The Parable of the Lost Coin

Luke 15:8-10

Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

Yesterday, we examined the lost sheep and mentioned that many of us can relate to being lost. This trilogy of responses that Jesus offers to the religious leaders of the day as to why he spends time with “sinners” should be a comfort to us. We should realize that when we are lost our God seeks to bring us home.

Remember,

Luke 19:10
10 For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

Be reminded that all three of these stories focus on not what was lost but the fact that the shepherd, the woman, and the Father seek that which was lost. Remember that the purpose of this trilogy of parables is two-fold:

1. To reveal the heart of our heavenly Father.
2. To reveal the mission of Jesus.

So let’s look at the Parable of the Lost Coin…yesterday we realized that the lost sheep simply wandered off, today the coin is lost by accident. In both of these, there is no purpose or realization that they were leaving the place of safety.

For me this second story is the most relatable to the three. Now as a young pre-teen I remember, my mother and spring cleaning. Moving the oven and refrigerator out from the walls to clean. Emptying out the cabinets to wipe them all down…and the list goes on and on. This is the visual I have when I think about the woman searching for her lost coin. You’ve been there when you have misplaced something you had to have. You retrace your last movements since seeing the item, looking under this and under that. Seeing if the coin could have fallen off the desk into the wastebasket, ore even if it was in your coat pocket.

What is this story…a picture of how our God searches for us when we are lost.

And the coin never even had a “lost” thought. It never realized it was lost. But it is found, and once again the celebration ensues.

There are times when my own health journey and health struggles push me towards a feeling of lostness. Where I don’t feel that I am all that God wants me to be and that in fact, I’m failing to realize God’s best for my life. While this in some respects is true, we simply have to realize that our Father searches for us, and gives us the strength, power, and ability to achieve his will in our lives.

Now in the case of the coin, the item was found in a moment. But we will consider the Lost Son tomorrow and we will realize that we are all on a trek, a journey in this life.