[Giving Jesus Away] the Value of OneSample

The Lost Coin

Jesus’ second parable is about a woman who lost a coin. The coin was a silver drachma, worth about a day’s wages. A coin doesn’t seem like much of a loss, but she had only ten coins. The coin was a silver drachma, worth about a day’s wages. In Jesus’ day, Palestinian women often received ten silver coins as a wedding gift. That means these coins not only represented financial security but perhaps sentimental value as well.

Should we be surprised that the woman searches high and low for the lost coin? It may be just one coin, but it’s valuable. So, when she finds her lost treasure, her joy is so great that she gathers family and friends to have a party. Though she’d kept nine coins, she celebrated when the one that was lost was found. This, says Jesus, is the same joy found in heaven “when even one sinner repents” (v. 10).

The search for lesser joys can consume our days. There is value in celebrating achievements and milestones. But if we give all our energy to such events, it can be easy to forget about the lost. The religious leaders in Jesus’ time had all kinds of celebrations, yet Jesus shared this parable with them. Celebrating wasn’t their problem; what they celebrated most was the problem. Sometimes, that can be our problem as well.

Jesus describes the lost as missing and valuable. Think of that. He does not describe the lost as shameful or unworthy. There was no condescension or contempt. When Jesus saw the tax collectors and sinners of his day, he did not say, “Look at them. They are so lost.” Instead, he thought of them as missing and valuable. He went out of His way to bring them home.

Both the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin speak of the joy that comes when what was lost is found. Perhaps one reason we hold back from sharing Christ with others is that the size of the task seems too great. We have neighbors who are lost, and colleagues too. We have family members who are angry at God, and longtime friends who feel betrayed by our faith. We drive by crowds of people or see them in the store, and we know that many don’t know Jesus. With lostness all around us, we can easily think our efforts to reach the lost are too insignificant to even bother. But that is not the case. God knows we can’t go searching for everyone, but that does not mean we can’t go searching for one. That lost one is not insignificant; he or she is worthy of a party.