The second story in Luke 15 deals with a lost coin. Look at verse 8: 8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
We learn right out of the chute here that the coin that the woman is looking for is a silver coin. The word for silver coin is the Greek word, “drachma.” The value of a drachma was about the same as a day’s wages. It was no small amount. So, we know the coin was valuable, but theologians assert that it had another importance. Back in that day, the mark of a married woman was a head-dress made of ten silver coins linked together by a silver chain. It took years for a woman’s family to scrape together those ten coins. Once it was acquired, it was so inalienably hers that it could not even be taken from her for a debt collection. It was part of her dowry, and it was forever hers, but something that is forever yours that is also lost makes it hard to utilize or profit from if needed. So, she searched for it as any woman would search if she lost her wedding ring.
Notice the texts says that she lights a lamp. She can’t see without additional light. Jewish homes didn’t have windows, so she had to do some illuminating to facilitate the lost becoming found. Not only does she light a lamp, but she goes to work. She gets a broom and starts sweeping in hopes of sweeping it into view. The floors in those Jewish homes were made of dirt and straw, so the straw had to be swept up and sifted through to see where the coin might be. The woman in the story also searches carefully. This is a multi-step and thorough process.
The woman in the story represents God. He places inestimable value on us. It mattered to Him that we were missing, that we were lost. He had to illuminate our darkness. He had to send a Light. He sent Jesus, the Light of the World, to seek and save those who were lost. The Bible says that the people who had been walking in darkness saw a great light with the coming of Jesus, Isaiah 9:2.
Jesus said of Himself, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12 He went all out, giving His very life to bring us in. He worked carefully to do the Father’s will. He was thorough, following the instructions of the Father to the “T” because that which was lost needed to be found. Look at John 6:38-39: “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me…”
Just like the Parable of the Lost Sheep, in the Parable of the Lost Coin, there was great rejoicing when the lost item was found. Look at Luke 15:8-9, 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors 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.”
The Scribes and Pharisees (who were criticizing Jesus for hanging out with sinners) weren’t what anyone could accuse of being joyful. When you were making a party list, your first thought wasn’t, “How many Pharisees can we invite?” The idea that God would rejoice over a sinner coming home was completely foreign to them. To think that all of Heaven parties when a sinner comes home wasn’t even in the realm of possibility for the Scribes and Pharisees. Not one of them had ever dreamed of a God like that. They didn’t know a God like that. Those religious leaders may have agreed that if a man came on his hands and knees, begging to God for mercy that God might take their request into consideration, but they wouldn’t have conceived of a God who goes out looking for people to love! Aren’t you thankful for the way God loves us? You don’t have to jump through one hoop to be able to experience the love of God!
Unlike the sheep in the first story in Luke 15 that wandered off, this item, this coin, was lost at home. The coin didn’t wander. The coin couldn’t wander. It’s understandable when you lose something on a trip, when you leave something behind somewhere and you’ve made so many pitstops along the way that you have no clue where you left something, but you don’t really expect to lose stuff in your house, right? But we know it happens. It happens to me…a lot.
If we lose something at home, it is usually the result of a careless mistake. The woman in this story didn’t realize that something was lost when it became lost. At the moment of “lostness” she was unaware of it happening. If she had seen the coin fall off her head-dress, she would have picked it up quickly and would have secured it back onto the head-dress. She didn’t know when it fell off. She wasn’t aware that it was missing until…she was.
Remember, the point of the three Luke 15 stories is to highlight God’s love and concern for lost people. This coin story isn’t about coins at all. It’s about people. And sometimes God’s people go missing because of carelessness, and they don’t realize for a while that they are missing until they or someone else wakes up to the fact that someone who used to be safe in the Father’s house, is now not where they are supposed to be.
Last week, I challenged you to be thinking about “the one” you could go after. Who is it that needs the light turned on for them? II Corinthians 4:4 says, “The god of this age (Satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
People are still searching for hope and peace and satisfaction, but because of their blindness they don’t always look in the right places. We need to get the light on.
You realize that coins are stamped with images on them, right? Those drachma would have been stamped with the image of the ruler of the day. Sitting in the dirt, under the hay, the image of that ruler would have been obscured, hidden from view. The same is true with lost people. We have been created in the image of God. Every person, whether sinner or redeemed has been made in His image. When we live in the dirt of sin, the image of God is covered up. Lost people need to be found so that the image of God can be seen, so that it can be restored, and so that they can utilize their purpose and potential.
I will also say that lost people are everywhere. Yes, this is a story about a coin that is lost at home, but how many of you have found a coin in the Walmart parking lot or an airport or a community park? You can find lost coins anywhere. The point is, lost people are everywhere. There are lost people sitting in churches every Sunday.
Teays Valley Church of God, people are living in the dirt and muck and mire of sin. They are being trampled underfoot by Satan and demonic spirits. They are living below their potential. They can’t see the God who is waiting to transform their life. Let’s flood this valley with the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let’s make a careful search. Let’s look everywhere. Let’s get to work. Let’s certainly make sure nothing is lost at home.
