Context of the story
This story is taking place when Jesus was eating with the tax collectors and sinners. Jesus welcomed them and ate with them. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law criticized Jesus for associating with 'bad' people'. They muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." (v. 15:2) So Jesus told this parable. Please note that this parable is addressed to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law as well as to the tax collectors and sinners, both to the religious and irreligious and both to the morally upright and morally degenerate.
The first story was about Jesus who is a good shepherd. A good shepherd went out for one lost sheep. Today we will talk about the second story: A woman who has 10 silver coins.
The story (8-9)
Let's ask God to open our eyes and see the meaning of this parable.
The first story was about Jesus who is a good shepherd. A good shepherd went out for one lost sheep. Today we will talk about the second story: A woman who has 10 silver coins.
The story (8-9)
Look at verses 8-9
"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin."
Today, I want to discuss three things in this story:
- Who God is.
- Who we are before God
- Who Jesus is
Who God is
From this story we learned several things about God.
First, God is like a woman who has 10 silver coins. Our God is almighty. He created the heavens and the earth. He is sovereign. He has many names but here God wants to be identified as a woman who has 10 coins. God as a woman? The Pharisees and the teachers of the law might have a heart attack right there. When Jesus told this story, there were many sinful women who gathered around Jesus, some prostitutes. They were happy to hear Jesus identify himself as a woman.
Let's think about this woman. This woman does not have much. Only 10 coins. Perhaps she was a mother who had to take care of her children with 10 coins. Imagine this woman who was entrusted with 10 coins and lost one. She had to make ends meet with these 10 coins. One is missing. What's the implication for this woman? Her children might go hungry. She could not pay the bills and her landlord might kick her out together with her children. Her husband might be very upset.
What did she do? Look at verse 9. "She light a lamp, swept the house and searched carefully until she found it."
We are living in a male dominated society and when we think of God we only think about his strength. But look at this woman. She is a mother and gentle in her character. So if we put the two stories together, our God is like a good shepherd who is powerful so that he can protect us from ferocious wolves and who can rescue us and find us in the middle of the desert. On the other hand, our God is gentle like this woman. God is portrayed like a coin having two sides -strong yet gentle.
The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn depicts the composite characteristic of God.
When Rambrandt read the two stories (A man who had one hundred sheep and a woman who had 10 coins based on Luke 15:1-10) he painted a father with
God embraces us with two hands. One shepherd hand -very rough and strong. This represents God's protection and strength; His determination to go after us no matter what.
Also God is represented by a woman's gentle and soft hand. Very gentle and warm and giving. God is full of grace and truth. We need both. God's justice and mercy, God's strong protection and God's gentle embracing love.
Second, God is joyful like this woman when she found the lost coin. Look at verse 9. "And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin." Finding the lost coin is characterized by her overflowing joy saying "Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin." God has done all the work. Like this woman, our God methodically, gently and carefully searched for us who are lost. Our repentance and joyful fellowship with Jesus in his kingdom comes from his love for us. It is purely God's grace for us, not our work.
Who we are before God
This story tells us something about us before God.
First we are valuable like a coin.
The Bible tells us that we are made in the image of God. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he crated them." (Gen 1:27) So we are intrinsically valuable.
Our God is joyful like this woman.
So the tax collectors and sinners sensed Jesus welcoming them as if their mothers welcomed them when they were babies. Even the Pharisees sensed this as well so they muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." (v.2)
There are many kinds of babies. There are pretty babies like shown below.
There are ugly babies. There are babies only mothers can love. ET is a good example.
Another example is a Japanese snow monkey baby. He is so ugly but his mother does not think so. You can see that she is happy to take care of this ugly boy, bathing him in a hot spring. Even mother monkeys love their ugly babies. Babies are babies: They eat, sleep and poop and they do these things day after day. Do they offer any pragmatic value to their mothers? No. They are accepted by their mothers regardless of who they are.
How much more our mother like God loves us?
How much more our mother like God loves us?
When God sees us hanging around him, it gives him tremendous joy because he knows that he can protect us and care for us like a good shepherd and like a gentle mother.
We are living in the society where we celebrate the idea that the big eats the small. The big tuna eats the small. If we subscribe to this theory, what's wrong with this notion: a big country dominates a small country. Or a big person takes advantage of small children, violating their trust.
