The Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin

Ninety-nine sheep, grazing on the hillside. One missing. Somewhere out in the darkening hills, a single sheep is bleating, and no one can hear it except the one who has come looking.

All kinds of people are crowding around Jesus to hear him. Tax collectors, whom most people saw as cheats and traitors. And others that everyone simply called sinners. Jesus welcomes them. He even sits down and eats with them. And on the edge of the crowd, some Pharisees and teachers of the law are muttering to one another. “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.” Jesus hears them. So he tells them a story.

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep, and loses one of them.” A shepherd counts his flock as the day ends. Ninety-seven. Ninety-eight. Ninety-nine. He counts again. Ninety-nine. One is gone. Jesus asks, wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost one until you find it? So off the shepherd goes, into the hills as the light fades, calling, listening, searching behind rocks and down into the gullies.

And then, there it is. Tired, frightened, too worn out to walk. The shepherd doesn't scold it. He lifts it up and lays it across his shoulders, glad. He carries it all the way home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together. “Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!” And Jesus says, “In the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.”

Then Jesus tells a second story. This time the one searching is a woman. “Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one.” Picture her small house. Thick stone walls. A floor of beaten earth. Hardly any window to let in light. Somewhere in that gloom is one small coin. So she lights a lamp. She takes her broom and sweeps every corner, slowly, carefully, listening for the tiny clink of silver. She doesn't give up.

Clink. There! She snatches it up, holds it to the lamp, and laughs out loud. Then she's at the door, calling her friends and neighbours. “Celebrate with me! I've found my lost coin!” And Jesus says, “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The grumblers have their answer. The people Jesus is eating with aren't a problem to complain about. They're the lost ones God has been searching for. And when they're found, heaven throws a party.

The coin in this story is a drachma, a Greek silver coin. It was worth about the same as a Roman denarius, and Matthew's Gospel shows a denarius as a day's pay for a labourer in the fields. So this woman has lost about a day's wages. For a family with very little, ten coins may have been a large part of their savings. No wonder she lit a lamp, even though oil cost money, and swept until she found it.

The Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin. You'll find them in Luke chapter 15, verses 1 to 10. A shepherd who searches the hills. A woman who sweeps the whole house. Both refuse to give up, and both throw a party when they find what was lost. That, Jesus says, is how heaven feels about one person coming home to God. So here's the question to carry with you. Who do you know who might feel lost, and how could you help them feel found?