Scripture Reading: Luke 15:11-27

Home Tonight – Summary 오늘 밤 집에

Henri Nouwen was a renowned Dutch priest, scholar, and author of over forty books on spiritual life. Raised in Holland, he spent the middle years of his life at Harvard and Yale, and then gave the last decade to pastor the L’Arche Daybreak community (a home for the disabled) outside Toronto.

When he first arrived at L’Arche Daybreak in 1986, he was asked to share a home with several people with intellectual disabilities, one of whom was John. John’s first question to any stranger was: “So, where’s your home?” Also wide- awake to the movements of each person around him, he daily asked assistants in his home and the community a more immediate question: “Are you home tonight?” This made a lasting impression on him, and he reflects on that in his follow-up lectures on Luke 15 and the Return of the Prodigal Son, his seminal work based on the famous Rembrandt painting.

Today is our parents’ service. I want to focus on Luke 15 and draw from Nouwen’s experience and reflections on this parable. Therefore, we will focus on this parable with John’s two questions in mind: Where’s your home? and “Are you home tonight?

But, how should we read the parables? Nouwen suggests that we should become part of the story. The parable and painting invite us to enter and participate as one of the characters. That will ensure a connection with your own story and journey.

1. Home 집
The story introduces us to three people: a father and two sons. Later, we learn that this must have been a well-off

household with servants, livestock, and abundance. It was a place of plenty, safety, stability, and belonging. The 페이지1/4

하지만 우리는 이 비유들을 어떻게 읽어야 할까? 나우웬은 우리가 이야기의 일부가 될 것을 제안한다. 비유와 그림은 우리를 초대하여 등장인물 중 한 명으로 참여하도록 한다. 그렇게 하면 당신 자신의 이야기와 여정과의 연결이

보장될 것이다.

abundance of the father’s house contrasts with the younger son's reality as a servant sitting with pigs. In the Jewish mind, there is no greater contrast, no deeper divide – a place of celebration and a place of pigs!

What is “home” in this context? 이러한 배경에서 "집"이란 무엇인가?

Isn’t that exactly what we long for? The reality of brokenness has destroyed our “home-ness”. Casted into the pig pens and the bright lights of a fake home the world has to offer, we opt for the least, to find ourselves lonely and longing for “home”.

2. The boy who lost “home” “집”을 잃은 소년

His journey from “home” proved to be tragic and catastrophic. We sometimes judge him and from our high ground wonder how in the world he could have made such a mistake – indeed, one that led to destruction and humiliation. Not Rembrandt. He brings a touch of tenderness to the younger son in his painting. We feel empathy, even sympathy. We fell to our knees beside him and longed for the touch of the father’s hands. Rembrandt painted this between 1665 and 1667, at the end of his life. As a young painter, he was popular, successful, arrogant, and argumentative. Gradually, however, his life began to deteriorate. He had to face the death of nearly every member of his family, bankruptcy, and the loss of his fame. A man who experienced immense loneliness in his life painted this picture. He couldn’t paint this picture when he was young and successful. Only after he lost “home” could he find God’s mercy. When Vincent van Gogh saw this painting, he said: “You can only paint like van Gogh when you have died many deaths.”

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"집"으로부터의 소년의 여정은 비극적이고 파국적인 것으로 드러났다. 우리는 때때로 소년을 판단하고 소년이 어떻게 그런 실수를 - 실제로, 파괴와 굴욕으로 이어진 실수를- 했을까 궁금해한다. 렘브란트는 그렇지 않았다.

Like Rembrandt, we excel in our success, celebrate our arrogance, and leap in joy with what life throws us. And then, without warning, life turns on us – a marriage fails, death knocks on our door, tragedy strikes, and we find ourselves with the pigs. Alone, we realize that we have lost the celebration of life. There’s something deeper, something more. We need to go home! Somewhere there’s home! I need to be home tonight!

“Healing begins when, in the face of our darkness, we recognize our helplessness and surrender our need for control.... We face what is, and we ask for mercy.” What a coming home it was! The old father in the parable spontaneously knew the appropriate response to a long-desired homecoming. He ordered the servants to “kill the fatted calf and prepare a feast.”

