Rembrandt van Rijn, The Return of the Prodigal Son
c. 1661–1669. 262 cm × 205 cm.
Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg
Christmas Drawing 2020
Rembrandt van Rijn
(Pupil of Rembrandt) 1606–1669, The Adoration of the Shepherds
1646 Oil on canvas, 65.5 x 55 cm
National Gallery, London NG47
Fr. Michael J. Denk
Line Drawing
The Christmas Prodigal Shepherd
As most of you know, one of my favorite paintings is Rembrandt’s the return of the prodigal son.
Every year I tried to create something for a Christmas gift. This year, because everyone has to wear masks anyway, I thought it would be neat to create a custom mask. As I started thinking of what that could be, I realized that everything is an opportunity to evangelize. That means that we can evangelize even with our masks.
We can make our masks have meaning. There’s so much that we’re missing out on when it comes to masks. Have you noticed it’s hard to hear people? I have a sense of what it must be like for someone who has hearing aids or is hard of hearing. While it is frustrating, it has also brought out my inner Italian (doesn’t this make you happy, Mom:)! Every time we have to ask someone to repeat themselves or strain to listen to them can be a reminder of how we long to hear the voice of God! One of the things we long to hear the voice of God. When we wear masks, we often can’t hear each other.
The Shepherds are comforted when they hear the voice of God!
“The angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David, a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”” Luke 2:9-14
It was the voice of God that spoke through the angel and directed the Shepherds to the manger. Perhaps God is speaking to you, and it takes some time of really listening in meditative and contemplative prayer to hear His voice… but He is speaking… through His Angels, He is always speaking to you…
The other disheartening thing about masks is that we can’t see each other’s faces. I’m at a new parish, and I feel like I don’t know the people because we cannot see their whole face. They can’t tell by my smile that I have a sense of humor. I can’t tell if they are laughing with me or looking at me like I’m crazy???
Maybe through this all, we will come to appreciate the importance of seeing each other face to face! This longing to see each other’s faces can help us to realize an even deeper longing of seeing the face of God. When Jesus was born in the manger, people could see God’s face for the first time! It began with Mary, Joseph, and the Shepherds.
So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. Luke 2:16
Seeing each other’s faces and hearing each other’s voices is so important, as is seeing the Face of God and hearing His Voice. When I get annoyed by wearing a mask, sometimes I try to think of it as a penance, almost like a “hair shirt,” something that I don’t like wearing. Whenever you or I wear a mask, it becomes an opportunity for self-sacrifice and for offering up a little suffering to God. This time of not seeing each other’s faces has helped me to want to see the Face of God. At Christmas, we celebrate “The Word becoming Flesh”… “God made visible.”
When he was born and laid in a manger, we could see God’s face for the first time. We could hear God’s voice crying for the first time. During this pandemic, it may be hard to hear God’s voice or see his face. We know by faith that he is present.
I’d invite you to think of yourself, this Christmas, as the shepherd. The shepherds in the Nativity, the shepherds are the lowly ones… there was no room for them in the Inns either. They were: “Living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock.” They were living out in the dark, cold, unsheltered to the elements of nature. Have you at some point during this pandemic felt afraid, vulnerable, at-risk, jobless, isolated, alone???? The Voice of God calls to you, “Do not be afraid,” “Today is born a savior,” “Peace to those on whom His favor rests.”
Can you, like the shepherd, take a step towards him?
Now to the drawing. I studied many paintings of the Nativity to get some ideas for this Christmas when I came across one I have never seen before. It is by Rembrandt, who is the artist of my favorite painting: “The Return of the Prodigal Son.” In this painting, “The Adoration of the Shepherds,” Rembrandt uses his powerful skill and mastery with lighting. You’ll notice at the very center of the painting, Jesus, “the infant lying in a manger.” Though the Shepherd to the right carries a lamp, the Light in the scene is emitting from Jesus! Mary is bathed in the light as she tends to him. The next figure we notice is Joseph – he is standing tall and crouched over with his cloak arching over the figures. And then the most immediate figure is so noticeable because he is a shadow. This is one of the shepherds who is kneeling in prayer. The interesting thing is because I couldn’t see his face. I was trying to see if there were any other identifying marks. It is hard to tell, and it was only after I was able to brighten it with some special software that I noticed his feet. They look identical to the feet of the prodigal son in the other painting…. Why would I notice this small detail? Well, as I mentioned, The Parable of the Prodigal Son is my favorite painting, and I have numerous copies of it in different sizes. Once I saw that, I couldn’t help but realize that this image was actually very similar (though reversed) to that of the prodigal son.
Notice the shepherd is kneeling, feet showing, hunched in. The same is true for the prodigal son, kneeling, feet showing, hunched in. It was like an epiphany to me that this experience of Jesus would become a lasting memory probably told to him by his parents. He would use his memory to tell parables like… the prodigal son and… the good shepherd.
The next thing that I noticed is that Joseph is lit very much like the father in the prodigal son. He, too, is hunched over and his cloak is almost like a manger itself visually shrouding Mary, Jesus, and the shepherd. Notice Joseph’s hand begins to extend as if to reach forward, bless, and embrace the shepherd, like the father’s hands laid on the back of the prodigal son. Could the hand of St. Joseph also be reaching toward you, the viewer, to bring you into this beautiful scene? You no longer are lost. You have been found. You are no longer in the darkness. You have seen the light, and you are no longer an unknown estranged shepherd but a beloved son or daughter of The Father.
In the painting of the prodigal son, there is another face you will see, and it is the older brother up and to the right. Now back to the Nativity scene, and there is a very similar-looking man up and off to the right-facing in the same direction as the older brother. It’s uncanny, really. Nothing an artist does is without purpose. There are other figures in the shadows in both paintings as if to say there were other people there, but something extraordinary happened in the light. There is a whole world of people scurrying around. But you, right now, reading this, looking at these images, can see what the prophets have longed for!
For thousands of years, humanity was prodigal, due to the sin of Adam, estranged from God. And in this moment of the Nativity, the prodigal shepherd comes home to be in the presence of his savior, his mother, and Joseph.
Sometimes St. Joseph is referred to as the “Shadow of God” because he is never heard from in the Gospels but is present.
This year our Holy Father, Pope Francis, declared it to be the “Year of St. Joseph.” He wrote an Apostolic Letter, “Patris Corde” (Heart of the Father). On the 150th Anniversary of St. Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. You can read the letter here.
Pope Francis says so beautifully: “I like to think that it was from Saint Joseph that Jesus drew inspiration for the parable of the prodigal son and the merciful father (cf. Lk 15:11-32).”
I, too, like to think that Jesus is continuing to use artists to tell his story. This is the greatest story of all!
If you are lost, if you have been away from the Church, the Sacraments, or Confession, or Jesus, especially the Eucharist. Maybe this is the time for the shepherd to come to the manger, the prodigal child to come home.
You are so loved by God, The Father. May the intercession of St. Joseph be with you in this year of grace. And may I, in some humble way, as priest whom you call father, help you to come to know and love the Father, whom Jesus came into this and through His Spirit reveal to us “The Face of God.”
Merry Christmas, Fr. Michael
