Henri J. M. Nouwen and The Return of the Prodigal Son

In 1983, Nouwen discovered Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son, a painting that absorbed his thoughts for several years; his own print being a part of the rest of his life. Nouwen's book The Return of the Prodigal Son, A Story of Homecoming, chronicles personal reflections on the painting and his life. Nouwen's intellectual and social exercises had brought him to a certain spiritual point, and Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son took him farther on the journey away from power to receiving grace, from dependence on skill to dependence on God. It took him home to being more a child of God, ready to share more from his Father's kingdom.

The painting questioned him. Who are you? Which of the figures do you identify with? His first thoughts were that he did not know what it was like to be the prodigal son, to be held and loved, to rest his head on the Father. He was one of the onlookers. Nouwen wrote, "For years I had instructed students on the different aspects of the spiritual life . . . But had I, myself, really ever dared to step into the center, kneel down, and let myself be held by a forgiving God?"

Nouwen's books are moving to many, because his confessions and questioning of himself lead immediately to our questioning ourselves. Had Nouwen every really dared to kneel down and let himself be held by a forgiving God? Have I ever really dared to kneel down and let myself be held by a forgiving God?

Nouwen first "met" Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son when he himself was exhausted from a six-week lecturing tour calling for an end to violence and war in Central America. He saw the tender embrace of the father, the homecoming scene and it appealed to him, to his desire for haven for rest. Over the next several years he studied the painting and the Biblical account, for messages from each of the figures. He wanted to find "home" and "Father."

Nouwen's Reflections on "The Return of the Prodigal Son

Henri Nouwen's The Return of the Prodigal Son: Story of Homecoming contains his reflections on the painting, the characters, the painter and the scriptures. Nouwen observed that Rembrandt's painting strays from what we have all imagined the scene to be from the scripture reading. We imagine a large estate/farm and the father running down

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