Luke 15:8-10
Before you read this week's blog, I'll give you the heads up that it's a little bit longer than normal. It's helping me tick a University box for one of my modules, which is why it includes a video version at the end that I can't quite bring myself to watch! I hope you find my thoughts on 'The Lost Coin' helpful.
There’s a place in our house where no one ventures unless it is absolutely necessary. It’s a place where, if you lose something, you face unspeakable peril to retrieve it. Great effort will be required to navigate the many obstacles in your way and bring back your lost item.
Where is this place I hear you ask?
It’s underneath the settee in our conservatory!
If you don’t have a place in your house like this, then well done you!
As we turn to the familiar story of the lost coin, found in Luke 15, I want you to imagine this is the place the wandering coin has decided to land.
We know this story well, so I urge you to resist the temptation for your eyes to glaze over and instead take a moment to see if there is something fresh that God has for you in these three short verses.
Before we turn to Luke 15:8-10, let’s place these verses in the context of the surrounding Scripture. Three stories sit together to form one parable following the same theme. Through this parable, we learn how much lost people matter to God. Apart from his obvious love for each one of us, why did Jesus feel the need to share these three stories? To discover this, we need only refer to the opening verses of Luke 15.
1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Luke 15:1-2
In the eyes of the Pharisees, Jesus was consorting with the wrong type of people, and this was jeopardising the carefully protected status quo. The presence of sinners like this, made everything unclean, and the Pharisees couldn’t tolerate them. More importantly, they couldn’t stand that Jesus didn’t only tolerate them, but fully embraced them. So, in this context he told a parable, and we’re going to focus on one small part of his message to the Pharisees.
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Luke 15:8-10 (NIV)
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one.
These ten coins would have formed a financial safety net for this woman, and so to lose just one was significant. This one coin, or drachma, was the equivalent of a day’s labour. It could not just be dismissed like a penny down the back of a sofa, it was precious, and it needed to be retrieved.
V.8b Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
Now I’m sure the woman in the story keeps a much tidier house than me, but at this point, imagine that coin is hidden away under my conservatory settee. Effort is required to retrieve it. The woman takes her equivalent of an iPhone torch and starts searching. The oil in the lamp comes at a cost. There’s no one else to sweep for her, so she takes on the responsibility of searching for that which is lost. Sweeping through the empty yoghurt pots, the discarded hair bobbles, and dodging that spare house key that went missing two months ago, she keeps searching.
Why is she giving this search so much time and effort?
Because this coin is valuable and represents a tenth of her savings. Of course she searches for the coin. What else would she do?
What would you do?
V9. 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’
There’s no embarrassment that the coin was lost in the first place, and even though I gave you a place to imagine its location, we never found out where it was hiding. It’s irrelevant. What’s important is what was lost has been found. Her first reaction is to gather together her loved ones to celebrate. The focus is on rejoicing. You don’t hear her saying:
“I don’t know how it got itself there, but it was a nightmare to find. It’s taken me all afternoon. What a waste of effort?”
No, the focus is not on how the coin was lost, or the state it was in when it was found, her only response is to rejoice with those around her. If anything, the coin is of even more value to her now.
V10. 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Luke 15:8-10 NIV
“In the same way” just like this woman and the coin, the angels of God burst into shouts of rejoicing over one sinner who repents. As the sinner is lifted from darkness, recognises the dust and dirt that covers them, and lifts their eyes to Jesus in repentance, the heavens open with songs of rejoicing. Jesus doesn’t dwell on where these sinners have been. He cherishes them and rejoices that they are found. In the same way, the woman rejoiced when her lost coin was returned to her.
So what about the Pharisees?
As they listened to this story of God’s love for the lost, I wonder if they realised they too, were placed in the spiritual equivalent of the darkness under my settee in the conservatory. Covered in dust and dirt and in desperate need of someone to take the time to bring them out into the light.
I wonder if they realised that their preoccupation with the rules and regulations of their religion excluded the ones Jesus loves so much.
I wonder if they realised they, too, were lost and in need of a Saviour.
And so it is for us, the ones established in the church, seeing ourselves as shiny new coins presentable to Jesus. Let us remember that once we were lost, now we are found, and as others discover the amazing grace of Jesus, we should rejoice with everything we’ve got! As we revisit this familiar story, let us not lose sight of its key message. Every person is deeply valued by God, and when someone lost is found, his heart fills with joy, and the heavens rejoice with him.
It’s a simple story of something lost.
Of value, significant enough to notice its loss, and precious enough to search out.
Rolled under a chair?
Hidden in the corner of a shadow?
No mention made of the coin’s location,
just, the hope of a celebration.
The swish of the brush revealed no glimmer,
The glow of the light illuminated no glint.
It was lost.
Gone.
Never to be found.
Until…
A spark
Some hope
Could it be?
It is found.
The cries of joy call out to friends.
“Come and see, what was lost is found.”
And the rejoicing continues as God gathers the lost coins,
Not questioning where they’ve been
Simply embracing them as they return.
It’s a simple story of something lost…
And found…
With much rejoicing.
Kay Moorby
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