Seeker of Lost Things, Part 2

Hello everyone.

Today, I will continue to examine Luke 15.  The chapter begins with Jesus surrounded by tax collectors and sinners.  Jesus' detractors, the scribes and the Pharisees complain that Jesus, a supposed rightous man, would associate with such people.  Jesus responds by telling three stories about something that was lost, and then was found.  He has already told the story of the shephard seeking and finding the one lost sheep.  He follows that, in verses 8-10, with a story of something else that gets lost, is sought and then found.  Here is my translation: 

8 Or what woman having ten silver coins, but loses one, would not light a lamp, sweep her house and search diligently, until she finds it? 9 Then, having found it, she invites her friends and neighbors over, saying, “Rejoice with me, since I have found the silver coin that had been lost.” 10 Likewise, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God, when a sinner repents. 

Jesus tells his second story. This time it is of a woman who loses a silver coin, and who searches diligently for it.  Upon finding it, she invites her friends over and they celebrate. The silver coin is valuable and clearly it held great value to the woman.  It’s not like she lost a quarter.  The Greek word here is ‘drachma,’ which was worth about a day’s wage. Plus, it is one tenth of what she has. That’s a lot of money to misplace. 

So the woman searches for the coin.  Sweeping out her house, she searches diligently until she finds it.  Then she calls her friends to join her in her celebration. “Rejoice with me, since I have found the silver coin that had been lost.” 

The ‘sinners’ that Jesus is ministering to in Luke 15 have great value as well. They have gotten lost, but  Jesus has searched for them, and later he is even willing to die for them.  In these two stories we see something lost, then found, followed by rejoicing.  Jesus is making the point that when these ‘lost sinners’ repent, it is God who rejoices. 

The Pharisees who are questioning Jesus and asking, “Why does Jesus eat with the sinners?, They have it backwards.  Jesus could be indirectly asking them “Why aren’t you diligently seeking the lost?”  or “Why don’t you eat with the sinners? 

Jesus continues to break cultural mores here, eating with sinners, and telling stories about two groups, shepherds and women, that the Pharisees would just naturally look down on. Jesus, like the shephard and the women seek that which is lost diligently, and then rejoices when he finds it.