphire (New York: New Directions, 1997), 15.
(2) Luke 15:22-25.

Morning “How long will it be ere they believe me?” / Numbers 14:11

Strive with all diligence to keep out that monster unbelief. It so dishonours
Christ, that he will withdraw his visible presence if we insult him by
indulging it. It is true it is a weed, the seeds of which we can never
entirely extract from the soil, but we must aim at its root with zeal and
perseverance. Among hateful things it is the most to be abhorred. Its
injurious nature is so venomous that he that exerciseth it and he upon whom it
is exercised are both hurt thereby. In thy case, O believer! it is most
wicked, for the mercies of thy Lord in the past, increase thy guilt in
doubting him now. When thou dost distrust the Lord Jesus, he may well cry out,
“Behold I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.”
This is crowning his head with thorns of the sharpest kind. It is very cruel
for a well-beloved wife to mistrust a kind and faithful husband. The sin is
needless, foolish, and unwarranted. Jesus has never given the slightest ground
for suspicion, and it is hard to be doubted by those to whom our conduct is
uniformly affectionate and true. Jesus is the Son of the Highest, and has
unbounded wealth; it is shameful to doubt Omnipotence and distrust
all-sufficiency. The cattle on a thousand hills will suffice for our most
hungry feeding, and the granaries of heaven are not likely to be emptied by
our eating. If Christ were only a cistern, we might soon exhaust his fulness,
but who can drain a fountain? Myriads of spirits have drawn their supplies
from him, and not one of them has murmured at the scantiness of his resources.
Away, then, with this lying traitor unbelief, for his only errand is to cut
the bonds of communion and make us mourn an absent Saviour. Bunyan tells us
that unbelief has “as many lives as a cat:” if so, let us kill one life now,
and continue the work till the whole nine are gone. Down with thee, thou
traitor, my heart abhors thee.

Evening “Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of
truth.” / Psalm 31:5

These words have been frequently used by holy men in their hour of departure.
We may profitably consider them this evening. The object of the faithful man’s
solicitude in life and death is not his body or his estate, but his spirit;
this is his choice treasure–if this be safe, all is well. What is this mortal
state compared with the soul? The believer commits his soul to the hand of his
God; it came from him, it is his own, he has aforetime sustained it, he is
able to keep it, and it is most fit that he should receive it. All things are
safe in Jehovah’s hands; what we entrust to the Lord will be secure, both now
and in that day of days towards which we are hastening. It is peaceful living,
and glorious dying, to repose in the care of heaven. At all times we should
commit our all to Jesus’ faithful hand; then, though life may hang on a
thread, and adversities may multiply as the sands of the sea, our soul shall
dwell at ease, and delight itself in quiet resting places.

“Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.” Redemption is a solid basis for
confidence. David had not known Calvary as we have done, but temporal
redemption cheered him; and shall not eternal redemption yet more sweetly
console us? Past deliverances are strong pleas for present assistance. What
the Lord has done he will do again, for he changes not. He is faithful to his
promises, and gracious to his saints; he will not turn away from his people.

“Though thou slay me I will trust,

Praise thee even from the dust,

Prove, and tell it as I prove,

Thine unutterable love.

Thou mayst chasten and correct,

But thou never canst neglect;

Since the ransom price is paid,

On thy love my hope is stay’d.”

Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.  Psalm 31:5

These words have been frequently used by the godly in their hour of departure. We may profitably consider them this evening. The object of the believer’s interest in life and death is not his body or his possessions but his spirit; this is his choice treasure: If this is safe, then all is well. What is our physical condition compared with the soul?

The believer commits his soul to the hand of God; it came from Him, it is His own, He has until now sustained it, He is able to keep it, and it is fitting that He should receive it. All things are safe in Jehovah’s hands; what we entrust to the Lord will be secure, both now and in that day of days toward which we are hastening. It is peaceful living and glorious dying to rest in the care of heaven. At all times we should commit everything to Jesus’ faithful hand; then even if life should hang on a thread, and difficulties multiply like the sands of the sea, our soul shall live in safety and delight itself in quiet resting places.

“You have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.” Redemption is a solid basis for confidence. David did not know Calvary as we do, but even as redemption cheered him, so our eternal redemption will sweetly console us. Past deliverances are strong guarantees for present assistance. What the Lord has done He will do again, for He does not change. He is faithful to His promises and gracious to His saints; He will not turn away from His people.

Though Thou slay me I will trust,

Praise Thou even from the dust,

Prove, and tell it as I prove,

Thine unutterable love.

Thou may chasten and correct,

But Thou never can neglect;

Since the ransom price is paid,

On Thy love my hope is stayed.

Family Reading Plan Lamentations 4   Psalm 35