Luke 15:8, commentary and pictures

Christ spoke this to answer the scribes and Pharisees who murmured because He received sinners and ate with them, as the second parable in Luke 15:1-10 joined with the lost sheep and the prodigal son to show His seeking love for the lost. A woman who loses one cherished piece of her ten pieces of silver lights a candle even by day and sweeps her dark, dusty one-room house diligently until she finds it, then calls friends and neighbors to rejoice with her. The coin is the sinner lost close at hand in trespasses and sins, unconscious of danger and indifferent to God as the coin itself, yet still precious because humanity bore God's image at creation and traces remain though sin has marred it. It means Christ does not abandon or condemn the wanderer but takes the first step to seek and recover with pitying love, and finding pictures a sinner's return that brings joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents. His followers therefore must not leave the straying in darkness but seek them with the woman's intense, persevering diligence, lighting the candle by bringing God's word and earnest prayer to examine heart and home, until the lost are found.

Parable Setting and Context

The saying was given as Christ's direct answer to the scribes and Pharisees who murmured because He received sinners and ate with them. It was spoken when publicans and sinners had gathered about Him to hear Him, while the scribes and Pharisees were displeased, condemned those hearers, and treated them with indifference. The parable of the lost silver was told to teach mercy and forgiveness toward those who are lost.

It stands as the second parable in Luke 15:1-10, spoken by Christ right after the parable of the lost sheep and given as another parable carrying its lesson still farther. Together with the lost sheep and the prodigal son it answers the charge that Jesus kept company with sinners and shows God's seeking love for the straying. Joined together they show that He came to recover the lost, not to condemn or destroy them, because sinners need a Saviour. They also expose self-righteousness that feels no need of repentance, picture God's pitying love that does not leave wanderers in misery but shows tender pity toward those exposed to temptation, and must be studied and practiced because eternal interests are involved, though their full force was not appreciated by the disciples when spoken.

The form itself shows Christ delighting to gather spiritual teaching from the surroundings of daily life, with a spirit open to the influences of nature. The lost coin is one of the facts of life and facts of experience familiar to the hearers, an everyday event through which He loved to teach lessons of truth and make the unseen and divine perceptible. With the other parables it was given to interest every mind and appeal to every heart, as one of His parables drawn from ordinary life and one of His familiar illustrations of immortal truth. By such use, the daily task instead of being a mere round of toil bereft of higher thoughts is brightened and uplifted by constant reminders of the spiritual and the unseen, and daily experience is made a reminder of spiritual and unseen realities.

Household Search Described

The ten pieces are a wife's marriage portion, kept as her most cherished possession to be handed on to her own daughters. To lose one piece is therefore a serious calamity. To recover it brings great rejoicing, shared with the neighboring women.

The house is a poor Eastern home made up of only one room, often windowless and dark, and rarely swept. A piece of money falling to the floor is quickly covered by dust and rubbish. Finding it therefore requires lighting a candle even in the daytime and sweeping the house diligently. The work is done indoors on the floor, kneeling with a broom, with the dark house made visible by candlelight.

On losing the one coin the woman lights a candle or lamp and sweeps the house. She removes obstacles and searches carefully, persistently and diligently till she finds it. She does not stop until she finds it. When found she calls friends and neighbors to rejoice with her.

The loss is one that with proper diligent search can be recovered with great joy. Its recovery points to joy in God's presence and in heaven over one sinner who repents. The verse speaks not of failure but of success and joy in recovery.

Who the Coin Represents

The lost piece of silver stands for the erring, straying sinner who needs to be sought. It represents a different class from the lost sheep, for the sheep knows it is lost after leaving shepherd and flock and being unable to recover itself, picturing those who realize they are separated from God and are in perplexity, humiliation and sore temptation, while the coin was lost in the house close at hand yet is recoverable only by diligent search. The sheep wandered away and was lost in the wilderness or upon the mountains, but the silver was lost indoors, and with proper diligent search the loss can be recovered with great joy.

The coin represents those lost in trespasses and sins who are estranged from God but have no sense of their condition, who know it not, whose souls are in peril while they are unconscious of danger and of their sinful state, unconcerned and indifferent to the claims of God, as unconcerned as the coin itself, yet in constant danger and peril and objects of pitying love to be brought back to God. It pictures a person who is precious to God yet unconscious of being lost and not seeking help. A family may have someone who has drifted from God while others feel little concern, but each soul is a precious trust to be sought and brought back.

