Sir Noel Patton was a renowned artist. He was known for his exquisite and beautiful paintings of birds and flowers and children at play. But in each of his paintings he would always put in the very corner some grotesque object, such as a serpent, or an eel. This is what Christ the master painter has done with this portrait. We see this loving scene of the father and the prodigal in one another's embrace. But in the very corner of the painting we see the grotesque face of the elder brother as he is watching what is happening.

You see, Christ is trying to tell us that there are really two prodigals in this story. There is the sin of the younger son. His sin is plain for all to see. Then there is the sin of the elder brother. His sins are more subtle but nonetheless real. His is the sin of temperament and in this case resentment.