I wish to begin our message by first reading through tonight’s parable, and then we’ll take a closer look after I share a brief introduction. Let’s all stand at this time in honor of the reading of God’s Word:
8 What woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!” 10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
What is the meaning behind this short parable, and what spiritual application can be attained? In trying to ascertain the application we must first understand what underlies the symbolism. We see mention of a woman, ten silver coins, a lamp, and a house; each having their own particular meaning. As the passage is expounded, we will come to see that this parable relates to a wedding.
Many of Jesus’ parables use wedding imagery. In the New Testament, a wedding often represents a day sometime in the unknown future after Christ has returned to bring His people home. The wedding that will one day take place is the marriage ceremony of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, to His bride the church. Revelation 19:7 declares of this day, “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” Keeping in mind that this passage contains wedding imagery, we can now begin looking at our parable in more detail.
Searching for a Missing Coin (v. 8)
8 What woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?
We see here a woman who was searching diligently for a lost coin. The praise song “You Are My All in All” shares a message of God’s worth to His people, saying this: “Seeking you as a precious jewel, Lord to give up I’d be a fool. You are my all in all.” The Lord should be as valuable to believers as a precious jewel; but did you know that He sees us as precious jewels too? Let’s see what this is all about by discussing the missing coin!
What’s so important about this coin? Could it be that the buying power of the coin made the difference between having food on the table and not having food? Could it have been the determining factor between life and death? This coin was probably the value of a common denarius, or 18 cents,(1) which was a great sum of money for a common person. Indeed, the lost coin could have made the difference between life and death, and this may have been the reason why the woman was searching so hard for it; but there is a more “romantic” reason, as William Barclay stated. He said that this lost coin was like a crown jewel, sharing the following commentary:
In Palestine the mark of a married woman was a headdress made of ten silver coins linked together by a silver chain. For years maybe a girl would scrape and save to amass her ten coins, for the headdress was almost equivalent of her wedding ring. When she had it, it was so inalienably hers that it could not even be taken from her for debt. It may well be that it was one of these coins that the woman in the parable lost, and she searched for it as any woman would search if she had lost her [wedding] ring.(2)
When the Lord searches for those who don’t know Jesus as Savior, He searches diligently as a woman who has lost her wedding ring. However, He isn’t searching for a wedding ring; He’s looking for the missing coin in a headpiece. In other words, He’s searching for a crown jewel.
The Lord views each and every individual in the world as a precious jewel. He watches over us at all times, hoping we don’t become lost; and should we lose our way, the Lord comes looking for us, declaring, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).
If we are lost, Jesus searches for us until the day of the great wedding. If we are not found by the time of the wedding, then sadly, there will be one less jewel in the bride’s crown. Remember, the bride is the church; and if we are not placed in the bride’s crown by the time of Christ’s return, then we won’t be a part of the great wedding, or a part of the kingdom of heaven. We will be eternally lost!
When the Lord searches for the lost, where are they located? They are located in a house. In Matthew 15:24 Jesus said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” When the Lord’s mission was later expanded to include the Gentiles, the house became the entire world; and the house of this world has some distinctive traits. A. T. Robertson said that the house in this parable was probably without windows, and had a dirt floor.(3) In other words, it was very dark and dirty inside.
The house of this world is a house of darkness, and it’s full of dirt and filth. People are lost, and living in sin. They are wallowing in the filth of immorality, and their garments are deeply stained. Matthew Henry said, “This [coin] was lost in the dirt; a soul plunged in the world, and overwhelmed with the love of it and care about it, [and] is like a piece of money in the dirt.”(4)
When the Lord searches for coins, or rather “lost people,” in the dark house of the world, how does He go about the process? Well, He lights a lamp and sweeps the house. Jesus said in Matthew 5:14-15, “A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.”
Concerning the lighting of the lamp, Matthew Henry said, “He has lighted the candle of the gospel, not to show Himself the way to us, but to show us the way to Him.”(5) In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” Jesus, therefore, is the lamp in the dark house; and He’s like a city on a hill, a lighthouse that can be seen for miles away. He shines forth His light so that we might find our way to Him through the dark and dusty night of this world.
The Lord not only lights a lamp, but He also sweeps the house in search of the lost coin. Can you imagine how hard it would be to find a tiny coin in a dirt floor the size of a small house? It could have been trampled into the dirt and been buried before the woman ever started looking. There were no metal detectors in that time, so all one could do was sweep. When a person sweeps a dirt floor, the dust begins to fly! The Lord sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to challenge people’s view of God, and in order to sift out the good from the bad.
In Amos 9:9 the Lord said, “For surely I will command, and will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve; yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.” The Lord will definitely sift through the dirt of this world in order to find those who will listen to Him and obey Him, because to Jesus we are a lost coin, or a precious crown jewel. Those who refuse to heed the Lord, and who refuse to move towards the light, will perish (Amos 9:10). The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
Heaven Rejoices When It’s Found (vv. 9-10)
9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!” 10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
When the woman found the coin that belonged in her wedding headdress, she called all her friends and neighbors to rejoice. They were likely those who would be attending the wedding; meaning, they were the wedding guests. The guests celebrated because there wouldn’t be a hitch in the wedding ceremony. How embarrassing it is when something doesn’t go as planned at a wedding! When the best man misplaces the wedding ring, or the ring is dropped, there is a sense of apprehension about starting the marriage off on the wrong foot.
The coin in this wedding headdress meant as much to the bride as a wedding ring. The guests celebrated because there was a sense that all was complete and well in the wedding ceremony; and that everything would go according to plan. When the marriage of the Lamb is held, then all of heaven will rejoice because God has found those who are His. The crown of the church, figuratively speaking, will be complete with all its jewels, and each jewel represents a Christian who is saved by the blood of the Lamb.
Time of Reflection
This parable reveals that each and every person in the world is valuable in the Lord’s sight. The Lord views everyone as a potential crown jewel.
Zechariah 9:16-17 declares, “The Lord their God will save them in that Day, as the flock of His people. For they shall be like the jewels of a crown, lifted like a banner over His land – for how great is His goodness and how great His beauty!” The Lord said that there will come a Day when His Son, Jesus, will return to take us home to be with Him on high, and each of us shall become as a precious jewel.
Jesus searches diligently for us in the dark night of this world until the morning finally breaks; and when the morning dawns, Jesus Christ will come again and retrieve every single jewel that is to be placed in the bride’s crown to become a part of the church and His kingdom.
If you have not turned toward the light, and if you have not been found as a precious jewel in the Lord’s eyes before the commencement of that great wedding ceremony in heaven, then it will be too late on that Day to become a jewel in the bride’s crown. It will be too late to become a part of the church of Jesus Christ. The light of Christ burns for all to see this very moment. Therefore, I encourage this evening to turn toward the light, and be rescued from suffocating in the dirt and filth of sin.
NOTES
(1) A. T. Robertson, “Matthew and Mark,” Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville: Broadman, 1930), 206-207.
(2) William Barclay, “Luke,” The Daily Study Bible, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1956), 209-210.
(3) Robertson, 207.
(4) Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1991), 1877.
(5) Ibid., 1877.
