Luke 15:9, commentary and pictures

The woman who loses one piece of her treasured silver searches carefully until she finds it, then gathers her friends and neighbors to share her gladness over its recovery. The lost coin stands for sinners estranged from God who do not feel their peril, yet remain precious in His sight because His image, though marred and dimmed by sin, still lingers in every soul. It shows that Christ truly receives sinners, seeking the straying with pitying love even to the edge of the precipice rather than condemning or abandoning them. Its recovery pictures the joy in the presence of the angels, with the Father and with Christ, over one sinner that repents. That joy calls for diligent seeking of the lost by every available means, lighting the candle by earnest prayer and searching God's word, sweeping away hindrances, and laboring in tender sympathy until they are brought back to the light.

Parable Setting and Imagery

The verse belongs to the parable of the lost silver, spoken when the scribes and Pharisees murmured because He received sinners and ate with them. With the lost sheep and the prodigal son it teaches mercy and forgiveness, that His mission is to recover the lost, not to condemn or destroy them, since sinners need a Saviour while those who consider themselves spiritually complete fail to see their need of repentance. It carries still farther the lesson of the lost sheep, whose full force was not appreciated by the disciples at the time it was spoken. The woman who lighted a candle and swept the house and sought diligently finds what was lost and calls her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her, showing joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents.

The search takes place in the dark, windowless, one-room house of the poor in the East, a room rarely swept where a fallen coin would quickly be covered by dust and rubbish. Finding the lost piece and calling others to rejoice over it required lighting a candle even in the daytime and sweeping the house diligently. The ten pieces of silver were the wife's marriage portion, carefully kept as her most cherished possession to be transmitted to her own daughters. The loss of one piece was therefore regarded as a serious calamity and its recovery caused great rejoicing in which the neighboring women would readily share.

Unlike the lost sheep, which represents those who know they are separated from God, the lost coin is close at hand, inside the house, yet can be recovered only by diligent searching. The parable is an illustration drawn from familiar facts of life and ordinary experience to teach lessons of truth and immortal truth about the spiritual and the unseen. It shows openness to the influences of nature and delight in gathering spiritual teaching from the surroundings of daily life. Having something to interest every mind and appeal to every heart, it makes the daily task instead of being a mere round of toil brightened and uplifted by constant reminders of the spiritual and the unseen.

Meaning of Lost Coin

The lost coin stands for those cut off from God who do not know they are lost and feel no alarm at their danger. Though indifferent to His claims, they are the objects of His pitying love and are to be sought out and brought back to Him. As the coin was lost inside the house, such persons may be close at hand, yet their recovery calls for diligent searching.

In the house the coin can mean a father, mother, husband, wife, or child lost in trespasses and sins yet with no sense of condition. That soul is in constant danger and peril while as unconcerned as the coin, estranged from God without knowing it. The parable warns that a member of the household may be thus estranged while the household feels little concern, though that soul is one of God's entrusted gifts.

The lost silver also stands for those precious to God who are helpless, outcast, or unaware of spiritual need. God does not count them hopeless but seeks to bring them to repentance and back to Himself. This includes the erring, straying sinner who has left the path of right, and the duty toward such straying ones is taught by the woman's care in lighting a candle to increase her light and sweeping the house and seeking diligently till the silver is found.

Even lying among dust and rubbish in dirt, the coin remains valuable to its owner, so seeking its recovery is worthwhile. As the coin bears the image and inscription of the ruling power, humanity bore God's image at creation. Sin has marred and dimmed that image, yet traces remain in every soul however degraded by sin. God seeks to recover each soul, which remains precious in His sight, and to restore His image in righteousness and holiness.

One soul is precious and very precious in the eyes of God, and it is not the will of the Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. That seeking love reaches even poor outcasts who have destroyed the moral image of God in themselves.

God's Love for Sinners

The call to rejoice over the found piece shows that Christ truly receives sinners. Publicans and sinners were drawn to Him because in His presence they felt escape from the pit of sin, for He greeted them as children of God estranged from the Father's house but not forgotten by the Father's heart. Their very misery and sin made them only more the objects of His compassion, and the farther they had wandered from Him the more earnest was His longing and the greater His sacrifice for their rescue. This stood in contrast to the scorn and condemnation of those who regarded themselves as educated, refined and preeminently religious.

The parable presents God's pitying love for those who stray from Him. When they turn away He does not leave them in their misery or abandon them. He shows kindness and tender pity and lovingkindness toward those who are erring and straying and exposed to temptation and the tempter's influence. The woman's joy at finding the coin reflects that lovingkindness toward the lost.

The verse shows God's seeking love for the lost, drawing them with cords of a man, with bands of love. He seeks the straying, going to the very edge of the precipice at the risk of His own life to find them. It sets forth His work for this world to seek the one fallen world that broke God's law and bring it back to the fold.

Christ's mission is to recover the lost, not to condemn or destroy them. Sinners need a Saviour, while those who consider themselves spiritually complete fail to see their need of repentance. Each person endangered by temptation receives His tender sympathy and earnest care. The search for a lost soul should be even more diligent because a human soul is of greater value than a piece of silver. A person converted through faith in Christ is joined to Him and can show Christianity's power in the life, and the faithful and obedient who lay hold of Christ will have eternal life.

Joy When Lost Is Found

When the piece is found the next step is to call friends and neighbours together, tell them about it, and invite them to rejoice, and they rejoice together, and this shared telling and rejoicing is an experience of great value. The finding illustrates the joy in heaven over a sinner who repents and is restored. It is to be followed by those entrusted with responsibility by making the saving of souls their chief work, remembering that every soul saved causes heaven to rejoice because of the power of God shown through converted lives.

