Evening

May 13

Luke 15:8-10 ⁸"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' ¹⁰In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

The religious leaders noticed that Jesus was always with "sinners." They suggested he should find better company. Jesus answered them with several parables. The first was of a shepherd that had a hundred sheep. When one was lost, the shepherd left the 99 and searched for it. Upon finding it, he rejoiced.

Then he told them about the woman in our passage today. The homes in Palestine were dimly lit by small windows. A coin could easily be lost in the cracks of the floor covered in dust. Why was this such a thing of importance to her? It may have been a part of a ten coin wedding headdress. The women of that day would scrimp and save to gather enough coins to chain together ten coins that showed they were married. The coin was the equivalent of a day's wages. If the family fell on hard times, she had this reserve to rescue them. It would be like a woman losing her wedding ring today. No wonder she would search desperately till she found it.

The point of Jesus' parable is that God is searching for the lost. He does not wait until we clean up our act and come groveling on our knees to Him. He goes out and searches with desperate love for us. He is thrilled when He finds us. All heaven has a party when one person is found. Jesus taught us how much the Father desires us to be right with Him. It is not the demanding insistence of a dictator, but the tender love of a Father that longs for your fellowship and inclusion into His family. In answer to the leaders' question, Jesus was saying that He was right where His Father's heart was. I wonder which mindset we have today, that of Jesus or that of the religious leaders?

Prayer: God, please give me a great desire to see the lost found.