One of Rembrandt’s famous paintings is 'The Return of the Prodigal Son'. It is a moving depiction of the younger son kneeling before the father, who has his arms clasped around him tenderly. One of his sandals is off, perhaps to show that he was running to meet his father. There are some who believe that, contrary to what we read in the parable (Luke 15:11-32), the elder son is also present at the scene, yet cold and aloof. Modern retellings of the parable have always posed the question as to who is the lost son.
The parable (and the painting) throws up yet another question. Where is the mother in this great homecoming story?
Rembrandt’s painting inspired Dutch priest Henri Nouwen to write a novel by the same name. The painting bothered him as to which of the sons he identified with. Nouwen says: “Looking into myself and at the lives of other people, I wonder which does more damage, lust or resentment? There is so much resentment among the ‘just’ and the ‘righteous.’ There is so much judgment, condemnation and prejudice among the ‘saints’. There is so much frozen anger among the people who are so concerned about avoiding ‘sin’.”
Perhaps we need to know a little bit about the economy during Jesus’ time to understand the elder son’s resentment and the mother’s absence.
1. According to the laws of inheritance prevailing then, it is said, a man’s wealth got divided among his sons after his death. The firstborn received a double share of what his brothers got. That is, if a man had two sons, the elder son inherited two-thirds of it. By law, even the father could not change the laws of inheritance.
The prodigal had already inherited his property before his father’s death and squandered all the wealth.
In other words, though he gained his relationship back with his father he could in no way regain his property. His brother had to be his keeper now!
That is reason enough for the elder son’s anger. The father has to remind him that, “Everything I have is yours, but this brother of yours was dead and is alive again….”
Many of us have this feeling that we have earned “the good life” with our hard work and that poverty is due to “lack of self-discipline”.
We hear this morally superior talk at other levels too. For instance, when developed nations blame developing nations for environmental degradation and carbon emissions and price rise (caused by over consumption). Is it the rich man’s burden or his moral obligation to help the poor?
2. According to the law of Moses, daughters inherited property only if there were no sons. After their father’s death, the five daughters of Zelophehad of the tribe of Manasseh raised the issue of their right to his property (Num. 26, 27; Josh.17:3). Moses took their case to God, who told him that their plea was just.
Later, the family heads of the tribe of Manasseh appealed to Moses that if Zelophehad’s daughters married men from another tribe, their share would be added to the portion of the tribe into which they married. So Moses instructed that the girls could marry only from among their own tribe.
Every daughter got a dowry from the father’s estate, but the husband had the right of its use. In short, women in first century Palestine had limited access and control over the resources. They only had the ‘silent’ role of taking care of the family members and home. Like, perhaps, the mother in the parable.
There are many women ‘missing in action’ in 21st century too. This gets reflected in contemporary narratives.
A book, Women in Malayalam Cinema: Naturalising Gender Hierarchies, I read recently speaks about how by and large films still tend to portray “woman as someone ‘who loves to cook and clean, wash and scrub, shine and polish for her man’.” Kerala, no doubt, has made rapid strides in terms of socio-economic status, health conditions and general standards of living. Yet, the book says, “education and social grooming have been kept at conservative levels with continuing emphasis on the ‘feminine mystique’ teaching girls that they are essentially wives and mothers”.
What about the news media? The fourth edition of the Global Media Monitoring Project, a research and action initiative on gender in the news media coordinated by the Canada-based World Association for Christian Communication, says “the news presents a skewed picture of a world in which women are almost absent in positions of authority or responsibility outside the home” (www.waccglobal.org/en/resources/media-and-gender-monitor.html).
It needs no gender monitoring initiative to find that Jesus’ ministry was very inclusive, much more than what we would have it now. He always challenged patriarchal assumptions.
The parable (and the painting) throws up yet another question. Where is the mother in this great homecoming story?Rembrandt’s painting inspired Dutch priest Henri Nouwen to write a novel by the same name. The painting bothered him as to which of the sons he identified with. Nouwen says: “Looking into myself and at the lives of other people, I wonder which does more damage, lust or resentment? There is so much resentment among the ‘just’ and the ‘righteous.’ There is so much judgment, condemnation and prejudice among the ‘saints’. There is so much frozen anger among the people who are so concerned about avoiding ‘sin’.”
Perhaps we need to know a little bit about the economy during Jesus’ time to understand the elder son’s resentment and the mother’s absence.
1. According to the laws of inheritance prevailing then, it is said, a man’s wealth got divided among his sons after his death. The firstborn received a double share of what his brothers got. That is, if a man had two sons, the elder son inherited two-thirds of it. By law, even the father could not change the laws of inheritance.
The prodigal had already inherited his property before his father’s death and squandered all the wealth.
In other words, though he gained his relationship back with his father he could in no way regain his property. His brother had to be his keeper now!
That is reason enough for the elder son’s anger. The father has to remind him that, “Everything I have is yours, but this brother of yours was dead and is alive again….”
Many of us have this feeling that we have earned “the good life” with our hard work and that poverty is due to “lack of self-discipline”.
We hear this morally superior talk at other levels too. For instance, when developed nations blame developing nations for environmental degradation and carbon emissions and price rise (caused by over consumption). Is it the rich man’s burden or his moral obligation to help the poor?
2. According to the law of Moses, daughters inherited property only if there were no sons. After their father’s death, the five daughters of Zelophehad of the tribe of Manasseh raised the issue of their right to his property (Num. 26, 27; Josh.17:3). Moses took their case to God, who told him that their plea was just.
Later, the family heads of the tribe of Manasseh appealed to Moses that if Zelophehad’s daughters married men from another tribe, their share would be added to the portion of the tribe into which they married. So Moses instructed that the girls could marry only from among their own tribe.
Every daughter got a dowry from the father’s estate, but the husband had the right of its use. In short, women in first century Palestine had limited access and control over the resources. They only had the ‘silent’ role of taking care of the family members and home. Like, perhaps, the mother in the parable.
There are many women ‘missing in action’ in 21st century too. This gets reflected in contemporary narratives.
A book, Women in Malayalam Cinema: Naturalising Gender Hierarchies, I read recently speaks about how by and large films still tend to portray “woman as someone ‘who loves to cook and clean, wash and scrub, shine and polish for her man’.” Kerala, no doubt, has made rapid strides in terms of socio-economic status, health conditions and general standards of living. Yet, the book says, “education and social grooming have been kept at conservative levels with continuing emphasis on the ‘feminine mystique’ teaching girls that they are essentially wives and mothers”.
What about the news media? The fourth edition of the Global Media Monitoring Project, a research and action initiative on gender in the news media coordinated by the Canada-based World Association for Christian Communication, says “the news presents a skewed picture of a world in which women are almost absent in positions of authority or responsibility outside the home” (www.waccglobal.org/en/resources/media-and-gender-monitor.html).
It needs no gender monitoring initiative to find that Jesus’ ministry was very inclusive, much more than what we would have it now. He always challenged patriarchal assumptions.
