Today we move on to the parable of the lost coin.
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." (Luke 15:1-2)
"Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15:8-10)
The coin never repents...as in "I did something wrong, I want to change my ways." Rather, the coin - the lost coin - is found. Or we could say that the coin is brought back to be with the other coins. It regains its position. That finding and that regaining of its "home" is something that stirs up joy. The coin does nothing. Somehow the coin was missing and the absence of one from the ten caused the woman to do whatever she could do in her house to find that coin. If we are going to imagine angels rejoicing over one sinner who repents, it is because God is the God who never stops pulling us home...never stops finding us...never stops counting us out...never goes on with business as it is and take the loss. No. This is another one of the parables that makes me want to go into every book store I enter and tell the manager to put the "Left Behind" books in the fiction or science fiction area of the store and keep them away from "spirituality" or "religion" or "Christian" books. There is joy in God bringing us home....in God finding us...in God's action that makes us whole - makes us a part of the whole - brings utter joy.
Connection: Imagine being lost - alone - isolated - without contact with others, and then all of the sudden you are in the presence of ones who have been looking for you and hoping to find you and longing to have you with them - no conditions. I would imagine it would be a bit overwhelming to be so wanted.
O God who never fails to turn and find us and bring us home, we are too often tricked into playing the part of someone who can change ourselves in order to say we have found you. But fortunately, you, by your grace, already grasp us and never make us play any games with your love. Amen.
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