Family dynamics are part of every family, but they are particularly distinct when one has gone off and then returned; the one who has left, whether off to school, traveling, or getting married, is in a state of transformation. This isn’t why they have left, necessarily, but it is happening nonetheless.

The same is true for those left at home, who have gone on with their lives, thinking nothing has changed, but it has. They are not who they were either. The coming home experience can be one of mixed emotions. There can be joy and celebration over seeing the one returning; and there can be jealousy or disappointment in how the person has changed.

There are times in all of our lives when we experience the journey of coming home. It is for us, depending on the situation, one of mixed feelings. Remember the feeling of independence you felt, the first time you found your way home from school unaccompanied? Or how about that apprehension we felt the first time our fiancé brought us home to meet the family? And how could we forget the overwhelming joy of bringing our baby home from the hospital? Whatever our experiences of coming home have been, they carry a variety of emotions.

Today’s story is about a different kind of coming home. Wedged together in the 15^th chapter of Luke are three stories from the lost and found dept. The first is about a shepherd who leaves his entire flock of sheep to find the one that is lost. The 2^nd is about a woman who has lost money she can ill afford to lose. But the 3^rd story is about something much more valuable: it is the story of a lost son who was found, and its effect on others. In each of the three, great care is given to finding what was lost, and great joy in it being found. But it is the 3rd story that gets our attention; for it is here in which we can see ourselves most clearly.

This well known parable gets at the core of the Gospel. When life tosses us up and down, will we be able to steady our course? More difficult, can we forgive someone who has hurt us? Will we be able to forgo justice, for love? That’s what this parable is about.

Henri Nouwen, in his profound book, The Return of the Prodigal Son, develops this familiar story of homecoming, using Rembrandt’s famous painting, entitled "The Return of the Prodigal Son". (Pause) Here we see the poignant scene of the younger, wayward, son, returning home in rags, after squandering his father’ money. He is on his knees hoping only for a job, expecting to be expelled from the family. The father, draped in compassion not anger, tenderly reaches for broken son, kneeling before him. Standing to the side, in an unwelcoming posture, is the obedient, elder brother. There are other characters too, less visible, observing this homecoming, without getting involved. Nouwen writes of the profound effect this painting had on his life. So strongly did it speak to him from only a poster rendition that he traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia in order to stand before the original.

It was not just a replica of a Biblical story that Nouwen saw in this painting. Sitting before the painting for several hours, Nouwen saw himself in the picture. For Nouwen it was he, who was returning home; not simply a physical returning, but rather, a spiritual homecoming, during this time of his life. He describes it as if one of the figures in the painting reached out and pulled him into the scene, as one of the characters.

Henri Nouwen, author, theologian, teacher at Harvard, encountered the Rembrandt painting in a dramatic way. It coincided with an increasing feeling that God was calling him away from the world of the intellectual, into the service of the mentally handicapped. He felt drawn to announce the Gospel of Jesus to people who were able to listen more with their hearts than their minds; people who focused more on their lives than with their thoughts. In a courageous move, Nouwen quit his teaching position at Harvard and took a year in France to discern if this really was what God wanted him to do.

For Nouwen, making the shift from teaching university students to living with mentally handicapped people was a step toward becoming the embraced son. It was for him, a clear sense of coming home for which he was created. In this place of surrender and trust, it was a step from bystander to participant. It was a journey from teaching about love to allowing himself to be loved, Most of all it was a profound connection to God.

I think this is why it is so important for you and me to become familiar with the rich and diverse Biblical stories. If Nouwen had not known this story, the painting would have had little impact on him, and his journey may have ended at Harvard. These Biblical stories are gifts to us; clues to help us discern where God is leading us; places which will bring us happiness.

The Bible is for believers, those of us who are searching, who question our journey, who even doubt our direction, yet seek to be faithful. These are the ones to whom God promises wisdom. To those who say, "I’m really too busy right now", or "It’s too difficult for me to understand" or "That’s just not me", such wisdom is not given.

I think the power of this story is the invitation to each of us to identify with one of the characters. Who are we most like? Are we more like the younger son? Making our own decisions, even turning our backs on home and family? Maybe even spending down our retirement money for some fun?

For some of us it doesn’t have to be that dramatic. But most of us have experienced times in our lives when we had no direction, where we were tired of our lives, drifting from one job to another, one spouse to another, one group of friends to another; when all we really wanted was just to come home.

Perhaps we can more closely identify with the elder brother. This is the picture of the perfect son, characteristics often found in the first born. The hopes and dreams of a parent hooked onto this first child.

