Pastor's Column 7/20/2025

PASTOR’S COLUMN

⁸ “Or suppose a woman has ten 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 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.”

Luke 15:8-10, NLT                                      

“Finding the Lost!”

The wonderful parables of the “lost” we read in the Gospel of Luke sheds light on the great compassion Jesus had for people especially who become unable to find their way back to safety and care.  In the trilogy of stories Jesus shared about being lost, two looks as the living – while one looks at an object. The short story of the woman who lost one of her ten coins, is given to emphasize the value inherent in something or someone that brings joy to God. Unlike a lost sheep or a lost son, the coin was not aware of its state of temporary disappearance. It had absolutely no awareness of where it was; or, to whom it belonged. After all, the coin was not flesh, bones, organs, brains, and tissues.   The coins may have been the woman’s life savings. It was part of a collection of nine other coins. But here’s the gist of the story. The coin had value. The value was consigned by the woman who owned it – and by the marketplace that desired it. If the coins were Greek denarius or a Hebrew shekel, each coin had a value that represented one- or four-days wages.  Although the value of the lost coin was not exceedingly exorbitant in Biblical times – it meant “everything” to her. The woman gave the misplaced coin a value that affected her greatly. This woman’s inability to see where the coin was, engaged her in a diligent search. She swept her house thoroughly until she found the lost coin. She could not contain her joy. The neighbors and friends were invited to the woman’s house to rejoice with her. Jesus emphasized again that when one lost is found, there’s much joy! We value greatly to God!