If we think that there is no God then there is no justice of God. More than that there is no intrinsic value to us. Our notion of justice and value comes from the fact that we are made in the image of God. Otherwise, we can only live with this notion of the big eating the small. Take advantage of others and being taken advantage by others. But can we live like that? Will you be happy when a big guy bullies you and a mean girl harasses innocent ones? NO. There is a sense of justice regardless of who you are - religious or not. We want to have a sense of fairness. We want to be treated fairly and equally. Where does this idea come from? It comes from Jesus and from God.
When God sees us, we are his precious sheep. When God sees us we are valuable coins. Everyone is the same basically. We have the same value to God. We might be lost but we are intrinsically valuable to God because God made us in his own image. We are valuable not because of our position or job or educational status, No. We are valuable because we are made by God We are valuable because God loves us and accepts us as sons and daughters of God purchased by his son's blood.
We have Koreans, Americans, whites and blacks, half Chinese and 25% German. Young and old. Male and female. We are equal in the eyes of God. We are all valuable before God like these 10 coins. God created us all in his image.
Second, a coin finds it worth in the hands of the owner
Where does this coin become useful? When a coin is lost, it is utterly useless. It is like a multi million dollar winning lottery ticket lost by a purchaser. A coin is meant to be used for exchanging goods. The coin finds its value in the hands of this woman. The coin's value comes from this woman using her coins -buying whatever she wants to use for her family needs. This coin can be used to buy groceries. Another can be used for paying bills. Another for buying toilet paper. But the coin is happy when it is used by the owner.
I do not care how much money you have. But if you hide money on the ground and do not use it, it is useless.
Sometimes we feel utterly helpless like this lost coin. The coin is flat. When it is dropped and lost, it becomes useless. It cannot move by itself. When the coin is lost, it is trapped by gravity. Lying on the floor, it has no value. It is as valuable as dirt. Even though we have God's image in us, we can be lost like this coin. We can be lost in many ways: In our self righteousness of comparing ourselves to others and looking down on others, in our inferior complex by comparing ourselves with others, in our depression that causes us to just want to watch TV and surf the net all the time, in our feeling of inadequacy we just lie down and close the door. We cannot move our arms. All we can do is sleep.
When we are used by men or being taken advantage of, we feel violated but when we are used by our good shepherd and good mother we find our worth and value. On the redeemer's hand, we, the coins, become who we are. In God's kingdom we are valued regardless because we are made in the image of God. In God's kingdom there are many who are lost and found by God and by his servants. God wants to find you and restore you and welcome you to his kingdom.
Who Jesus is
To God, Jesus his son is the most valuable. Jesus is the most valuable coin. What did Jesus do? Stayed in heaven? NO. He came to us. He became a baby and grew to be a man. While he was on the earth, he entrusted his life to God and God used him greatly for bringing the lost. Jesus went out and found the tax collectors and sinners. Jesus, who being in very nature God, he humbled himself and made friends with the tax collectors and sinners. (Phil 2:6ff) Jesus went out and found the Pharisees and teachers of the law. By themselves, they cannot get out of themselves. But Jesus came to them and told these stories like a gentle mother reading a bed time story.
More than that, he loved them so much that he died for them. He showed the full extent of his love for us. Jesus used his life, his coin to pay for us so that we can be found by God. We can experience the love of God. This was how he exchanged his precious life for us. By his rejection by the religious leaders and his death on the cross for our sins and his rising from the dead, he made us valuable coins. He also restores our usefulness for God and for God's service. This is indeed the lavish love of God for us.
Summary
Jesus is still searching for us - methodically and gently. He is so gentle we tend to ignore him. His joy is so different from us that we do not see his joy. May God help us to feel his gentle hands and feel his joy for us.
Do you see God's joy of being with you? Did see that God is pleased because he found a valuable coin like you? Let's reflect on the key verse (v.10) "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." May God help us open our eyes to see that we are God's coins, made in the image of God. Let's see Jesus' joy of finding us. Let's see his love for us that he carefully and gently searches for us until he finds us.
Let's thank Jesus who finds us and wants to share of his joy of being with us. Let's thank God for sending us our "mother" like shepherd Jesus.
Let's pray. "Dear Lord, we are coins. By itself, lying on the floor, it is useless. But when we are found by you, we find our value. Please find us and use us for your work. Apart from you we cannot find our value. You are my owner. You made us and gave us your image. More than that, you gave us your son. Use me any way you see fit. I trust you because you are my good shepherd like my mother and you know me better than I know myself. You know how to use me and make me joyful. Our happiness and joy comes from when our gentle shepherd use us in God's service. Especially using God's rescue mission, bringing the lost to God and inviting them to God's kingdom. We pray in your son's name. Amen. "
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