This includes those wherever found who take no interest in religion and care nothing for spiritual welfare, who face eternal loss if they remain lost and will all stand before God's throne. It includes family members drifted from God, backsliders fallen under temptation, and perplexed inquirers who have been in error and must unlearn ingrafted theories, who need the tenderest sympathy, judicious help, careful instruction as pupils, prayer for and with them, and kind watchful guarding. The search is to be diligent wherever such people are met.

Even when the soul lies among dirt and rubbish and dust, degraded by sin and seeming degraded or beyond help, it remains valuable and precious to its owner and in God's sight. As the coin bears the image and inscription of the ruling power, humanity bore God's image at creation, and though sin has marred and dimmed it, traces remain in every soul. Because each person bears those traces, no one is too degraded by sin to merit loving concern, and the helpless and outcast belong to Him by creation and redemption and must not be ignored, for God sees their worth and knows how to lead them to repentance and conversion. This applies to poor outcasts who have destroyed the moral image of God in themselves, and to one lost soul over whom Satan has triumphed, who must be sought with burden of soul until found, wrenched from Satan's hand and taken from the depths of hell to be restored and become precious, standing next to the throne of God.

Lost souls are the Lord's property, and as the piece of money bears the mark of the ruling power so they should bear upon their souls the likeness of God, His righteousness and true holiness, and then honor the God whose they are. Children belong to the Lord and parents are accountable for their care and answerable for how they manage God's entrusted care of their families. Applied to a child who is unaware of his sinful state, the light used to examine the home, heart and habits to discover why the child is lost is God's word.

God's Love and Joy

The parable belongs to Christ's answer to the charge that He receives sinners and eats with them, made when tax collectors and sinners gathered to hear Him while scribes and Pharisees condemned them with indifference. It means He receives sinners as children of God estranged from the Father's house but not forgotten by the Father's heart, and that even for them there is escape from the pit of sin in His presence. Their very misery and sin make them only the more the objects of His compassion, and the farther they have wandered the more earnest His longing and the greater His sacrifice for their rescue. He came to recover the lost, not to condemn or destroy them, because sinners need a Saviour, while those feeling no need of repentance condemn Him for seeking those who know they are lost. The loss is one that with proper search can be recovered with great joy, setting forth His work to seek what is lost not with failure but with success and joy, requiring still more earnest and untiring effort to lay hold of helpless, hopeless souls in tender, pitying love and restore them while calling others to rejoice that Satan has lost his prey.

The diligent lighting of a candle, sweeping, and searching till the piece is found pictures God drawing people with cords of a man and bands of love, going after the straying to the very edge of the precipice at risk to rescue and bring back. It shows His pitying love for people who have strayed, that though they turn away and face misery and suffering He does not abandon them or leave them in it. He is tender, merciful, kind and sympathetic toward all exposed to temptation and the tempter's snares. He takes the first step to seek the wanderer, as the coin was precious to the woman who searched diligently until she found it, and the finding pictures a sinner's return to God.

A human soul is worth more than silver and can receive salvation through faith in Christ, so those seeking to save the lost should work with even greater perseverance, awakening every ability and pursuing the search with zeal. The lost coin remains valuable to its owner even when it lies in dirt and rubbish among dust, and so a soul degraded by sin remains precious in God's sight and worth diligently seeking and rescuing until found. As the coin bears the image and inscription of the ruling power, humanity bore God's image at creation, and though sin has marred and dimmed it traces remain in every soul. God values each soul and desires to recover it and restore His image in righteousness and holiness, and through conversion joins the person to Christ so that he can live eternally with God. Because each person bears those traces, no one is too degraded by sin to merit loving concern.

On losing one of ten pieces the woman lights a candle and sweeps and searches carefully, persistently and diligently indoors on the floor, kneeling with a broom in a dark house made visible by candlelight, till she finds it. Her care illustrates the effort made to seek the lost sinner, and her joy at finding parallels the joy in God's presence over one sinner who repents. Finding the piece leads her to call friends and neighbors to rejoice with her, which shows there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents when the lost is found. The woman's celebration reflects heaven's joy when deceived people are convinced of error and converted and return to God.

