my take: I’ve had this on the bedside at the cottage for a few years … poking through slowly. Pastor Heidi did a three part sermon series on the parable, so that sort of nudged me to finish.

I love Henri Nouwen. He has a gentle yet strong voice. In sharing his relationship to this painting of Rembrandt’s, he dissects the parable as well as the painting. I’m an art history nerd and always in need of spiritual shepherding so I consider this book a masterpiece.

Nouwen puts himself in the place of each of the parable’s players – which led me to do the same. the handy dandy feature of having the painting on a flapped front cover let me contemplate painting and text together.

my source: a calvin college bookstore find. love that place.
my verdict: excellent devotional. highly recommend.
UPDATE: Reader, years after writing this I got to see the painting at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia with my mother. We had each wanted to see it since we each took Edgar Boeve’s Art History 101 class at the Calvin College (20 years apart).