Luke's parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15:1-2.11-32) used to perplex me: Where is the mother in this drama? Poor father, I thought, torn between extreme forces with no help at all: the younger son, a restless lot, "moving in and out all the time" and the older son, rigid, repressed in his desires, unable to ask his father even for a "young goat to feast with his friends." (15:29) Where is the mother indeed?Henri Nouwen's commentary on Rembrandt's painting of the same episode gave me the answer: "the mother is in the father". Just look at the hands, says Nouwen:
"The longer I look at 'the patriarch', the clearer it becomes to me that Rembrandt has done something quite different from letting God pose as the wise old head of a family. It all began with the hands. The two are quite different. The father's left hand touching the son's shoulder is strong and muscular. The fingers are spread out and cover a large part of the prodigal son's shoulder and back. I can see a certain pressure, especially in the thumb. That hand seems not only to touch, but, with its strength, also to hold. Even though there is a gentleness in the way the father's left hand touches his son, it is not without a firm grip.
"How different is the father's right hand! This hand does not hold or grasp. It is refined, soft, and very tender. The fingers are close to each other and they have an elegant quality. It lies gently upon the son's shoulder. It wants to caress, to stroke, and to offer consolation and comfort. It is a mother's hand.... "As soon as I recognized the difference between the two hands of the father, a new world of meaning opened up for me. The Father is not simply a great patriarch. He is mother as well as father. He touches the son with a masculine hand and a feminine hand. He holds, and she caresses. He confirms and she consoles.
He is , indeed, God, in whom both manhood and womanhood, fatherhood and motherhood, are fully present. "
