Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.” (Luke 15:8-10 The Message)
In Luke 15, Jesus was aware of the Pharisees and scribes’ hatred because of the company he kept. He was known to hang out with tax collectors and sinners. In the eyes of these religious leaders, this group of people represented the “others,” the outsiders. With this as the backdrop, Jesus shares three parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.
The sheep parable displays a shepherd actively seeking what is lost while the prodigal son comes to his senses and returns home. But in the parable of the lost coin, we get the unique view of our dependence on someone else to be saved. Both the sheep and the son can cry out or wander home. A coin can do nothing but wait to be found. Jesus came for us.
God loves us so much He sent his Son down to earth to live in the flesh (incarnate), experience baptism, die on the cross, be resurrected in three days, and then ascend to heaven to become our primary intercessor. In all that Jesus experienced, His love guided his actions.
How do we respond to such a love as this? Our response is to worship and join the celebration already going on in heaven.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord. You pursue us when we have no idea we are lost. Thank you for every gift you so freely give in your Son Jesus. Help us learn to walk in the truth of who we are in You and respond in true worship. Lord, we depend entirely on you and the salvation you freely offer. Lord, please complete the work in us that you have started. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
By Tamar Grey
Pastor, GC Cleveland
I have never really thought about the parable of the lost coin in quite this way. So glad Jesus did come for us! Will think on this & my response some more. I do think about the celebration going on in heaven, and it gives me joy thinking what it may be like. Thank you for this message!
Our helplessness is fully on display in the parable of the lost coin. What powerful imagery. What beautiful display of love. It was he who loved us and sought us when we knew him not, nor indeed were we aware of our need for him. Thank you Tarmar
Thanks Tamar for the insight to the coin that is lost, and the joy when it is found. Jesus said to be of good cheer for I have overcome the world and because I live you may live also. We are placed in Him, in His Death and Resurrection! I no longer live, crucified with Him, who now lives in me. I yet not I live by the faith of Christ and in Him I’m Found! Phil 3:9