Diligent search followed by joy means angels rejoice over erring ones who see and confess their wrongs and return to the fellowship of their brethren, including one deceived by Satan's sophistry who took a wrong course and suffered because of it. Followers of Christ should feel even greater joy over the return of a brother or sister, since they themselves are erring and every day need the forgiveness of God and of their brethren. All heaven is interested in salvation, with joy in the presence of the angels and with the Father and with Christ over one sinner that repents, and this brings clearly to light the connection of heavenly angels with Christian work. Angels witness human efforts with intense interest, cooperate with faithful workers engaged in rescuing souls wrenched from Satan's hand and taken from the depths of hell, and rejoice with the worker in success, so that one instrumental in saving a soul is free to rejoice as a co-worker with Christ. One soul redeemed over whom Satan has triumphed causes joy among the heavenly angels, even a poor outcast who destroyed the moral image of God in himself yet through human agencies cooperating with the divine is restored to become precious, standing next to the throne of God.

Seeking the Lost Today

Luke 15 belongs to the church as instruction in its responsibility to seek the lost and bring them into the fold, for followers of Christ owe a duty to those straying from right not to leave them in darkness and error but to use every available means to bring them again to light. Neglect that stands in the way of reaching souls meets God's displeasure and His frown, and practicing these lessons involves eternal interests. Saving souls is the chief work, especially for those entrusted with responsibility, demanding intense interest for souls perishing in sin and diligent persevering effort until they are found. That search should awaken every ability and be pursued with zeal, for a human soul is worth more than silver and through conversion is joined to Christ for eternal life with God, and many more would be saved if believers worked with the diligence shown in the parables. One soul redeemed from Satan's triumph causes joy among the heavenly angels, who cooperate with faithful workers, and heaven rejoices over the manifestation of God's power through converted agencies.

When one in the family is not safe in the fold and is lost to God, the others must not rest but use every means for recovery and investigate life practice to see if the lost piece cannot be found. They should carefully examine their own lives, practices, life management, hearts, habits, conduct and home for mistakes, obstructions or errors in management that may reinforce impenitence, letting the light expose what needs attention and forgetting no member, whether father, mother, children, wife, husband, or child. Though it is only one piece, the search does not give up, and if the soul is impenitent every means should be used to reach him, since lost souls are the Lord's property to bear His likeness in righteousness and true holiness and parents are accountable for their care. Parents who have neglected spiritual care of their households and children should not despair, but work for them in love, faith and prayer until they can rejoice in bringing them to God and winning them for Christ.

Lighting the candle means praying earnestly for heavenly light to meet cases enshrouded in darkness and unbelief, bringing God's word into practical daily family life, and searching Scripture for clear points of truth. Seeking diligently means fortifying with its arguments, warnings, reproofs, threatenings and encouragements so the erring can be reached, and using that light to examine the home, heart and habits to discover why a child unaware of sin is lost and what may be obstructing service to God. Ministers and workers must not stop with pulpit preaching and must not be discouraged, but labor with hope and faith in close personal sympathy and tender care. They are to courteously learn objections, give careful instruction as to pupils, pray for and with backsliders and perplexed inquirers in error who must unlearn ingrafted theories, and kindly watch and guard those fallen under temptation. Poor outcasts who have destroyed the moral image of God in themselves must be sought with burden of soul until found, wrenched from Satan's hand and taken from the depths of hell, gathering them in Christ's way by relieving suffering, teaching righteousness, feeding, cleansing and clothing them in love and giving opportunities they never had, so that through human agencies cooperating with the divine they are restored and become precious, standing next to the throne of God.

Wherever believers are they are to look for opportunities to reach people who take no interest in religion and show little interest, take active interest in their spiritual welfare, and present Christ to them as the forgiving Saviour, with hearts warmed by His love and knowing they face eternal loss and must stand before God's throne. Everyone who has experienced grace should keep that experience alive by earnest labor for those who do not know God, with consecrated men and women engaging in this labor in every church large and small, and with earnest prayer until believers repent for lost opportunities to reach the perishing. Wounding and driving the lost away instead of seeking them, taking the attitude of the complaining elder brother when they return, and indifference or neglect toward them are rebuked and meet God's displeasure.