Luke 15:8-10
8 ‘Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” 10Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’
BLOG DISCUSSION QUESTION: Notice who lost the coin.....and notice who found it. What does that have to do with the joy in heaven?
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It was the SAME person who lost and found the coin. She searched and searched until she found it. Just like the women our joy will be so great to find the Kingdom of heaven because we have continually been searching for it.
Luke 15:1-2 "Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law MUTTERED, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them".
This introduces the stories of the lost sheep and this lost coin and the lost son.
It is not hard to think of a group of people that WE feel don't deserve looking for (or speaking to, eating with, or inviting to church). And what made the Pharisee's and us MUTTER is that he not only looks for them but, WELCOMED them and each of the lost parables "throws a party".
I think Jesus is telling us to stop complaining, and light a lamp and grab a broom.
One word to describe heaven-Joy! Jesus came to this earth to seek and to save that which was lost. That is what brings joy to God. The Pharises prayed daily thanking God that they were not born a woman. Prejudice?
The theme of being lost does have a negative feeling, but with how each parable ends each group or individual has JOY! The joy comes from being welcomed home, or finding the lost one/thing. It is with Jesus welcoming those believers to heaven. All of us has been lost a time or two, and he gathers us in (another theme in the parables) and welcomes us with His open arms.
I believe this says that we are never lost to God. Because all of heaven is cheering us on and we can never be lost to God. He has foreknowledge of our every step.
God has afforded me the time and desire to pursue and a better understand His word. Through this I found the importance of knowing and understanding the Jewish culture and custom. This, after all, is the view that all of scripture is written. In this manner I discovered some interesting insights last night.
The Jews had a saying, "There is joy before God when those who provoke Him perish from the world." Hmmm, not what this parable is telling them.
On they other hand they thought that IF the sinner repented and came crawling back on his hands and knees, God might accept them! So accordinly they thought, "God wants nothing to do with a sinner, but maybe if they groveled!" Again, hmmmm.
They understood the importance of the woman losing a coin because it was the tradition that women collected/saved 10 pieces of silver so that they could be married. This was theirs forever and could not even be used to pay a debt.
So for them to hear Jesus say that a sinner is as important as a lost coin to a woman is totally unheard of for them.
God is always searching for us we are more important to him than a lost coin to a Jewish woman. He will never stop looking for us. The coin was not looking for the woman, the sheep was not looking for the Shepherd. Again, God is not lost. And God is searching for us.
Thank you, jalp, for your cultural insights of the Jewish people! What a blessing it is to know how very important each of us is for our Loving Father! I often think of "He even knows the number of hairs on our head" statement...is that a metaphor???? With so many billions of people in the world now, before, and in the future, we certainly DO have an Awesome God! Thankfully, I don't have "to find God"....God has already found me! And, as the Prodigal Son found out, that "comin' home embrace" felt mighty, mighty good!
It occurred to me as I read this parable, that Jesus says that the woman lost the coin....and the woman found it.
So whose takes the responsiblity for one who is lost? It seems to me that God does. And isn't that what Jesus is all about. God has taken the responsibility for the brokenness of the world. Why is there evil in the world? Why do people sin? Why are people lost? It seems to me that in this parable, Jesus says that God says no matter what the answer is to the "why" question, God takes the responsibility for the "what" question...What are they? They are lost.
But the good news is that God isn't a failure. God takes the responsibility for the "lost-ness", but he also searches until he finds. No matter how lost, God will not give up until he has fulfilled his self-imposed obligation of righting the wrong of losing the sinner.
I thank God that God doesn't get into a debate with me about whose fault it is that I am lost....he steps up to the plate and says, he'll take responsiblity. And I also thank God that he is one of his word, that he will not stop until the wrong is righted.
Really liked with RJQ had to say, and also for the insights about the 10 coins given by jalp. THanks
An insightful look at this parable Pastor Jerry. I had never given much more than a passing thought that God who is sovereign, could have prevented and controlled the fall of man through the sin of Adam. But since God did give us free will to succeed or fail as Adam did. God knowing all this takes responsibility for our "lostness" (cool word PJ) and seeks us out to bring us back to him.
Isn't the grace of God unfathomable? Let's hope we aren't kicking and screaming as he rescues us from ourselves.
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