The Prodigal Son sculpture is unique. The son is stark naked with scars on his back. Son's posture suggests he is desperate and has finally reached his refuge. His exposed bare feet invites the viewer to enter into his pain. Has he done something unthinkable? Why is he seeking forgiveness?
Curiously, the person receiving him is a woman. With her arm by her side, she appears stoic and even a bit distant. She is erect. She is not stooping to receive him. She is almost like an Egyptian mummy we see in the museums - deathlike.
The Strange Story
Herman Wald was a Jew born in Hungary in 1906. His father was a Jewish Rabbi. Growing up as one of eight children, he was deeply impacted by the Jewish teachings. His father disapproved of his interest in carving shapes and figures. It conflicted with one of the Ten Commandments, which says, 'You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.' Being an orthodox Jewish Rabbi, Herman's father could not condone his son making graven images.
But Herman continued his work in secret. Finally, he received his father's blessings when Herman showed him a larger than life bust of Theodor Herzl he had sculpted in secret. Conceding that his son had talent in sculpture, he allowed him to attend studies at the Hungarian School of Fine Arts in Budapest.
By 1933, Nazism was on the rise, and Herman decided to move to London and then to South Africa at his brother's invitation. His brother was leading a Jewish community in Johannesburg. Soon after the war broke out, he joined the war efforts.
After the war, he found out his mother had died in a concentration camp. He was guilt-stricken. He could not bring himself to the fact that he had abandoned his mother, and now she is no more.
He wants to say sorry, but she is no longer accessible to him. He wants to receive forgiveness, but the one who can forgive is not there anymore. The only possible response he could think of was to create a sculpture as an atonement for his sins.
How to ask forgiveness from someone who is no more?
We have a potential clue in King David's story in the Bible (1 Samuel 11). He commits adultery with Bathsheba, another man's wife, while her husband, Uriah, is a soldier in David's army. To cover up his misdeed, David orders Uriah killed at the war front. The murder clears the way for David to appropriate Bathsheba as his wife. It is business as usual for David. But Nathan, the prophet, an intense storyteller, gets David to implicate himself in the crime. David's blindness to his folly is unmasked. David sees himself as a despicable sinner. His prayer to God expressed in Psalm 51 is a classic in penitence.
Herman Wald and David are in similar situations. They want to say sorry to those they have wronged. But they are dead. Herman is desperate to be forgiven. He seeks absolution in creating a sculpture of himself, asking for forgiveness from his mother, hoping the sculpture somehow transcends current reality. He longs that in some mystical way, this act acquits his soul.
David's story is more intricate. According to the Old Testament (OT) regulations, both the man and the woman are held guilty. We know that the woman had little choice. David used his position of power and authority to seize the woman. In today's context, we consider her seriously aggrieved. The prevailing OT Law held both guilty and both to be stoned to death based on the victim's testimony. In this case, Uriah is the victim. But he is dead. There is no one to bring a charge against David. Moreover, David does not think he did anything wrong.
But after Nathan's searing rebuke, David understands the gravity of his sin. In Psalm 51, we get a glimpse of the sorrow and brokenness that David goes through when he realizes his sin. It is a prayer of deep remorse. David understands the severity of his crime. He knows that only God can forgive him of such a great transgression.
…any violence against others is an outrage against God
In a shocking statement, David says his primary crime is not against Bathsheba or Uriah but God. 'Against you, you only, have I sinned.' He knows his transgression is ultimately against God because any violence against others is an outrage against God.
Is Self Forgiveness Possible?
Both David and Herman understood the necessity of being forgiven. Both knew that to live unforgiven is incompatible with a life of peace. We all know this, and we seek our own means to be forgiven. A creative approach we have developed in modern times is 'self-forgiveness.'
…to live unforgiven is incompatible with a life of peace
David's prayer does not mention the possibility of 'self-forgiveness'. Exhorting people to 'forgive themselves' of past wrongs they have done or wrongs inflicted on them is a current pop psychology trend. But it is a myth. We cannot forgive ourselves. As humans, it is beyond the realm of our capability. We can forgive others, but we cannot forgive ourselves. But God forgives us all. When God forgives, he does so unreservedly and unconditionally. It is up to us to accept His forgiveness and live as forgiven people. Instead of resorting to 'self-forgiveness', we better receive God's forgiveness and live as forgiven people.
Herman may have recognized the impossibility of self-forgiveness. Or else he could have forgiven himself instead of creating a sculpture. He knows that his mother is no more and only she can forgive him. How then can he be forgiven? Should he go to his grave unforgiven? Herman is caught in this dilemma. Yet, unlike David, Herman could not bring himself to seek absolution from the Judge of all the earth.
God's Forgiveness & A New Dawn
The uniqueness of God's forgiveness is the possibility of a 'clean heart' through the implanting of a new spirit. And so, through the act of genuine repentance and receiving God's forgiveness, we are conferred a newness that is impossible with any other means of forgiveness.
And run we must, to that fount of forgiveness!