In The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning writes about a dynamic young businesswoman who showed signs of stress and strain. The doctor prescribed tranquilizers and asked her to report to him in a couple of weeks. When she came back, he asked if she felt any different. “No, I don’t,” she replied. “But I’ve observed that other people seem a lot more relaxed.” 

 It’s true, isn’t it, that we usually see other people, not as they are, but as we are. That tendency is the occasion of the Parable of the Lost Coin. Luke 15:1 says, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.” 

• Tax collectors were social outcasts. 
• Sinners were spiritual outsiders. 

This wrong crowd was in the right place. They congregated to hear Jesus. Verse 2 says, “And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’” These representatives of the religious establishment were deemed righteous because they did not associate with tax collectors and sinners. Their grumbling complaint charged Jesus with unrighteousness. God would not receive sinners and eat with them, so they thought. 

In verses 3-32, Jesus responds with a countersuit against the religious leaders. He makes the case against them with three parables that make one point: Lost people matter to God. In verses 4-7, Jesus invites his hearers to put themselves in the place of a shepherd. Before they could duck that punch, Jesus threw another haymaker. He asked them to put themselves in a woman’s place. This is a glimpse at the countercultural nature of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus showed compassion to marginalized people – especially women.

Our text is the most radical of this trilogy of parables. We have no problem viewing God as the shepherd in the first parable or the father in the third parable. We shy away from viewing God as the woman in this parable. But it is a glorious picture of God’s care, concern, and compassion. Ivor Powell wrote, “The Lord chose the most excellent illustrations for his sermons, but this story of the woman and her coin must be numbered among the best.” The Parable of the Lost Coin teaches four lessons about God’s love for lost people. 

The Worth of the Coin 

The first parable describes two living things – a man and his sheep. Our story describes an animate and an inanimate object – a woman and her coin. Yet the coin was no less valuable to the woman than the sheep was to the shepherd. Proportionally, it was more valuable. 

• The sheep was one of a hundred. 
• The coin was one of ten. 

 The coin had more than proportional value. 

Spending Value. The coin was the Greek drachma, equivalent in weight and worth to the Roman denarius. This was more than pocket change. It was a substantial part of a family’s income. This destitute woman would not have been able to make or make up this amount of money. She could not afford to lose this coin.

 Social Value. This woman was not a woman of means. How did she get these ten silver coins? It may have been a part of her dowry – a financial gift given in a marriage. A dowry was like an insurance policy if the marriage did not work out or her husband died. This woman’s financial stability and security were tied to this coin. 

 Sentimental Value. Women arranged their dowry coins in an ornamental headpiece that was a beautiful and public statement of a woman’s marital status. To lose one of her coins would be the equivalent of losing a wedding ring. The woman had to find the coin so that she would not be confused as a promiscuous woman. 

This woman did not drop pocket change in a seat cushion. This lost coin was valuable. In an infinitely greater way, lost people matter to God. God created us in his own image. Sin has marred that image. It has not erased that image. Like a lost coin, lost people are out of station, service, and circulation. Yet they still have meaning, worth, and value to God. 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

A woman called her friend in tears. Her mother had given her a beautiful handkerchief, which had been passed down from her grandmother. The woman had carelessly marked it with indelible ink. The handkerchief was ruined. Her friend, an artist, asked her to send it to him, which she did. Weeks later, the artist returned it to her. The woman called again, this time with tears of joy. Her friend had taken the ink spot and designed a work of art around it. The ruined handkerchief was brand new, more beautiful and precious than it ever was. This is what God has done for us in Christ! 

The Loss of the Coin 

 Jesus poses a scenario in which a woman loses one of ten silver coins. This premise sets up the point of the parable. But the loss of the coin is worth considering. 

Where It Was Lost. The man lost his sheep in the open country. Our parable moves from outside to inside. The woman did not lose her coin in the street or in the field. She lost it in the house! 

• Not all lost people are notoriously immoral. 
• Not all lost people are running the streets. 
• Not all lost people are in the nightclub. 
• Not all lost people are sleeping around. 
• Not all lost people are drunk or high. 

You can get lost in the house. Matthew 7:21-23 says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” You can spend your life playing church and have to introduce yourself to Jesus. It is just as easy to go to hell from a church pew as it is from a barstool. 

The Prodigal Son was lost in the far country. The Elder Brother never left home but was just as lost. Preachers used to say, “If being in church is right, then being out of church is wrong.” But being in church does not make you right with God. John 3:7 says, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”

How It Was Lost. How was this coin lost? The coin did not lose itself. The sheep’s feral instincts caused it to nibble itself away from safety. The coin was an inanimate object that could not lose itself. The blame lies with the woman. 

• In verse 6, the man says, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.”
• In verse 9, the woman says, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” 

The woman’s language betrays her culpability. The coin was lost because the woman was careless. And many are lost in the house because of the carelessness of the church. There are a lot of places to get lost in the church – like false teaching, empty traditions, power struggles, petty infighting, dress codes, unspoken rules, and bad attitudes. 

