As we continue through Luke’s gospel, we come to a chapter in Luke that contains three powerful parables. While it might be tempting to try to tackle all three parables in one episode, attempting this would definitely be too much for our typical time constraint – at least to cover these parables like how I would want. Because of this, we will focus on the first two shorter parables for this episode, and leave the longer, more famous parable for our next episode.
All three of these parables are shared because of what Luke describes in the first two verses of this chapter. Let’s read how Luke sets the stage and the first two parables Jesus shares. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 15, and we will read from the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 1, Luke tells us:
1 Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. 2 Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
3 So He told them this parable, saying, 4 “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
8 “Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
When reading these two parables, I cannot help but see the amazing theme that God values sinners and He intentionally seeks them out. Jesus shares both these parables, as well as the one for our next podcast episode, because some religious leaders began accusing Jesus of associating with the lowest people on the rungs of society. Both the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin conclude with Jesus sharing a summary statement telling us that “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
However, as I read these two parables, I am amazed by how Jesus frames certain details in each. In the parable of the lost sheep, I am amazed that the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine in the open pasture to go looking for the lost sheep. For a long time, the picture that was in my head about this parable was that the ninety-nine left behind were safe in the pen and the shepherd was out looking for the only sheep that was not safe.
But this is not what this parable, or the similar parable in Matthew, describes. Luke’s parable of the lost sheep describes the shepherd leaving the sheep in the open pasture, while Matthew describes the shepherd leaving the ninety-nine sheep in the mountains.
Regardless of where the ninety-nine sheep were left, the picture is that these sheep are together in community, and in a relatively safe place, but not in a place where they were trapped. While the shepherd was searching for the lost sheep, another sheep was free to wander away, and the group of sheep was vulnerable to predators.
It is interesting, because I wonder if this reflects how some people feel about church. I suspect there are people who feel God is silent or absent from church and they conclude that He is not present or interested. This parable does appear to suggest that God’s focus is on rescuing those who are trapped in sin more than on those who are in the church.
However, looking at the details in this parable suggest a different group God seeks after. This other group may be an even more challenging group. The lost sheep God seeks after is not one who has never been a part of the herd of sheep. The lost sheep is one who was a part of the herd, but then who left. The lost sheep represents someone who was part of God’s family, but who decided to leave.
In this parable, God leaves the big group in search of rescuing a single person who left Him. This is a powerful metaphor. One could say that God leaves the church in search of those who have fallen away from the church!
While I suspect that shepherding was not a single person activity, and that the remaining sheep did have others with them, nothing directly said in this parable suggests this. I wouldn’t be surprised if multiple people are involved with herding sheep, but I really don’t know anything about shepherding.
However, God doesn’t stay away from church, He instead brings those He rescues back into church. In order to do that, He must come back to church periodically at the very least. This then suggests that if God is bringing people back into church through your spiritual community, then you are doing something right in God’s eyes!
However, let’s shift our focus and look at the second parable, which is the parable of the lost coin. When reading this parable, I began to wonder how much this coin was actually worth. I probably wouldn’t be alone in saying that if this coin was worth only a few dollars, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. However, if this coin was worth a significant amount, then I might be like this woman who doesn’t rest until she has found this coin.
Doing a little bit of research, I conclude that this coin likely was worth about 4 days worth of work to those people who Jesus was speaking to. In the context of this parable, this woman had 40 days of work saved, which would be about two months worth of income using our current five-day workweek as our measure. With two months of income saved, this woman realizes that almost an entire week of income has been lost. If you lost a week’s worth of income, I suspect that this would prompt you to search your house for it. I don’t know about you, but when I frame the lost silver coin this way, I would be very interested in finding it.
However, one other way of looking at this silver coin that isn’t directly suggested in the parable is that these ten coins represented a set. These ten coins might have had more significance than simply just the dollar value they were worth. They could have been this woman’s last gift from a now deceased family member, or they could have been a set of coins that held significance in her eyes. With this framing, the lost coin isn’t valuable because of its literal value, but this coin is valuable because the set of coins would not be complete with it missing.
In a similar way, I believe that God looks down at His people and if one of His people wanders away, He earnestly seeks after them to bring them back. This is because when Jesus returns, God knows His set, or we could say His family, wouldn’t be complete without every one of His people. God wants you in His family, and because of what Jesus gave for us on the cross, we can be accepted into God’s family and become part of those who He ultimately redeemed out of sin!
Whether we intentionally wandered away like the lost sheep, or whether we drifted and discovered we were missing when God shows up in our lives, be sure to accept God’s invitation back into His family and be ready to return when He shows up in our life!
As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:
Always seek God first in your life and choose to stay with God or return to Him if you have drifted away. It is much more common to slowly drift away from God than to drop everything and leave Him. While we might switch church families, or move to different areas, these changes don’t mean we are abandoning God. However, if you have been without a church community for a while, I would suggest you seek one out that matches what you believe church should be like. For our spiritual lives to be healthy, we need a strong personal foundation on God and a relational connection with others!
To help keep your personal foundation on God strong, continue regularly praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each day. Through prayer and study, discover how to open your heart to the Holy Spirit and let Him into your heart and mind. With the Holy Spirit’s help, if you have not found a spiritual community you can connect with, He will help you do so!
And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or wander away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!