“The Lost Was Found”

The Parables of Jesus

March 28, 2022

“The Lost was Found”

Luke 15:8-10

In 1992, my daughter, Heather, lost her favorite stuffed animal. It was a small blue bunny. We weren’t sure where she lost it, but we were reasonably certain it wasn’t in the house.

One night after going to dinner with some friends, we walked along the sidewalk in front of a strip of stores. We were talking with our friends when we realized Heather had stopped and was looking in the darkened window of a store that was closed for the day. So I walked over to her and said, “What are you looking at, Heather?” She pointed in the window and said, “My bunny.”

Sure, enough, it was her stuffed bunny, hanging at the end of a ribbon with a note that said something along the lines of, “Did you lose me?” I don’t know the chances that someone would do that and not just throw the stuffed animal in the garbage. But I would venture to say the odds were slim. The next day, I went to the store with Heather, and we retrieved her bunny. She was overjoyed that she had her favorite stuffed animal again. B.T.W., my daughter, is now 34, and we still have the bunny. 😊

My story brings us to our Parable for today.

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The Lost Coin

“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? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 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

In Greek, the word coin means “drachma,” which is the only time we see it used in scripture. Usually, the Gospels refer to the Roman denarius. Both coins have about the same value. They are worth a day’s wage for a person.

The woman in this story has ten silver coins and loses one. She pulls out all the stops to find the lost coin. Eventually, she finds it and rejoices with her neighbors.

“The description of the woman lighting a lamp and sweeping her house confirms that she was a comparatively poor person living in a peasant’s small house with a low doorway and no windows.”

(New Bible Commentary, 21^st Century Edition. Luke 15, Pp. 1005)

You might say that the lost silver coin is equivalent to losing your soul. Where was the coin lost? In the dirt. The dirt is the world, and all of its distractions that can pull us away from God.

The lamp, or light, is the Gospel that is there to bring us closer to God.

The neighbors who rejoice are the Kingdom of heaven itself. This woman was a sinner. She had gotten lost in the world, just as we do. But she repents her sins and amends her ways.

This is why Jesus says, “I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The lost coin, the lost sheep, and yesterday’s devotion about the lost son are all about repentance and rejoicing in heaven when a sinner returns to the fold.

Dear Jesus. When we lose our way in this world, we pray your word is a lamp unto our feet. May we repent of our wrongdoings and run to you open arms, where righteousness and eternal life await us. Amen.