In Harvest of Humility, John T. Seamands tells of a wounded German soldier who went to the military hospital for treatment. When he arrived, he saw two doors, one marked “For the slightly wounded,” the other, “For the seriously wounded.” He entered the first door and went down the hall. At the end were two more doors, one marked “For officers,” the other “For non-officers.” He entered the latter and went down another long hall. There were two more doors, one marked “For party members,” the other “For non-party members.” He took the second door, and when he opened it, he found himself out on the street. When the soldier returned home, his mother asked, “How did you get along at the hospital?” “Well, mother, he replied, “To tell the truth, the people there did not do anything for me, but you ought to see the tremendous organization they have!”

 Many churches are well organized but spiritually impotent. Let’s turn on the lights, sweep the floor, and clean up anything that may cause people to get lost in the church!

The Search for the Coin 

Verse 8 asks, “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?” Here is the heart of the parable. If you lost one of ten silver coins, how would you respond? The woman would search diligently and persistently for the lost coin. 

A Diligent Search. The typical Galilean home was small, dark, and crude. It had one room with dirt floors and maybe one window. If a coin were lost in the house, it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. This poor woman could not afford to lose this missing money. She lights a lamp,  grabs a broom, and sweeps the floor. These are not perfunctory actions. The woman searches for the coin as carefully, completely, and comprehensively as the shepherd searches for the sheep. Verse 8 says she will “seek diligently.” She cleans house eagerly, earnestly, and energetically. Other things on her to-do list would have to wait. She had to find that coin.

What’s behind this desperate search? She knows the coin cannot find itself. Sheep are dumb animals. With no sense of direction, it wanders into danger. Yet a lost sheep can wander its way back to the fold. It can bleat until the shepherd finds it. A lost coin can do nothing to help itself. It contributes nothing to its salvation.

This is the tragedy of life without Christ. Ephesians 2:1-2 says, “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked.” Like a lifeless coin, lost sinners contribute nothing to their salvation, except the sin from which they need salvation. We are only saved by the initiative and intervention of God’s sovereign grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

A Persistent Search. Verse 4 says the shepherd seeks the lost sheep “until he finds it.” Verse 8 says the woman seeks the lost coin “until she finds it.” The text says “until,” not “if.” She sweeps, mops, dusts, wipes, and cleans until she finds the lost coin. This is a graphic picture of what G.K. Chesterton called “the furious love of God.”

A man was driving the New Jersey Turnpike one summer afternoon. A Lincoln Town Car was a hundred yards ahead in the same lane. Moving at full speed, the right rear door of the Lincoln swung open, and a passenger threw a collie out. The dog hit the concrete and rolled into a ditch. Bleeding profusely, the collie got up and ran after the car and the owner who had cruelly abandoned him. 

We have kicked God to the curb. Yet his faithful love relentlessly pursues us. John 3:16-17 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” We are saved because God did not give up on us! Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” 

Who’s your one? Determine to reach one person for Jesus. Pray daily for their salvation. Seek opportunities to have gospel conversations. Don’t give up on your one!

The Joy over the Coin 

The joy of recovery is the punchline of the parables in Luke 15.  

• The religious leaders ask, “If Jesus is of God, why is he partying with sinners?” 
• Jesus answers, “If you are of God, why haven’t you joined the party?” 

Verses 9-10 make two crucial statements about the joy of recovery. 

Abundant Joy. When the shepherd finds his lost sheep, he invites his friends and neighbors to rejoice with him. The woman does the same thing. Verse 9 says, “And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’” This is pure hyperbole. 

• A man would not throw a party when he finds his lost sheep. 
• A woman would not throw a party when she finds her lost coin. 

Jesus exaggerates reality to rebuke those who grumble that he receives sinners and eats with them. The shepherd joyfully carried his sheep home. We are not told this woman’s personal response when she finds the lost coin. We are told her public response. She calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I lost.” Those who do not RSVP are not friends or neighbors. They are enemies and strangers. Your relationship with God is revealed by your attitude toward lost people. Join the party!

Angelic Joy. Verse 10 concludes, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”“Angels” are supernatural ministers and messengers of God. Although they are spirit-beings, they are not dispassionate. Angels have joy! Holy angels rejoice over one sinner who repents. St. Bernard of Clairvaux said, “The tears of the penitent form the wine of the angels.” Ultimately, verse 10 is not about angels. “Before the angels of God” is a circumlocution. 

Who is before the angels of God? The spirits of the redeemed in heaven are before the angels of God. Moreover, God himself is before the angels of God. Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus died on the cross “for the joy that was set before him.” This divine joy is not limited to Christ. God the Father rejoices when one sinner repents. Jude 24 -25 says, “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

The late C. C. McCutchin got a flat tire driving from Tulsa to Oklahoma City to visit a sick member. He pulled over to a Call Box on the side of the road. When the operator answered, he nervously tried to tell her where he was. She stopped him and said, “Sir, we have a computer system here that has pinpointed your location. I know where you are, just tell me what you need.” Is there a flat tire in your life? God has a Call Box. He knows where you are. You just need to tell him what you need.