“치유는 어둠에 직면하여 우리의 무력함을 인식하고 통제의 욕구를 포기할 때 시작된다... 우리는 있는 그대로를 직면하고 자비를 구한다.” 얼마나 멋진 귀향인가! 비유 속의 연로한 아버지는 오랫동안 갈망해 온 아들의 귀환에 어떻게 적절히 대응해야 할 지를 즉시 알았다. 아버지는 하인들에게 “살찐 송아지를 잡고 잔치를 준비하라”고 명령했다.

The turning point, however, was his realization that he was not home. He turned back to his father’s arms—the tender embrace, the belonging, and the rest—in spite of his circumstances.

From un-belonging to embracing;
From guilt to forgiveness;
From homelessness to home-liness;
From death to life; 죽음에서 삶으로’
From servanthood to childhood. 종에서 어린시절로.

What he got was more than what he bargained for: Celebration is much more than a party or a spectacle. Yes, there was dancing, eating, and loud music. But more – and that is so beautifully depicted in the primary focus of Rembrandt’s painting:

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하지만 전환점은 아들이 자신이 집에 있지 않다는 것을 깨달은 순간이었다. 아들은 - 자신의 부끄러운 처지에도

불구하고, 아버지의 품으로 - 부드러운 포옹과 소속감, 그리고 모든 나머지의 것들 - 을 향해 돌아섰다.

소속되지 않음에서 포용으로;

죄책감에서 용서로;

노숙에서 가정의 안락함으로;

아들이 얻은 것은 기대했던 것 이상이었다. 축하행사는 파티나 단순한 볼거리 이상이었다. 그렇다. 춤과 음식, 요란한 음악이 있었다. 그러나 더 많은 것 – 그리고 그것은 렘브란트의 그림이 집중하고 있는 것에 매우 아름답게 묘사되어

있다.
4. In the father’s hands 아버지의 손에

Focus on the Father now. This is a painting of a man in a great red cloak, tenderly touching the shoulders of a disheveled boy kneeling before him. The intimacy between the two figures draws us, the warm red of the man’s cloak, the golden yellow of the boy’s tunic, and the mysterious light engulfing the two. But most of all, it is the hands, the old man’s hands, as they touch the boy’s shoulders. Look at the father’s hands. The father is not simply a patriarch. He touches his son with a masculine and feminine hand. He holds, caresses, confirms, and consoles.

Today, can we dare to step out of the observer or bystander role, step into the young man's place, kneel in spirit, and let ourselves be held by our loving God? But it is also the place where we have to let go of all that we want to hold on to; the place that confronts us with the fact that accepting love, forgiveness, and healing is often much more complicated than giving it. It’s the place beyond earning, deserving, and rewarding; it’s the place of surrender and complete truth. It’s the place of “coming to our senses”, falling on our knees, and letting our tears flow freely, because we are HOME.

Conclusion 결론

We haven’t focused on the brother yet. Strangely enough, he was in the most precarious position imaginable. He was home, but not at home. He was there, but longing for the outside. Much can be said about him. We can also mirror ourselves in him. He was home –but also not at home.

우리는 아직 형에게는 집중하지 않았다. 이상하게도 형은 상상할 수 있는 가장 불안정한 위치에 있었다. 형은 집에 있었지만 집에 있지 않았다. 형은 집에 있었지만 바깥 세상을 갈망했다. 형에 대해 많은 이야기를 할 수 있다. 우리는 또한 우리 자신을 형에게 비추어 볼 수 있다. 형은 집에 있었지만 – 그러나 또한 집에 있지 않았다.

How about you today? John’s two questions shaped Nouwen’s reflections for many years: Where is your home? And, are you home tonight?

오늘 당신은 어떠한가? 장애인 공동체의 존의 두 가지 질문은 오랫동안 나우웬의 성찰에 영향을 주었다: 당신의 집은 어디인가? 그리고, 오늘 밤 당신은 집에 있는가?