We can imagine what might have been going through his mind. He is the obedient one, the hard worker, the responsible one, always doing what was expected. He loved his father and his father loved him. When his younger brother, entered his rebellious stage, the elder brother thought he had gone too far. He could understand him wanting his independence, but pack up everything, demanding an inheritance, walking all over his father the way he did? That was going too far. As far as he was concerned, his younger brother deserved all that was coming to him and more.

He could remember the day his brother came crawling back as though it was yesterday. He looked terrible; dirty, rumpled, hungry, without a cent in his pocket, begging for a job and sniveling to be forgiven. What a pitiful scene, and the elder brother stood to the side, wanting to see his father give him the discipline he deserved.

But to his surprise that did not happen. Instead of punishment swiftly delivered, his father embraced him. Instead of demanding his money back, his father called for the servants to kill a calf and prepare a feast! He wasn’t angry at all. In fact he was crying tears of joy that this misfit of a brother was home.

It’s easy to identify with the elder brother isn’t it? One can almost feel the resentment rising in our own throats over the injustice. When the elder son refused to join the party, we say to ourselves "Right on!"

We’ve been there. We do the work and someone else gets the credit. We live up to every expectation and get nothing in return. We take care of our health, and contract a serious illness. We put out our best work, and somebody less qualified gets the promotion. We’ve study hard for an exam, and one who cheats gets a better grade. We pay our taxes while others find ways to avoid what they owe.

Oh yes, we have been there. Bitterness can grab at our hearts too, and like the elder son, we can be lost in resentment. And when we succumb like the elder brother, we become the lost one; the one who has run away; the one who tries to go it alone, until we realize we cannot. When bitterness, anger, or revenge gets a hold of us, we can lose our way, unable to find our way home.

Both brothers were loved by their father. Both had endearing qualities to be sure, and both fell short of their father’s expectations. Both sons needed healing and forgiveness. Both needed the embrace of a loving father. Both were lost; the one who left in search of freedom and happiness, and the one who stayed close; obedient on the outside but on the inside, had wandered far from home.

What the younger son did was wrong; he abused his body, his money, his time and his father in flagrant acts of disrespect. And then, coming to his senses, he admitted them, asked for forgiveness and sought to change.

The elder son is much more complicated. He did what was right, and expected rewards. He held onto justice in place of love, turning his back on his family being unable to forgive.

Despite the title, the focus of this story is really on the father. It is more about compassionate and forgiving love, than about a wayward or angry son. All the details of the father, his facial expression, his posture, his hands, all speak of the divine love for humanity that God has. This has been true since the beginning and it will always be.

Nouwen so eloquently writes, and I quote: "Everything comes together here: Rembrandt’s story, humanity’s story, and God’s story. Time and eternity intersect; approaching death and everlasting life touch each other. Sin and forgiveness embrace; the human and divine become one."

Looking closer, one can see that Rembrandt has done something quite different than simply painting a benevolent patriarch. Notice the hands of the father; they are painted differently. The left is strong and muscular seeming to hold; while the right hand appears soft and tender, without holding, wanting to console and comfort. It is a mother’s hand. The father is mother as well as father. He is God, in who both male and female reside. Here, the firm, strong grasp, along with a gentle caressing tenderness, represents the father, who cannot abandon this child.

With whom do we most resonate? Is it the wayward son? Or is it the jealous brother? Or is it maybe the compassionate and forgiving father? I think what is so engaging about this parable is that inside each of us is the capacity to be all three. We can be resentful and unforgiving like the elder son. We also have the capacity to be patient and kind, forgiving those who hurt us, like the father. And we have our times of running far away, straining to do our own thing, stubborn, selfish, and foolish. We go astray, we squander our holy inheritance. We get lost and need someone to open their arms, celebrating our return and embracing us for coming home.

When all the doors on which we knock, refuse to open; it’s time to come home. When we have tried everything to solve a problem and nothing works; it’s time to come home. When we are confused, isolated and no one seems to understand; it’s time to come home.

You and I have just journeyed through Lent to the cross. We have heard about the Resurrection in story and song. But now we can witness the resurrection within us. For Easter is a time of rebirth, of new life, of new beginnings. We don’t have to hold onto our anger or resentment. We can let go of our selfish ways. We don’t have to find our own way, for it is God who finds us. You and I are Easter people and Easter doesn’t come just once a year. Easter comes every day.

It is when Jesus opens his arms wide and says to us, "Welcome home. I’m so glad to have time with you. Welcome home".

Amen