The woman's celebration means there is joy in the presence of God's angels when one sinner repents. There is more joy in the presence of the angels in heaven over one sinner that repents than over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance, there is joy with the Father and with Christ, and all heaven is interested in the salvation of man. The rescue of one soul from Satan's power causes joy among the heavenly angels, reflecting the same rejoicing over the lost being found when a sinner is convinced of error and converted. The scorn of accusers should not discourage efforts to seek the lost.

Those who help save a soul may rejoice with the angels over that success. The one who is instrumental in saving a soul is at liberty to rejoice, because angels of God have witnessed his efforts with intense interest and rejoice with him in his success, which requires deep sympathy and thorough labor as a co-worker with Christ in rescuing fallen man from sin. Every soul saved causes heaven to rejoice because of the power of God shown through converted lives, and this calls everyone who has experienced grace to keep that experience alive by earnest labor and prayer for those who do not know God, with intense interest for souls and diligent effort for them.

The recovery illustrates the joy over an erring sinner who repents and returns to fellowship. It is the proper response when an erring person recognizes mistake, sees and confesses wrongs, and returns to fellowship and to the fellowship of brethren, including one deceived by sophistry who took a wrong course and suffered because of it. Christ's followers should welcome that return with joy, remembering their own need for forgiveness of God and of brethren every day. They should feel even greater joy than the angels when a brother or sister returns, because they themselves are erring and need forgiveness every day.

When the lost one is found and made safe, the call to rejoice means shared rejoicing on earth over the recovery. It invites others to share the gladness because Satan has lost his prey. It promises success and not failure, giving reason to sing when the search succeeds.

Work of Seeking the Lost

The verse lays upon the church the work of seeking the lost and bringing them back into the fold, and failure to do so leaves the church accountable for neglecting its duty, while one who might be brought in is brought in when the church recognizes and acknowledges its own wrong. The woman's carefulness in lighting a candle to increase her light and sweeping the house and seeking diligently till the lost silver is found sets forth the duty toward erring ones straying from the path of right. They are not to be left in darkness and error, but every available means is to be used to bring them back to the light, for people who are lost can be recovered, and more will be recovered when others earnestly work to reach them. The scorn of accusers should not discourage efforts to seek the lost, and indifference or neglect in this work meets the frown of God.

Lighting the candle means praying earnestly for heavenly light to meet the cases of those enshrouded in darkness and unbelief and searching the word of God for clear points of truth, so that workers are fortified with its reproofs, threatenings, and encouragements to reach the erring. That searching unto finding and then calling neighbors together to rejoice requires thorough, sympathetic labor and deep sympathy as a co-worker with Christ in rescuing fallen man from sin. Wherever people are found, Christians are to seek them, care about their spiritual welfare, and present Christ to them as the Saviour who forgives sin, moved by Christ's love for them.

In practice this means seeking the lost in order to save them, welcoming and rejoicing when they return instead of wounding them and driving them away, and not taking the complaining attitude of the elder brother when the prodigal returns. The parable means much and must be carefully studied with the lost sheep and the prodigal son, because practicing its lesson involves eternal interests. Applied to the home, the persevering search for one lost soul ending in shared joy calls for close, earnest, persevering prayer and labor for a father, mother, husband, wife, or child who is lost in trespasses and sins yet has no sense of his condition, in constant danger and peril but as unconcerned as the coin, estranged from God without knowing it.

No one is to be forgotten, and parents should seek a wayward child, examine their own conduct and family care and use God's Word in family life to help their children serve Him. When one member of a family is lost to God, the others should use every means to seek that person's recovery and examine their own conduct for mistakes that may have helped confirm the person in impenitence. They should search diligently, use God's Word as light, and examine their own hearts, habits, and home practices to discover obstruction, mistake, or error in management and what may be leading the child away and confirming impenitence, using every means to reach the impenitent, because such souls are the Lord's property to bear His likeness in righteousness and true holiness.

Those guilty of neglecting their children spiritually are not to despair but to keep working as the woman kept searching until she found. Parents are to work patiently and persistently for their households and children's spiritual recovery in love, faith, and prayer until with joy they can come to God presenting themselves and the children given to them as found. Everyone entrusted with responsibility is to make the saving of souls the chief work with intense interest for souls and diligent effort for them, and everyone who has experienced grace is to keep that experience alive by earnest labor and prayer for those who do not know God, since every soul saved causes heaven to rejoice because of the power of God shown through converted lives.

Faithful workers must have a burden of soul to find the lost, wrenching them from Satan's hand, and angels of God cooperate with those who make every effort to save perishing souls. The work calls for earnest, untiring effort to find souls separated from God who do not know the way back, going after them to encourage and help them return, not only inviting them but taking hold of them in tender, pitying love and giving courage, hope, and strength in their helpless, hopeless condition. It promises success and not failure, giving reason to sing when the search succeeds, and invites others to share the gladness because Satan has lost his prey, in a work in which all heaven is interested. It is done in Christ's way by laboring in love, relieving suffering, teaching righteousness, feeding, cleansing, and clothing those in need so they are prepared to know someone cares for their souls, reaching even poor outcasts who have destroyed the moral image of God in themselves, and those restored will then seek to restore the moral image of God in others for whom Christ paid the price of His own blood and will be called the elect of God, precious, standing next to the throne of God.