Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

—Romans 2:4

My life group at church has recently begun studying Romans, and we came across this verse this morning. It struck me as one of those things that makes so much sense the moment you learn it even though it was something you hadn’t ever quite figured out for yourself before then.

I am often floored by God’s kindness toward His people. Every time I learn a new way in which He shows us the magnificence of His kindness, I am naturally drawn to spend more time with Him. It’s almost like His kindness is a magnet drawing His people closer.

As part of our discussion, we also looked at Luke 15 and the parable of the prodigal son, a parable that vividly displays God’s kindness toward us. There are some ways in which it is easy to see the father’s kindness toward his rebellious son, but there’s also a lot we miss if we don’t know where to look.

One thing that’s easy to miss is how patient and tolerant the father is at the beginning of the story. When the son went to his father and requested his inheritance, he wasn’t just asking for an advance on his allowance. He was basically telling his father that he wished he was dead. 

He looked at the smaller portion of his father’s estate that would be his one day (he was the younger son and would be given significantly less than his older brother) then he looked at his relationship with his father, and chose the money. He apparently had no qualms about breaking the commandment about honoring your father and mother.

The fact that the father didn’t immediately disown the son or follow the instructions given in Deuteronomy 21:18-21 is astounding. For a rebellious son who is a glutton and a drunkard, Deuteronomy prescribes a trip to the elders and a prompt stoning, but instead, the father decides to liquidate some assets and he grants his son’s ridiculously disrespectful request.

Then the son goes and loses all the riches his father had given him with “loose living.” That doesn’t just mean he wasn’t responsible with the money he was given. He took gluttony and drunkenness and took it to the next level. He was living a life of utter debauchery until every last penny was spent.

I don’t have any children of my own yet, but I can imagine how much shame I would feel if my child was living that way. And as bad as that was, it gets even worse because when the famine comes, he takes a job serving and caring for pigs, an animal considered unclean in Jewish culture. He wasn’t just making himself unclean by working with the pigs but was brought so low as to be envious of them when he went out to feed them.

And now we get to the part of the story where the son finally demonstrates a speck of wisdom by deciding to return to his father to ask for forgiveness. It is a wise decision, but it is also a risky one because Jewish custom dictated that he be disowned by the entire community for losing his inheritance among the Gentiles. 

So let’s add all this up, shall we? This son had disgraced his father, told him he wished he was dead, lived in a way that would bring shame to his father, lost all his wealth, made himself unclean, and is now facing the very real possibility of being cut off from the people of God. No wonder his highest aspiration was to become a servant in his father’s house.

Given the weight of all the baggage the son was bringing with him, it would have been understandable for the father to not be very eager to see his son, but that’s not what the father does. Instead, the father runs. That’s significant. Men of that day, especially prominent men, didn’t run…ever. Running would require hiking up his tunic, which would show his legs, and this was considered incredibly shameful and humiliating for a man. 

So when the father, who had apparently spent a significant amount of time watching and waiting for his son’s return, saw him approaching the town, instead of leaving him to endure the shame of being cut off from his community, he took the shame on himself by running to meet him.

Because of this father’s love for his son, he endured the disgrace of his son’s request for his inheritance, he watched and waited while his son wasted his gifts and lived a shameful lifestyle, he took on his son’s uncleanness, and carried the burden of his shame for him. And then on top of it all, he replaced that uncleanness and shame with the robes and finery of a beloved son.

That’s the same kindness and patience and tolerance God shows us. It’s the kind of kindness that makes me think twice about my own lack of patience with people and the kind of kindness that makes me want to draw closer to my Father. I pray that we will not be people who think lightly of those riches God has given us, but will be people who rest and rejoice in the kindness of our Father.