One Cool Thing from Amina

I asked for you all to submit your One Cool Things in hopes that SOMEONE would actually do it, and finally we got one! So take it away, Amina:

Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt van Rijn

So, after thinking about what I wanted to share for my One Cool Thing, I finally came upon something. This is a painting by Rembrandt Van Rijn, a 17th century Dutch painter. This painting is called The Return of the Prodigal Son, and was done in 1669, at the end of the artist’s life. The reason why thought I’d share this one is because of the emotion that is pretty legible in the image. This depicts such grace and mercy from the father embracing his son that it was just too good not to share. This is one of my favorite parables from the Bible, because its clear that even though we mess up sometimes, or that we try to live a materialistic life, that when we come back to reason, we will be welcomed with open arms. (Side note: I’m not saying we should be wild just because we know we can return, we should still try to live righteous lives and just remember that if we fall, God will be there to help us back up) Any way, I wrote about this painting in a recent term paper and couldn’t help but be inspired by the image.

In the front is the Prodigal Son with his back facing you, and you can see that he’s struggled after he’s used up all of his money and is no longer in good condition. His clothes are tattered and his shoes are worn. His father’s embrace seems to be a moment of complete vulnerability for the prodigal son, while his older brother is looking on in distaste at his younger brother’s return (I know that’s not the exact telling in the Bible, but it’s artistic interpretation, so bear with Rembrandt).

Also, I found an important lesson from the angered brother, in that we shouldn’t be disappointed because of something that we feel like we’ve missed out on, especially when we’re comparing ourselves to others (NO! You’re on your own path!), I think it is important to remember that in God’s time we will have all that we hope for. And shouldn’t we be celebrating the coming back to God, rather than punishing for a mistake of departing?

Refresher of the Return of the Prodigal Son is Luke 15:11-32.

Okay, I’ll stop here so you won’t be bored with being overinformed of Rembrandt’s style and what not.

SEE YOU ALL SOON! 🙂

Amina

Awesome, right? Who’s got the next one? Leave your cool thing in the comments or you can email it to me at  jpmcgensy@gmail.com and I’ll gladly post it.