Rest for the Restless Heart

Based on Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

The parable of the prodigal son is one of the most familiar stories Jesus told. Found only in the gospel of Luke, this story has been the basis of so many sermons, taught in children’s Sunday school, and inspiration for songs and poems. There was a hugely popular Christian song when I was a kid by Benny Hester called “When God Ran.” In the song, he makes the connection that the father in the parable represents God who runs toward us the moment we repent and turn back to God. When we run to God, God runs to us.

This parable is timeless because it is rich in meaning. There are so many angles you can take with this story. We can relate to it in so many ways. We identify with the reckless younger son, or the dutiful older son. For those of us who are parents, we relate to the longing of the father to see his son return home. This story can’t be summarized in one sermon, one bumper sticker, one nugget of truth. It is a treasure trove of material for reflection.

I invite us to focus on something that the two brothers in this story had in common and how it impacted their life choices and behaviors in different ways. What they both had in common was a restless heart. How they dealt with their restless heart was different. This is another point where many of us can relate to these brothers. We have restless hearts as well. We respond to our restlessness in different ways. There is a way to find rest for our restless hearts, however. We are pointed toward how we can find rest for our restless hearts in this parable of the man who had two sons.

The younger son thought the answer to his restless heart was somewhere other than where he was. He had no desire to stay on his dad’s farm. There was a big world out there and he wanted to go see it. He wanted new experiences. He wanted adventure. He wanted to make his mark in the world. Staying at the farm with his dad was like a prison. He had to get out of there. So, he demanded his portion of his inheritance early and got out of there to make his way in the world. Surely this would ease his restless heart.

The older son thought the answer to his restless heart was staying right where he was, working for his dad. His drive to do his duty, to work hard, to be obedient to his father…it was never enough. He felt the weight of his responsibility, to make sure the farm was taken care of. But he could never stop working. He couldn’t stop trying to demonstrate to his father what a good and dutiful son he was. He never felt like he had done enough. He couldn’t appreciate what he had at the farm. He couldn’t enjoy the fruits of his labor. He kept working, trying to ease the restlessness of his heart with his work.

The younger son was living his dream. He kept searching for experiences, adventures, relationships, parties, trying to find someone or something to ease his restless heart. But nothing ultimately satisfied. And eventually he spent all he had in this pursuit to satisfy that restlessness. He came back down to earth. Having lost his money, and the relationships his money had bought, he was alone. He found himself slopping pigs and wishing he could eat what he was feeding them. That’s pretty low. And in that broken place, the younger son came to realize that the restlessness of his heart could not be satisfied by the pursuit of adventure or shallow experiences. He found himself longing for home. He missed his dad. He determined to go back home, humbled, wiser, and hopeful that there might still be a place for him there. He thought maybe he could find rest for his restless heart back where he came from.

It’s an open question whether the older son ever realized how to find rest for his restless heart. He was so caught up in his work, in his duty, the responsibility, the need to constantly prove to his father that he was worthy of his father’s respect and appreciation, that he had become blind to the great bounty and fruits of his labor. His relentless work had made him bitter. It was never enough. He could never put his relationship with his father or the simple enjoyment of life above his sense of duty and responsibility. It was as if he had enslaved himself to the work. He was alone in his work. He never came to himself. He never had a change of heart. He never became humbled, or wise, or really hoped for anything. It was work, trying to prove his worthiness to his father and never being satisfied that he had done enough. His heart remained restless.

As for the father, getting work done is not his number one concern. When the younger son decided to come back home, he thought to himself that he could offer himself as a servant. He would work for his father with no expectation that he should get special treatment because he is a son. He would be a common laborer. He thought only about positioning himself as one who is willing to work, nothing else.

But putting his son back to work was not on his father’s mind at all. He didn’t make his son a servant. He didn’t put him back to work once he returned. No, he threw his son a party. They were going to celebrate. What mattered more than anything else was having his son back. And they would spare no expense to throw that party. It may not have been as ritzy and glamorous as his son had experienced out there in the world. But this was not a shallow and frivolous party either. This party was an expression of sincere relief, happiness, even joy. Father and son were united again. The father knew that relief from a restless heart comes when you are together with the ones you love and celebrating that loving bond. To simply delight in being together brings rest to the restless heart.

The father tried to explain that to his older son. It is so strange that the older son criticizes his father for never giving permission for him to have a little party with his friends. Why would his father have to do that? He explained, “Son, everything I have is yours. Look around you. Look at all the fruits of our labor. There’s more to life than work, son. No one was stopping you from having parties with your friends.” But the older son couldn’t see it. He couldn’t allow himself to simply enjoy his life, or have parties with his friends, whoever they were. I wonder if he really had friends. How could he have friends when he was working all the time? It must have made the father sad that his son would not allow himself to enjoy his life with his father on the farm.

Where can we find rest for our restless hearts? Some try to ease their restlessness by always chasing after more adventure, more experiences, more relationships, always grasping for something else or someone else. Others try to ease their restlessness by consuming themselves with work, with responsibility, with doing what’s required of them. They strive to meet and exceed the expectations of others, proving they are reliable, capable, responsible. But always chasing thrills or always working will not bring rest to the restless heart. Where does that rest come from?

The great theologian Augustine is quoted as saying, “our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.” The place of rest for our restless hearts is found in the embrace of those who love us. But especially in the embrace of God. How do we experience that embrace? We experience it in the embrace of our beloveds. Those precious times when we are with family and friends at home, what sweet rest for our restless hearts. Can you think of those moments in your life? Maybe it was the quietness of home when your kids and families have left to return to their homes, you and your spouse are sitting together on the couch, and you are both filled with gratitude for your family, how your kids have turned out, and with smiles on your faces you gently hold each other. Or maybe it was a boisterous party, a wedding reception, a retirement party, a 50th wedding anniversary, and there comes a point in the party when you sit there and look at everyone laughing and enjoying themselves, and you find yourself filled with love and appreciation for the people in your life. Or maybe it was that time when some of your childhood friends come by your house and kidnap you, taking you off to a restaurant or maybe a surprise weekend away. And you spend the weekend with your friends reminiscing about the old days, playing cards, laughing about the trouble you all used to get in to. We have those times in life when we can simply be with our family, our friends, and enjoy the blessing of life.

This is what God desires for us above all else. Just as the father first gave his younger son a party, just as the father told his older son that he could have had a party with his friends whenever he wanted to, God desires that we enjoy life and that we enjoy our lives with our family, our friends, our beloveds. Yes, work is important. Yes, there are responsibilities. To love God and to love one another demands action. Love is an action word. To love is to be responsible. But there is first of all the need for rest. There is the need to find rest for our restless hearts. Perhaps this is the wisdom of the Jewish tradition in which the day begins at sundown. The day begins with rest at home with your family. Work comes later. This is God’s invitation for us, to first be in relationship with God and with one another, to savor the relationship, to enjoy it, to rest in it. We begin by resting our restless hearts in God. It is from this place of rest that we begin the work of love.